Hey everyone,
This may not be an issue for private sales, but if you are a dealer of an online website this is important.
We received an order online for $2800.
There was no fraud alert and the billing address was accurate; however, it was to ship to a different shipping address (first red flag, but not uncommon).
The billing and shipping address is in NY but the phone number was from Central Florida (second red flag)
The order was under a woman's name. 90+% of our customers are men. So, not to be sexist, this was my third red flag.
I called the number to verify and no one picked up. I got a call back from that number and it showed up as "spam risk". Weird.
A guy said "hi my name is <woman's name redacted> and I was calling about my order."
Having already done some research, I knew the middle name of the stolen identity and asked the person what their middle name was. To which he replied "I don't have one".
I said I'll need additional verification with a copy of the credit card and driver's license.
At this point I already voided the charge.
He emailed me the requested materials; but it still didn't sit right with me. It even had the driver's license WITH a middle name (which he said there was none previously).
Using some tools, I was able to find the cell phone of the woman who's identify was being used and contacted her.
She confirmed that the credit card was hers, the driver's license had accurate info but the photo on the license was not her.
The guy called me back asking for an update (I was just going to ignore him but he called back so I answered) and I just told him I spoke to the real person and she confirmed the license had a fake photo and that she was filing a police report.
The guy immediately hung up.
This sort of thing happens a few times every month. But this was the first time someone sent me a copy of a driver's license and a credit card.
So, hopefully this will give everyone a little extra information to look out for and if anyone needs a guide about how to spot fraud and how to do the confirmation research please reach out to me.
These things can put a company out of business because we'd be on the hook for the $3k loss if we let the order go through.
This may not be an issue for private sales, but if you are a dealer of an online website this is important.
We received an order online for $2800.
There was no fraud alert and the billing address was accurate; however, it was to ship to a different shipping address (first red flag, but not uncommon).
The billing and shipping address is in NY but the phone number was from Central Florida (second red flag)
The order was under a woman's name. 90+% of our customers are men. So, not to be sexist, this was my third red flag.
I called the number to verify and no one picked up. I got a call back from that number and it showed up as "spam risk". Weird.
A guy said "hi my name is <woman's name redacted> and I was calling about my order."
Having already done some research, I knew the middle name of the stolen identity and asked the person what their middle name was. To which he replied "I don't have one".
I said I'll need additional verification with a copy of the credit card and driver's license.
At this point I already voided the charge.
He emailed me the requested materials; but it still didn't sit right with me. It even had the driver's license WITH a middle name (which he said there was none previously).
Using some tools, I was able to find the cell phone of the woman who's identify was being used and contacted her.
She confirmed that the credit card was hers, the driver's license had accurate info but the photo on the license was not her.
The guy called me back asking for an update (I was just going to ignore him but he called back so I answered) and I just told him I spoke to the real person and she confirmed the license had a fake photo and that she was filing a police report.
The guy immediately hung up.
This sort of thing happens a few times every month. But this was the first time someone sent me a copy of a driver's license and a credit card.
So, hopefully this will give everyone a little extra information to look out for and if anyone needs a guide about how to spot fraud and how to do the confirmation research please reach out to me.
These things can put a company out of business because we'd be on the hook for the $3k loss if we let the order go through.
