You receive a fraudulent order - do you tell the biller?

[sun818]

I got to thinking how one handles the situation? You know its fraudulent and the credit card billing address and possibly phone number belong to the biller. The ship to if its some place like Indonesia or Vietnam is high suspect. Do you contact the card holder and tell them their card may be been stolen?

[drbrain]

I wouldn't suggest that their card was stolen, but you could call them up and say that you've got an unusual order and you'd like to verify.

If the order isn't fraudulent, you don't look silly, and if the order is fradulent maybe they'll want to buy something for real in the future.

Sounds like good customer service.

[netguy]

If you have the correct billing address and phone number for the real cardholder on a fraudulent order, you're lucky.

Most of the billing info we receive on fraud orders are all bogus. Seldom do the fraudsters go to the trouble of determining the correct address/phone of a stolen cards billing address, and when it is apparent that the banks aren't going to notify the cardholder - we even try to get a real address/phone number to notify them - but the banks will never disclose it.

The bottom line is 'Merchant Beware.' Most all of the banks we've dealt with over the years could care less. The cardholder is protected on the unauthorized charges, and the banks know that as long as 'somebody' is out there using the card - they're making money with all the charge-backs and added fees to the merchant.

Steve

[mfmikeb]

1 - Accept NO orders from Indonesia.

We have actually had a spate of fraudulent orders from one particular gentleman who's IP address is in Bulgaria. He has had the name, address and phone number of the card holder in each and every transaction! I personally feel obligated as a human being to call these people. One girl called me back 3 days later and said, "Ya know, I ws thinking that I'd never had this kind of service from a company, let alone someone I didn't buy anything from. I'd like to send you guys some flowers or some small gift".
I declined but it totally made my day.

Bottom line: I'd call the card holder if you have the phone number.