2Checkout.com’s Prevention and Solutions Team (PST) is wildly unpopular with a sector of the world’s e-commerce community – the unwelcome fraudulent sector. Charged with running 2CO’s daily risk and verification checks and serving as a front line defense, the staff would like nothing more than to approve every product and site interested in using 2Checkout’s services, but it is an impossible reality. More so, some of the scams encountered, quarantined, and stopped are constant reminders of the importance of 2Checkout’s world-class risk and verification service.
As a leading online reseller of 1.5 million products, 2Checkout hinges on the alertness of this seasoned department of investigators and compliance experts to separate dishonest and criminally minded vendors from the vast majority of honest businesses. Through this daily quest, PST faces an array of varied issues ranging from routine to bizarre. The following are three entertaining examples.
WHEN IN DOUBT…BLAME THE CAT!
Not all customers investigated by PST have criminal intent, however, some result in amusing conclusions. In one case, an everyday customer ran smack into a conundrum when a favorite feline crashed his checkout process. According to the customer, “{I} received an email about my credit card’s expiration date and was updating it when my cat jumped up on my keyboard. He submitted the wrong info twice but I went back and corrected it. My concern is that I received 3 {confirmation} emails…” PST investigated the sale and instructed the owner to congratulate his cat for submitting the order correctly and to call The Planet’s Funniest Animals immediately!
“PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!”
Hiding restricted products is a common catch for PST. 2Checkout prohibits the sale of specific products to protect customer interest and vendor integrity. In this example, the website owner works hard to mask its actual product line from 2Checkout so it can continue to sell online but dodge 2Checkout’s prohibited products list. The question consumers should be asking is “what else is this company hiding?” A portion of the company’s website included the following language directed to its customers: “The transaction for this order will be processed by 2Checkout.com… I have to be careful. I am unable to blatantly link directly to 2Checkout from this site. For this reason, you may notice {a different company} name when making payment… it will be listed as though you are buying {a different product}… I know this all seems so bloody dodgy…it’s the only way I can use 2Checkout to process cards…” Obviously, PST shut down the account.
MY NAME IS {TYPE NAME HERE}
Here is a special note to aspiring criminals: It is bad enough to make one dumb mistake, yet alone two! An aspiring criminal attempted to pass a fraudulent credit card through 2Checkout but was flagged and questioned by PST. When he was asked to legitimize the bogus payment, he faxed a doctored copy of a commonly viewed sample I.D. card featured in an I.D. Checking Guide, referenced daily by thousands of industry professionals worldwide. The criminal simply retyped his name over the original I.D., leaving the same photo and layout. He was obviously desperate but stopped dead in his tracks by PST.
2Checkout’s PST provides piece of mind for vendors, customers, and the jaded. Whether you are buying or selling online, at work, or home asleep, PST is fighting the good fight to keep the criminally minded separate from your e-commerce activity.
