Protecting yourself against mail/telephone/Internet order
fraudA common type of fraud occurs when orders
are placed to Canadian businesses from overseas. Typically, a
merchant will receive a small initial order from an overseas
customer by phone or email that establishes the relationship. A
second order may follow requesting a much larger shipment of
merchandise to an international address. Be cautious if this situation arises, or if any international
order involves the following: - Orders placed using numerous credit cards
– transaction is split between several credit card
numbers.
- A shipping address that is different from
the cardholder address, especially where the countries differ.
- Unusually large quantities, high-value
items or multiples of the same item – especially if they
are to be shipped rush or overnight.
- Requests for products that your business
usually doesn’t sell.
- Orders from an Internet address making use
of free e-mail services, as there’s no billing
relationship and often no audit trail or verification that the
legitimate cardholder has opened the account.
If you are suspicious of an overseas order, follow the guidelines
recommended for processing card-not-present transactions and
follow proper authorization procedures. Be aware, however, that obtaining an authorization number only
confirms that funds are available on the card. It does not confirm
that the legitimate cardholder authorized the transaction, nor will
it prevent a chargeback.
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