does this sound like fraud to you?

[marija_jane]

I have recently received a fairly large (almost $200) international order from Spain, and the billing name and address are different from the shipping name and address, although both in the same city. Also the shipping recipient's name is not Spanish, and the email address provided was for the recipient (obvious, based on the name). I emailed her to ask if it was a gift, and she wrote back saying no, not a gift and that she had found my products using google. This sounded credible but I'm still nervous.
The credit card did go through-- I'm worried its a real credit card but it could be stolen??
A phone number was provided for the billing address and I tried calling but got a funny beeping noise, not sure what it meant - not a recording or anything like that.
The order does include multiples of some items, usually a sign of fraud according to paypal and others... although items that people do often order multiples of and would make sense for a mom to use.
What would you do? What else should I do to protect myself while at the same time not harming customer service if a legitimate client? Any thoughts?

[CawMama]

Can you call the credit card company and verify with them somehow?

[dogmom327]

I'd call the credit card company. These are the types of things that make me really nervous!

[marija_jane]

Thanks for writing ladies.

Well, it is a Visa, so how would you go about calling the credit card company? It could be any one of thousands of banks? Or are you referring to the credit card processor I use? I use Propay and I don't know if they offer a service like that. Or should I call her to ask her the name of the bank that issued her the Visa?

[CawMama]

Good point Marija....did she pay through Paypal, or directly thru your processor at home?

Here is Visa's main page for merchants: http://usa.visa.com/merchants/index.html I'm sure you contact them and they'll be able to help more. Their site talks about the 6 most common signs of fraud, but it is more geared toward brick & mortar operations. It does say something though about watching out for people who spend large amounts of money and show no regard for size, color, etc....

HTH...keep us posted!

[2xshy]

You can always say that you can only ship to the billing address as a security measure.
I have ordered things off line before I had a CC and used my mothers, so the shipping and billing address were different but it was legit.

[kokonutmama]

Good luck. If this really is going to make you nervous, why don't you require that international shipments or shipments over a certain value go to the billing address? It might annoy some people, but it's better than going through all this angst whenever this type of order comes through.

OT, but: It's really too bad that we, as merchants, have to worry about this sort of thing. The CC companies make a big deal that the customer is protected from fraudulent charges, but all they do is stick it to the merchant. :

[marija_jane]

Thanks for all the tips! Especially to Carrin for the link to Visa. I use Propay to process the credit cards and they also just put the risk on the merchant if there is a chargeback.

I emailed the customer and I also googled her, in the end I sent the package but I'll have to consider changing the policies per the suggestions to restrict international shipments to the billing address.

But I don't know, really, its so hard to imagine that anyone wants to steal potty training pants... but it still makes me nervous because the margins are so low on the WAHM products as it is!

[CarsonBookworm]

I'm glad that things went relatively smoothly for you.

[CawMama]

Marija....I was thinking this morning. Do you have capability to turn off shipping for international orders so that people have to contact you for a quote? This might help prevent fraud also? Right now, I have it set so we can only ship to US addresses, and anyone else has to be entered manually.