Credit Cards . AGAIN!

[jwhansen]

I have 4 charges right now that I think might fraudulent. What steps do I need to take to make sure they are legit? I'm talking about $6K worth of product. I can not afford to take that kind of hit right now if they are bad orders.

Should I call Authorize.net to verify?

Now, every order has got me a little worried!

Joseph

[isisescul]

You'll need to consider several variables before approving them:
Originating IP localization - usually if it matches the area within the user lives in it's a plus on the trust scale.
Contact phone number - you could try to match (if within US) the phone number associated with the order with the data white-pages has. (use the reverse look-up)
E-mail address - sounds bizarre but you can sometimes actually find info about legit e-mail addresses if you google them. Like forum posts, etc.
Do not hesitate to call back and ask for a scan/copy of the front and back of the CC - and look for details. Like the first 4 digits embossed onto the card have the same digits underneath in small characters usually in black. That's for Visa and Master card.


Hope that helps!

[edited by: eelixduppy at 11:36 pm (utc) on Feb 16, 2010]
[edit reason] no self promo [/edit]

[dickbaker]

This really hits home. I got lazy and it bit me.

If the IP matches the location, that's great, but it often does not. The phone numbers provided are often cell phone numbers that don't match what the credit card company has on file.

Unless the amount is very small, if I can't see that the name and address provided match what the credit card company has on file, I'll ask the fraud department at the CC company to contact the customer. I also do this with every high-dollar transaction.

Sometimes the CC company doesn't want to do it, but I insist, and they give in. I've now stopped several fraudulent transactions where everything else--name, address, etc--verified.

[chrisranjana]

Also some credit card processor have an AVSsystem, which may prevent fraud to a certain extent. The downside of this would be some of the legitimate transactions could be blocked too sometimes.

[digitalv]

You could always write back to the customer and just tell them that due to the size of the order you cannot directly accept a credit card and need them to send the funds by wire transfer.

If the buyer has the money it shouldn't be an issue, but if for some reason that's legitimately not an option for the buyer you can use escrow.com. Escrow.com will run the user's credit card and hold the money. You ship the items and give the tracking number to escrow.com. When they have the proof that the items were received, they send you a check. If the buyer charges back later, it's between them and escrow.com, you already got your money.

If the customer isn't willing to do either of these, then it's probably fraud. The escrow fee isn't cheap, but since it guarantees payment upon delivery of the merchandise it's often worth it.

[MrHard]

You should already know this if you are selling items in that price range.

Start by reading you merchant regulations & chargeback policies, get an example chargeback letter if you can with all the reasons listed on the reverse. Make sure you have everything you need before you ship.