Okay, we just had (what appears to be) our first encounter with credit card fraud.

Someone from Turkey signed up for a mid-grade package and upgraded everything right off the bat to the maximum amounts.

Then, they gave us a credit card of someone in North Carolina, USA.

We process credit cards manually, so it didn't try and get charged.

We tried calling the owner of the credit card a few times, but no answer.

Is there a phone number for VISA where we can call and ask if the card is stolen or reported missing or anything like that?

Or, should we just ignore this order?

Any help is appreciated...

If you have extra time, you can call the card issuers bank. I know our merchant has a bank lookup system when a toll free number. Call them to verify the address and tell them you think this is a fraudulent order and they will contact the owner of the card and or place a hold on the card owners account.

That's a good idea....but all we know is that it's a VISA card.....we don't ask in our sign-up forms which bank the person got the VISA card from....

I just saw a question like this on another forum, even though they stated they get 'a lot' of fraud, and my reply was the following... it might be something you should think about:

Run your security more tight if you have more fraud, for example, I request the following info for all credit card order sign ups (depends on case to case, but if it seems like fraud, this will prevent it, yes... it is a little more work for the customer, but if they like your services, they will do it)

Request a faxed copy of the front and back of credit card

Signature on YOUR TOS

Possibly a copy of there drivers license or valid state ID

You get the idea.

Have a nice day, and good luck with your fraud

(Ever since I implemented a method like this, my fraud rate has gone down 75% - I possibly lost 10 customers, at most that probably were NOT fraud)

Originally posted by FocusOn718
I just saw a question like this on another forum, even though they stated they get 'a lot' of fraud, and my reply was the following... it might be something you should think about:

Run your security more tight if you have more fraud, for example, I request the following info for all credit card order sign ups (depends on case to case, but if it seems like fraud, this will prevent it, yes... it is a little more work for the customer, but if they like your services, they will do it)

Request a faxed copy of the front and back of credit card

Signature on YOUR TOS

Possibly a copy of there drivers license or valid state ID

You get the idea.

Have a nice day, and good luck with your fraud

(Ever since I implemented a method like this, my fraud rate has gone down 75% - I possibly lost 10 customers, at most that probably were NOT fraud)

Unless you have a very good reputation and the customer really wants to sign up with you, then that's fine. But I think if the customer knows he/she has to do all those extra things before they order the account, they will most likely go with another webhost. You should simply ask for the 3 security digits on the back of the creditcard and the bank phone number which is also located on the back of the card. This way you can call the bank incase there's a problem.

I've been following credit card fraud very closely in the past 6 months and the digits on the back of a card are increasingly getting less protective...

Don't know how, or why and so on...

But that is true, make sure you do AVS authentication, the 3 digits.. etc and so on...

I personally, will take the extra step to make sure there is no fraud.. If there is too much fraud....

1) Chargebacks go up
2) Percentage rate CAN go up (that's a lot of fraud)

^-- and so on, I wont explain all the reasons.

Keeping a low charge back rate is vital, especially for the starting business, they have no reputation with the credit card merchant and so on - And you don't want to be classified as real risky - Let alone charge back fees can grow, the more chargebacks you have - The more likely they will want to raise your chargeback rate.

Simply try a voice verification will reduce fraud a lot as well, a lot of merchants will even verify the phone number along as billing address.

I am currently setting up a toll-free system for orders to be placed for people that do not wish to fax, and / or mail me information.. The basic outline is as follows:

Caller must call from the phone number listed on there credit card account
Customer rep that answers phone will ask for phone number, address, credit card number, 3 digit CCV code, expiration, address, and so on - Customer rep will erify that the customer is calling from the phone number on file - If the customer is not or states well it automatically blocks the #, the rep will call that customer back. and so on

this seems very extensive but takes meerely 30 seconds (I am making it so the customer signs up on the site, will be given a "customer #" and calls a toll-free number and gives that customer #... The customer # pulls up all info, if the caller ID information matches.. customer rep processes account

To get the phone number of the issuing bank for any card, you can call one of the following numbers (if you're in the U.S.):

Visa: 1-800-847-2750;
MasterCard: 1-800-622-7747

Thanks! I am from Canada, but the number for VISA still worked and I got ahold of the card issuing bank.

Gave them the info and they "will investigate it if they deem necessary"....whatever that means!! :rolleyes:

I figured that this is something that at least would involve them contacting their customer.....oh well....out of my hands now....

Thanks for all the help everyone!

Sometimes when trying to report these things, I get huge run arounds. "You need to call so and so, at 800...". Then they'll say, "No, you need to call so and so, at 800...". Sometimes you end up going back to the 800 number you started with.

Why should I have to jump through hoops just to be a good samaritan? They need to make it much easier. Like just have an SSL web site where you can enter the transaction information, and the card holder will be notified that their card information was offered for a possible fraudlent transaction.

Or an automated phone system, or something.

Or if you could just use your credit card terminal. Press 1 for sale, 2 for preauth, 3 for postauth, 4 for credit, or 5 to report fraud.