This is quite a big topic so I will share only one small experience with you today as I suspect that a fraudulent transaction was made on our site last night.
Fraud does not only take place using credit cards, it can also be fraudulent if you’re presented with a proof of payment (POP).
Only when you lose cash will you learn the lesson and this has happened to me a few times in the past with different scenarios of fraud. The one we are looking at right now is probably the hardest to recognise.
The customer has made a purchase and sent us a proof of payment. When you open the POP it looks 100% perfect in every way. The design is spot on with what the banks will send through. The issue is that we bank with FNB and so does the client and the money is not reflecting in our business account.
We sell experiences which are easy to pull back if the funds do not arrive in our account. Still I will not release the voucher until funds are reflecting in our account. It has happened in the past when I released goods based on a perfect proof of payment only to discover that the funds never arrived.
I lost R25K in that one transaction which I will never ever forget. There are certain signs to look for to indicate potential fraud. Never panic, just let it all unfold and observe from a distance until you are 100% happy that the customer is sound and the funds have cleared.
So with this customer I have emailed them very politely to ask them to follow up with their bank and as soon as the funds are in our account I will complete the order and release the voucher.
Never let customers bully you and put pressure on you (that is unnecessary pressure).
Remember that when you sell tangible products, once the goods are released and the transaction is fraud you will never ever get them back.
Also, as a merchant the banks (here in South Africa) will reverse the funds directly out of your account without permission once the card has been highlighted as stolen.
