It's ‘Manic Monday’ in three days time, when online sales are set to hit an all-time high.
UK consumers are expected to spend more than £500m as Christmas hoves into sight and growing numbers of people opt out of crowded shopping shopping centres to shop online.
Monday 29 November is projected to be the busiest day for internet shopping as consumers allow time for deliveries.
HSBC Merchant services offers the following tips for online retailers to avoid falling prey to fraudsters as websites are swamped by an unprecedented number of customers.
1. Whenever possible, take a landline rather than a mobile – this can be checked out using directory enquiries (unless it is ex-directory).
2. Ensure extra care is taken for alternative delivery addresses, particularly where the delivery address is in a completely different location to the billing address. Some merchants send out a letter to the billing address asking them to confirm that the order is genuine before the order is dispatched.
Beware of orders that are a higher value than your usual order amounts, or multiple orders for the same item
3. Take care with free email addresses, as they are much more likely to be fraudulent than subscription email addresses such as btconnect or tiscali.
4. Be on your guard if a customer wants you to send the goods out urgently, or keeps contacting you to chase the order. This is often because they want to get the goods delivered before the transaction has been identified as fraudulent.
5. Beware of orders that are a higher value than your usual order amounts, or multiple orders for the same item.
6. Have a look at the items/services which have been purchased fraudulently – if there is a trend, be very careful when orders are placed for these items.
7. Use a website such as http://cqcounter.com/whois to determine where an Internet Protocol (IP) is originating from. Fraudsters sometimes use proxy IP addresses, which mask the actual country or town from which the payment was actually made. You can check these proxy addresses on Google.
8. Have a look at all orders processed, rather than just the approved ones. You may find that different cards have been attempted until an order was approved.
9. Use validation services like www.192.com to confirm whether your customer is, or has ever been, listed on the electoral roll at the address quoted.
10. Don’t forget that if the transaction is subsequently identified as fraudulent, and subject to a chargeback, you will lose not only the sale, but also the stock item. It therefore makes sense to ensure that you make all available checks before releasing the goods.
