| I'm personally involved with the operation of four | | | | this is important information. Compare the number you |
| different web sites that sell to consumers and frankly | | | | are given with the address. There are some very |
| I'm getting really angry about internet fraud because, | | | | easy to access online charts that will show what area |
| as a small merchant I'm the one that it hurts. When | | | | codes go to which states. There's one for sure at If |
| credit cards are used fraudulently it's not the banks | | | | you have a billing address in Texas and the phone |
| that are on the hook - although they'd happily let you | | | | number in Nevada- your |
| believe that they are. And consumers are not on the | | | | "someone's-trying-to-rip-me-off" radar should now be |
| hook. And the suppliers are not on the hook. It's us - | | | | on high alert. Make the same check on the shipping |
| the poor fools in the middle - the smallest fish in the | | | | address and phone number. |
| food chain. | | | | 3. Look for Hotmail or Gmail addresses on both the |
| In the last week, I had a $1000.00 fraudulent order was | | | | billing and shipping side. |
| caught before it shipped, but missed a $250.00 order | | | | 4. Look for unorthodox names. Believe it or not, that |
| placed with a stolen card that was sadly made on a | | | | $1,000 order was being shipped to Ladysmith |
| product with almost no margin in the first place - so I | | | | Moneybags. I'm not kidding, either. Talk about literally |
| got to eat 90% of the cost as a raw number, never | | | | adding insult to injury. |
| mind that the remaining 10% was supposed to go to | | | | 5. Look for an order with several of the same items. |
| overhead and marketing and all those other wonderful | | | | 6. If you're not sure, don't ship it immediately. |
| things, so all told that write off cost more than 100%. | | | | 7. If the phone numbers don't match up, do a white |
| Sweet, eh? | | | | pages search for another telephone number |
| I'm angry that as far as I can see, these scum balls | | | | connected to the cardholder (their name and address |
| use stolen credit cards that are shipped to a real | | | | might just be the only legitimate information you have) |
| address - the consumer complains when they see the | | | | and phone them to verify the order. |
| bill. The credit cards charge it back to the merchant | | | | 8. Look for orders shipping out of the country. |
| and our payment processors slap on about a twenty | | | | 9. Cultivate a good relationship with your suppliers. |
| five buck penalty, because I guess we haven't been | | | | Most of them are smaller businesses with people who |
| worked over quite enough by then. And the people | | | | have seen a lot of rip offs before. Just be sure that |
| who perpetuated the fraud keep getting away with it. It | | | | they like you enough to be willing to help out, but don't |
| seems that crime does pay after all, but then, I'll bet | | | | count on them exclusively because if they ship - YOU |
| that most of the people reading this article have | | | | PAY. |
| already reached the same sad conclusion. | | | | 10. If something looks really dicey, you can always ask |
| So what can a small merchant to do protect their | | | | for a certified check or a money order. But a wire |
| business? | | | | transfer is NOT a safe alternative; lots of scams are |
| The most important thing you can do is simple. Inspect | | | | built around fake wire transfers. And if you think for |
| every order. Here's what to look for: | | | | just one second that your own bank will back you up, |
| 1. Compare the billing and the shipping address. Many | | | | forget it. When, you take a bad order, no one but you |
| people send out gifts to others through an online | | | | will be left holding the bag at the end of the day. |
| purchase so a lot of them will be legitimate, but this is | | | | The only good news is that if you do take a good look |
| still the first thing to check for. | | | | at your orders, you'll catch a lot of the bad orders, |
| 2. Always ask for phone numbers on your order | | | | because most of them are really not all that difficult to |
| forms and ignore the gurus who'll tell you that this will | | | | spot. |
| increase your shopping cart abandon rate. It will, but | | | | |