Situation:

A vendor selling PC to Phone services was being targeted by a fraud ring. This type of fraud is very tricky to catch. The orders appeared to look legitimate. The card BIN, billing addresses and I.P. addresses all matched. What tipped off the fraud analyst to further investigate this, was the spelling of the customers’ names, name placement, and the frequency of the orders. Most orders had a French I.P. address, but there was one with the I.P. of Côte d’Ivoire. This one mistake led us to believe this was fraud coming out of Ghana. Using some deeper methods of fraud detection such as Device Identification, we were able to connect the orders to each other.

Continue reading…

One of the biggest challenges facing online (card not present) merchants is “Friendly Fraud”. What do we mean by friendly fraud? The standard definition for friendly fraud is when a customer uses a credit card to make a purchase, and then disputes the charge with their credit card company once the item(s) are received. Consumers use friendly fraud to obtain item(s) for free. Friendly fraud can be broken into two categories; deliberate and accidental. Deliberate friendly fraud would fall under the standard definition of friendly fraud. Where accidental friendly fraud can occur when a customer doesn’t realize what a charge is for.

All types of e-commerce companies have dealt with friendly fraud at one time or another. Within the past few years there has been an increase in deliberate friendly fraud. There are a few factors that have contributed to the rise in deliberate friendly fraud; such as the shape of the economy worldwide, individual financial situations, and consumer’s knowledge of how to take advantage of the banking system. Unfortunately, the economy can impact a person’s financial stability which can cause this type of deliberate fraud. What someone can afford today, they may not be able to afford tomorrow. This can lead them to drastic measures to hold on to any funds they have.

Continue reading…

The currency used when an order is placed will effect the type of dispute notice that 2Checkout.com receives from a credit card provider.

If the order was placed in United States currency (US Dollars):

• 2Checkout.com receives notice from the credit card provider after the dispute has been completed.
• 2Checkout.com sends notification to the vendor of the chargeback and the reason for said dispute.
• The vendor has the option to either let the dispute stand, contact the customer to resolve the dispute, or contact 2Checkout.com for assistance with challenging the dispute. If a vendor would like to challenge the dispute they need to contact 2Checkout.com’s Dispute Department within 10 days of receiving the notification.

If the order was placed using any currency other than US Dollars:

• 2Checkout.com receives notification from the credit card provider that an account holder has initiated a dispute.
• 2Checkout.com sends notification to the vendor that a charge is currently being disputed.
• The vendor has the option to either let the dispute stand, contact the customer to resolve the dispute, or contact 2Checkout.com for assistance with challenging the dispute. If a vendor would like to challenge the dispute they need to contact 2Checkout.com’s Dispute Department within 7 days of receiving the notification.
• Once a non-US Dollar dispute has been completed, neither 2Checkout nor the vendor can challenge the dispute.

Additionally, 2Checkout.com occasionally receives notification from the credit card provider that the account holder is inquiring about a charge. On behalf of our vendors 2Checkout.com will send a copy of the receipt to the credit card provider. 2Checkout.com will also inform the vendor of the inquiry to give them the opportunity to contact the customer to resolve any possible issues that could result in a chargeback.

If there are any questions about the dispute process, please contact the Dispute Department by email at chargeback@2CO.com or by using the contact information provided here.

2Checkout.com strives to provide vendors with detailed stat tracking to assist in monitoring the financial history of their accounts.

A key aspect of this information is active tracking of refund and bank dispute amounts and percentages. These percentages play a key role in 2Checkout account evaluations, as well as determining the level of the rolling reserve that is applied to accounts.

2Checkout maintains the following criteria for acceptable refund and bank dispute percentages:

• Refund amounts should not exceed our acceptable limit of 10%.
• Bank Assisted dispute levels should not exceed our acceptable limit of 1%.

Percentages above these levels may lead to reserve increases, and can be detrimental to the overall profitability of your company.

Refunds and Bank Assisted Disputes that are deemed fraud related are weighted differently than those issued for service related issues, yet these stats should be monitored as well.

2Checkout encourages all vendors stay current on their account statistics and are proactive in using these tools to ensure the overall health and good standing of their accounts.

Credit card providers charge a fee for every chargeback that is received. If the disputed is issued for a fraud related reason, the fee is not passed on to vendor. However, if the dispute is issued for a service related reason, the fee is passed on the the vendor. The fee amount will vary depending on the amount of chargebacks that take place within the vendor’s account. For further information please read the Operating Regulations Fee Structure.

There will be a $50.00 USD fee for receiving a fraud related chargeback for any order that a vendor requests to be reinstated after it was failed by 2Checkout.com’s fraud department.

If a vendor would like to challenge a chargeback all documentation must be sent to 2Checkout.com’s Dispute Department for review. If 2Checkout.com decides there is a solid case to present to the credit card provider, the vendor will have the option to challenge that chargeback. The credit card provider charges a fee for challenging a dispute; this fee is passed on to the vendor and is non refundable. The fee to challenge a dispute is $15.00 USD.