At teclan we frequently receive requests asking whether certain emails, phone calls and orders that many clients receive are real or potentially fraudulent.
With this in mind we want to take this opportunity to remind our clients that fraudulent activity within the ecommerce world is common and that you should always be vigilant and on your guard to ensure you do not get caught out.
Human instinct is generally very good and most often if something looks fishy, seems too good to be true or just doesn’t ring true then there is a justifiable reason.
On the internet, as far as ecommerce is concerned, there are several common scams you should look out for. We also recommend some techniques for double checking your intuition and confirming if such events are fraudulent or not.
Common Scams and fraudulent techniques:
- Email Phishing – Emails purporting to be from your bank or service provider attempting to fool you into revealing sensitive information.
- Large order values and/or quantities – most often from foreign shores, however always check unusual orders as fraudulent cards may be in use.
- Suspicious overseas details – Many common scams and frauds are attempted using overseas addresses e.g. from African sub-continent.
- Anyone requesting ALL your bank details – they do not need ALL these details to transfer money. If they are legitimate then alternate payment methods can be discussed.
- Suspicious phone calls requesting bulk deals – again, as with overseas online orders.
- Purchases using credit cards with different delivery address – a common fraud attempt to use stolen card details to obtain goods by deliver.
Techniques we recommend you use to check and combat the fraudsters:
- Google any generic seeming email subjects, email content, address info. If this is a scam it will most likely not be the first time it has been perpetrated therefore there is a high probability that someone has already reported this online. A quick Google search could yield a quick result to confirm your suspicions.
- Use 3rd man and all other available fraud screening technologies available to you.
- Check any phone numbers used against http://whocallsme.com to see if this number has been previously reported e.g. 971-55-6874623
- Use common sense. Does the order/query raised sound suspicious or too good to be true. Don’t let pound signs blind your judgement.
- Google again for any relevant information to find any online record of similar activity online.
- Once a scam or fraudster has been confirmed report it online e.g. at “whocallsme.com” to further aid others in their own searches.
Above all be aware. Vigilance and common sense can prevent you falling foul of these scams and fraudulent activities.
If in doubt then research, check and then get in touch with the team at teclan to help where required.