Friday, July 14, 2006

Scammers and Chargebacks - Fighting Fraud Online

The DressThatMan.com Fraud Prevention Department wanted to share some important information with both our customers, potential customers and with other online Merchants.

While we are perfectly happy living in our Mens Vintage Clothing paradise, we sometimes are forced to step off the happy enchanted island. We hate it when people either rain on our parade or turn the music down and make us get serious. But, it happens. And this is one of those things. People attempting to rip us off pisses us off. Just like it does you.

:: insert deep breath :::

Here goes...

What is a chargeback?
A chargeback refers to the process by which a cardholder disputes a payment made to a merchant. Cardholders generally initiate chargebacks based on claims such as the transaction was not authorized by them.

Scammers Take Note
If you file a chargeback claim from a matching delivery and billing address you could very well find your profile right here in our HALL OF SHAME, complete with the delivery address used. Along with links to the item or items purchased.

As online merchants, we know how difficult fraud prevention can be. And, what a prevalent problem scammers are. We’ve read all about it and we’ve put sensible practices in place to further bolster our protection. Our processing merchant requires CVV codes to be entered and that the billing address matches the credit card. The payment gateway handles the transaction and we never see your credit card information.

In house, we have utilized a method that works well in determining orders that could be potentially fraudulent orders. One is that all orders placed contain IP Tracking information, which contains geographic information as to your location and your Internet Service Provider. If we have reason to suspect the order may be fraudulent, we may check the IP to see if it matches up with other information.

If there is any question as to the validity of an order, we will request signature and ID via FAX. Scammers often want their merchandise as quickly as possible, so EXPRESS shipping is one of the red flag checks we run. If a new customer orders EXPRESS and wants it sent to an address other than the billing address and supplies us with a free email address (such as yahoo, hotmail etc.) it’s not going to slip through the cracks here. We will not send it out until we have a valid photo ID and signature on file.

What shoppers may not know about our shopping cart is that it also logs attempted orders that fail. While most orders fail due to a CVV code not being entered and other little mistakes we all make, we recently had someone who was using a variety of card numbers and attempting to order. The IP they were using was one that masks the actual location of the user. HUGE red flag. They attempted to place orders using Credit Cards from various states all being sent to one particular address. HUGE red flag. After many attempts over several days, they finally got one to go through. We placed a phone call and left a message at the billing address given and told them we believed that someone had their credit information and were attempting to order merchandise to be sent to another state. We never heard back from them. Most likely, they were in cahoots with the person attempting to place the order. Of course, the order was never processed and the payment was refused.

DressThatMan.com has been fortunate in minimizing the risks and exposure to fraud and have experienced minimal activity. We've experienced very little and have managed to escape the horror stories we've heard from other merchants. Of course, our fingers are collectively crossed and all of our lucky charms are meticulously arranged.

We also have additional fraud prevention measures in house. Things we only speak of generally in hushed tones, but... most notably we want you to know that DressThatMan.com utilizes the Polyester Goon Squad as the Funky Fraud Fighters. Our biggest ace in the hole by far when all other measures have been exhausted.

Trust us, once the Polyester Goon Squad switches modes it’s truly remarkable. They remove their platform shoes and change into sensible footwear which enables them not only to leap tall buildings, but they can run like leopards. Just like.

Once they don their polyester capes and jackets emblazoned “FFF” over their wild vintage Lilly Pulitzer Men's Stuff Pants... there is absolutely no dancing involved. These people will hunt you down, put you in a fill length girdle that’s 2 sizes too small, lash you to a polystyrene chair and turn 47 strobe lights simultaneously - and... of course, broadcast it live on the net.

Among other things.

Things that you don't want to know.




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Online Merchants, here’s some good information for you regarding chargebacks


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perfect idea. DressThatMan kicks ass literally LOL!
Name and shame the thieves. Maybe some cyber stalker will do the job of your polyester goon squad. They should be easy to spot and follow in your clothing LMAO. If not Karma will deliver their penance in good time. Seriously though, you guys slay me with your ideas and creativity and how nice you only use it for the good of mankind. Steve B one of your PAYING customers.

Sharon said...

They probably use fake names! Putting the addresse up is a good idea though. We have a unrelated to vintage clothing business online and chargebacks are a nightmare. We started doing some of the things you mentioned though and things are much better the past 2 years.

Bill Wilson said...

If you had a store on the corner people would be shoplifting. People who steal SUCK.

DressThatMan.com said...

Because of the way our credit card merchant processing works, we NEVER see the customer's credit card information. Sometimes we wish we DID though, because we have had a few random attempts to place fraudulent orders and would LOVE to be able to alert the actual owner of the credit card that someone out there is trying to use their card. Some people may not even know their card or cards have been stolen.