By Tim Ferguson, 30 April 2007 16:03
NEWS
Five tell-tale signs could alert online retailers to an attempted fraud in progress.
Through its online forum used by fraud managers at online businesses in the UK, 192.com Business Services has compiled a list of behaviours it claims can help companies spot when they might be about to transact with a fraudster.
The signs highlighted include changes to the delivery address between the order being placed and delivery.
Testing of card details on low value orders, followed by much larger orders, could also be another warning sign.
If the billing address is more than 50 miles from the delivery address it might be worth taking a closer look at the order, and 192.com Business Services said retailers it worked with also cite orders from the London postcode range SE28 as being ones they would treat with more care before they send out goods.
The final suspicious action flagged by the company is the use of free email addresses with little resemblance to the customer's name.
192.com Business Services product manager, Grant Greenwood, said: "We're putting hurdles in front of the fraudster - the more hurdles, the more likely they are to be tripped up."
Card-not-present fraud grew by 41 per cent between 2004 and 2006 according to recent Apacs figures.
Based on fraud reporting from UK fraud managers, the London postcode SE28 is the "most troublesome" for fraud and chargeback within the UK, alongside overseas destinations such as Estonia and Nigeria, according to 192.com.
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But a spokesman added: "We don't and we can't generalise - we're just highlighting statistics based on our online forum."
Comments
There are 4 comments. Join the discussion
1. Richard
I do all those - I'm genuine!
I often need to use an alternative delivery address which is 200 miles away;
If I am called to the other location, I sometimes change the delivery address after placing the order;
I usually use one of my "free" email addresses, to collect the inevitable spam from retailers;
When I'm trying a new, unknown retailer, I'll sometime place a small order to test their customer service.
Just how reliable are those indicators?
2. anonymous
Not surprising, really... a multimap search for SE28 shows an HM institution at the centre!
3. Sally Nobrega
I don't know about in the UK, but here in the U.S. I've seen several other signs of potential online credit card fraud:
-Entry of the customer data in CAPS
-Telephone area code that doesn't match customer post code
-Email domain doesn't match customer address (e.g. @yahoo.co.ie with a U.S. address)
-Multiple card number changes within a single transaction
If an organization keeps good server logs and creates algorithims to recognize pattern behavior, it is easy to block suspicious attempts.
4. Alastair Warren
Oh dear.
Well they should have left the magnetic strip of the back of the Chip and Pin cards. "International Standards made us retain it" just sounds really weak to me.
Hurrah for the banks still leaving us open to Credit Card skimming.
I just used my new Credit Card on the phone earlier. Gave all the details including the 3 digit no. on the reverse.
I hope my details are save with that little venue.