Top 8 Signs of ECommerce Fraud - How to Detect Fraudulent Credit Card Transactions
Despite increased security measures, credit card fraud is becoming a major worry for eCommerce website owners. Internet payment gateways allow companies to verify billing addresses and also security code verification. However, if someone who intends to conduct a fraudulent transactions possesses all the details there is no way to identify whether it is a legitimate transaction or not until a complaint is lodged. Thus, here are a few ways you can notice fraudulent transactions on your website.
1. Email address - At the end of each day compare the email addresses and the customer name. 99% of the time legitimate user’s email addresses will include at least a portion of their names. If you find a bunch of emails that don’t match the customer name, you may want to have a closer look at these transactions and perhaps make a call to the customer just to verify their authenticity.
2. If you are running an affiliate program and find that suspicious transactions are going through one particular affiliate you may want to look at these transactions too. Some affiliates may do this in order to claim their affiliate commissions. Therefore it is best to monitor all affiliate transactions closely.
3. If your product or service is catered to a particular gender and you start noticing an increase in sales to the opposite sex, you might want to double check these transactions too.
4. If your payment gateway allows you to see the IP address of the person doing the transaction and if you see many sales from the same IP address in a short period of time, they may be cause of suspicion.
5. If you suddenly notice a large spike in a single product’s sales for no apparent reason, it would be a good reason to verify the authenticity of these transactions.
6. Keep a tab on the number of declined transactions. Even legitimate customers may have their cards declined for various reasons. However a sudden increase in this number may be cause for alarm.
7. Another reason to be suspicious of your affiliates is if he or she is from a country that is known for online fraud. This is not say that the said affiliates are not legitimate. However you may want to keep an eye on his or her performance just to be sure.
8. If you see a spike in the sales of high priced items for no apparent reason, it may be a clue as to whether you are a victim of fraud. It is always better to verify the order before the goods are shipped.