With the upcoming Fall rush season upon us - it's a good time to review how to identify fraudulent orders. Credit Card fraud is an unfortunate reality of doing business on the internet. Ensure your store is protected against potentially fraudulent orders by promoting awareness.
Here are some tips that we’ve gathered from researching various situations stores have contacted us regarding fraudulent credit card orders. You may find them useful as you fulfill web orders in your store, or for sharing with your order processing staff. The more informed everyone is about credit card fraud possibilities, the more likely situations will be caught and investigated before the order is processed.
“Fraud smart” message. Add a “fraud smart” message to the pricing policy or on the front page Course Materials or Merchandise pages. The message should be simple and direct. For example, “We screen diligently for credit card fraud.” Support this statement by pursuing fraudulent orders to the full extent of the law.
International orders. Be sure to take necessary precautions to ensure that international credit card transactions totaling more than $250 are legitimate. In addition, call domestic customers who order more than $250.
Re-mailing Services. Be watchful for orders going to places in the United States that re-mail packages to overseas destinations. Below is an address used in an actual order:
7801 N.W. Street 37th St.
Suite 179AX9CO
Miami, FL 33166
Note “Suite 179AX9C0. This is an account number and tells the re-mailer where to send the package. In this instance, the IP number placing the order was for an address in Venezuela. Your inSite Client Rep can assist you in identifying the location.
Fake hotel addresses. It is easy to confirm hotel addresses by using an Internet search engine like Google. Most hotels have numeric street addresses, street names and zip codes included with their online information.
Shipping costs. Shopper has little or no concern about shipping costs. Most legitimate shoppers are sensitive to shipping costs.
Orders with large quantities or large dollar amounts. Thieves often target a dollar amount that is large enough to profit them, but small enough not to draw unwanted attention to the order. Watch for orders with multiple quantities of items that aren’t normally ordered in multiples; iPods, high-ticket clothing items, etc.
Ordering textbooks for a state that you don’t have a campus in. If you have an order of several high dollar textbooks being shipped to another state, and you do not have a campus there, then you may want to call the person to verify that they are legitimate customers.
Shipping address is not same as billing address. There are legitimate reasons for an order to have different shipping and billing addresses. However, it can be a cheat of the Address Verification System (AVS) if they have the billing address of the real card holder.
Undeliverable email. Take note if automatic acknowledgment emails bounce back as “undeliverable.” The return could be the result of a typo or it could be a fake address.
If you believe you have identified a potentially fraudulent order, please contact your inSite Client Rep. They can help you in obtaining the IP address of the person placing the order for investigation. When proven necessary, an IP address placing verified fraudulent orders can be blocked from the websites.
