How To Detect Fraudulent Orders

ent Ordersletters. A legitimate customer is more likely to enter his
We are presenting this information because of a highher name using capitals while a thief is very likely to
number of fraudulent orders being placed on theenter a name in lower-case letters.
Internet recently. While fraud does exist, you can- An address verification failure. Our implementation of
reduce your risk against fraud. The informationboth ECHO and Authorize.net handles address
contained below will increase your awareness of whatverification. This means that if the address on the
to look for and what to do if you suspect fraud.credit card does not match the address entered during
Fraud is an issue that affects nearly all businesses oncheckout, you will receive a message on your order
the Internet. As a merchant you must always beconfirmation email indicating that the address did not
aware of fraud. It is your responsibility to avoid fulfillingmatch. (Please note that the credit card will still have
fraudulent orders. Although we have had very fewbeen processed - see what to do if you receive a
reports recently of problems with fraud from ourfraudulent order below.)
customers, a report of one of our customers hasHow to reduce your likelihood of receiving a fraudulent
prompted this article.order:
How to detect fraudulent orders1.Turn the address verification prompt option on (found
Any of the following STRONGLY indicate a fraudulentin store settings -> payment settings.) Please note that
order:this will not stop a fraudulent order from being placed,
- An order originating from Nigeria, Malaysia, orbut it will help in two ways. First, it will deter fraud.
Indonesia. If you receive an order from one of theseThose who place fraudulent orders generally avoid
areas there is a 99.99% chance that the order issites that have address verification. Second, your copy
fraudulent. The order will be placed using a stolenof the order will warn you that the address verification
credit card or otherwise.failed, allowing you to detect fraudulent orders.
- An order requesting a very large quantity of an item2.Turn the collect CID/CVV2 option on (found in store
(for example, an order for 400 Jerzees t-shirts.)settings -> payment settings). Please note that this will
- Multiple orders from the same address with differentnot stop a fraudulent order from being placed, but it will
payment methods or multiple orders with the samehelp to deter fraud. Those who place fraudulent orders
email address to different shipping addresses.generally avoid sites that collect the CID/CVV2.
- Multiple declines with different credit cards. In yourBright Builders customers have reported a great
order manager, if you see the same customer beingreduction but not a complete elimination of fraudulent
declined several times with different credit cardsorders when using these measures.
before successfully charging a card, the customerWhat to do if you receive/suspect a fraudulent order:
likely has a list of stolen credit cards that is being used.1.Refund the credit card transaction.
Any of the following MAY indicate a fraudulent order:2.Do not ship the product.
- An order from high-crime areas such as inner city3.Email the person making the suspected fraudulent
Los Angeles.order and ask that they pay by money order or
- The name of the customer entered in lower-casecashier's check.