Tips for Spotting Online Fraud

While fast and convenient, online shopping has opened new opportunities for fraudsters. Here are tips for merchants to make it safer to conduct business online.

Be mindful of online transactions with several of these characteristics:

• First-time shopper:
  Criminals are always looking for new victims.
• Larger-than-normal orders:
  Stolen cards or account numbers have a limited lifespan, so fraudsters need to maximize the size of their purchases.
• Orders of many identical items:
  Buying multiple items boosts a criminal's profits.
• Orders made up of "big-ticket" items:
  The items have maximum resale value.
• Orders shipped "rush" or "overnight":
  Criminals want items ASAP for fast resale and are not concerned about extra delivery charges.
• Orders from free Internet email accounts:
  There's no billing relationship and often no audit trail or verification.
• Orders shipped to an international address:
  Many fraudulent transactions have items shipped outside of Canada.
• Shipping address/country different from country of card issuance:
  This could indicate a fraud scheme.
• Transactions on similar account numbers:
  It may suggest that the accounts have been computer-generated.
• Orders shipped to a single address, but made on multiple cards:
  This may indicate someone using many stolen cards for purchases.
• Multiple transactions on one card in a brief period of time:
  This could be an attempt to use the card before available credit is exhausted or the account closed.
• Multiple transactions on one card or similar cards, with a single billing address but multiple shipping addresses:
  This could be an organized fraudulent activity.
• Multiple cards used from a single Internet Protocol (IP) address:
  Multiple cards may indicate a fraud scheme.