Fraudsters are getting more bolder and seem more persistent than ever when it comes to trying to get goods through dishonest means. The old story with fraudsters is they will try to buy goods with credit cards they would procurer dishonestly and then have the goods delivered to a different address to that of the credit card. If a merchant was to ship to that address and had a charge-back from the credit card company then they would have to stomach the cost of the fraud. It was generally easy to tell the fraudster that the goods would not be shipped to another address without to much aggression. However times are changing and fraudsters are getting more bolshy in their approach.
Merchants have there own methods of dealing with fraud from fake companies such as checking a company email/website or company information on companies house etc, but a individual is almost impossible to verify if the goods are being delivered to another address to that on the card. That is why we as a organisation had to stop delivering for individuals who request other delivery addresses. If a client can pay by Bank Transfer, Google Wallet or Paypal then the merchant may be protected when delivering to a different address..
Fraudsters are now so bold that they will give you a lot of front to get their stolen goods. Recently fraudsters are reverting to old school cheque fraud where they put an order in with a supplier, say they will pay by bank transfer but actually put a fake cheque into the companies bank which by pure mistake is actually much more than the company quoted. The fraudster then asks for the extra money paid in to the bank and the goods after a week or so. If your bank is not vigilant and recognises that the cheque is fake then the fraudster will get the quoted goods and the extra funds they paid you by mistake. This fraud has been played out so many times yet recently it is coming back into to fashion which means that some banks are not picking up on it fast enough.
The other fraud coming back into fashion is the phoenix company. This is a company set-up with a short life span whose sole purpose is to extract as much credit out of companies before folding. They will be a good client for a short time before the final sting after a big order where they fold or move premises. Other company type fraud is fake purchase orders from a legitimate company. A recent fraudster made a completely fake company purchase order and sent it through on a fake e-mail address to a supplier that the fraudster knows the victim company has a account with. The intention was to pick the goods up from the supplier not have it delivered. This type of crime has a sophistication that takes organisational expertise or in depth knowledge of how companies operate. My impression is that these guys are making a lot of money otherwise they would not be doggedly persistent with this fraud. The fraudster is free to continue their work unimpeded by the banks or the police who simply arnt interested as they do not pick up the bill the merchant does. Credit card fraud is big money without any comeback, a easy crime to get away with for the smart criminal.
With internet retailing getting harder to keep up with, it is worth bearing in mind that pitfalls await merchants that don't keep their eye on the ball. It is easy for a new internet retailer or a company hungry for new internet business to become a victim. In my experience the key is not to get to greedy for the deal that sounds to good to be true from a client that needs it NOW, NOw Now. Because it usually is!!!!!!!
I hope this helps someone before they become a victim. Thanks for reading.
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