Fraud Orders - Who Pays?
Fraud Happens!
Fraud is a interesting game. It is always changing and the players seem to be pretty good. I have seen a fair share with about 1 million in sales over the last 2 years. Here are a few things to watch for to take the scammers edge off.
1. Fraud orders usually come with express shipping. So if you see a big order that is urgent and has express or next day air on it double check it. Thieves are always in a hurry to steal stuff.
2. Watch your bounced email addresses. It is easy to delete them now with all the spam happening. But think of this. Someone places a order online - your system sends them a receipt from you or the admin of the story. If the scammer gave a fake email address then that email confirmation will bounce. The craftier thieves know better - they will send them to a fake Yahoo acct. etc. But the young and dumb ones will write 23456@networld.com or something like that. So when you see bounced emails read them and then follow up on those orders.
Always remember that if you ship merchandise to a scammer you are out the dough. The responsibility goes to the merchant. Basically the person with the stole credit cards calls and then you get a charge back automatically.
There are some new systems out there that move the responsibility to the credit card - verified by visa is the best. But they are not wide spread yet. This will be a very good move for most ecommerce companies. All you have to do is offer verified by visa and then ALL of your transactions will be covered and you will not be on the hook for scammers any longer.