6 Signs of E-Commerce Fraud You Should Recognize

As the number of online shops and online sales volumes have grown exponentially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, fraudsters have also become more active. There has been a significant increase in friendly e-commerce fraud, phishing activities and identity theft.

Therefore, merchants should be very cautious and monitor orders carefully. Just by tracking customers’ behaviour, you will be able to notice any inconsistencies in customers’ data or any suspicious activities. There are many signs of fraudulent activity. You should be able to see the following indications of e-commerce fraud:

First-time shoppers

Pay special attention to customers who purchase in your e-shop for the first time. Thoroughly check the information they provide during registration. Check the name, phone number, and personal address of your customer. Did the customer provide a real name and surname? Is the shipping address real, and does it coincide with the billing address? Are there any suspicious quantities of products in their order? If the provided information looks fake or suspicious, call the customer to verify their identity.

Suspicious email address

Make sure that the email address provided by a customer exists. Fraudsters usually use email addresses which have no meaning. Use Google to check whether the email can be found online. If the email address looks suspicious to you, try to contact the customer before shipping the products to the indicated address. In case of no response, try to reach the customer by phone.

Different shipping and billing addresses

Fraudsters tend to fill in their addresses in the shipping field and the addresses of legitimate cardholders in the billing field. Check the countries which are indicated in the billing and shipping addresses. Pay special attention to the order made for a foreign shipping address if most of your customers are located in your country. Note that in order to stay anonymous, fraudsters usually use postal boxes for their orders.

Payments made at night

Pay special attention to a purchase made at night. Check the time zone of the country that the order came from. Fraudsters tend to operate when merchants are less likely to notice any suspicious payments.

Suspicious order amount

An unusually high order amount can be a sign of fraudulent activity. Similarly, a very small order should attract your attention too if it is followed by a sequence of large orders. Besides, pay special attention to a customer who makes purchases very often.

Inconsistencies in customer’s data

Check all the transactions which were made with the same payment card but for different shipping addresses. You should also be very cautious with orders made with different payment cards but for the same address. Check the transactions conducted with different cards for the same IP address.

Do not disregard any indication of suspicious behaviour of your customers. You should be alert and quick to act in case of any fraudulent activity, especially during such difficult and unpredictable times. If you need any assistance with your payments, feel free to contact us. Make sure to check our guide on how to prevent fraudulent payments in your online shop.