Exploring Online Fraud Resources
With the increasing popularity of the Internet, particularly the Web, online businesses have witnessed an increase in fraud. The Internet has made sensitive
information both easier to obtain and easier to use to commit fraud.
Online entrepreneurs can and should defend themselves against fraud and do
whatever they can to curb fraudulent transactions, identify the perpetrators,
and report fraud to law enforcement authorities for investigation and
prosecution.
This article highlights some of the resources you can tap to learn more about
online fraud and protect yourself from falling victim to it.
Learning more about online fraud
Knowledge is the best protection against online fraud. Knowing the way the
fraudsters operate, the types of schemes they use, and preventive measures you
can implement gives you a fighting chance to detect, prevent, and report
fraudulent transactions:
- Read Doba's article on Fraud Protection, where you can find valuable information on securing credit card, check, and money order payments, in addition to spotting warning signs and investigating suspicious orders.
- Check out the eBay Marketplace Safety Tips, which offers specific tips for avoiding fraud on eBay, along
with more general information related to online fraud and current trends.
- Visit CarBuyingTips.com, which provides comprehensive information related to all types of online fraud,
including fraud-related trends and alerts.
- Explore Lookstoogoodtobetrue.com, where you'll discover excellent resources on all types of Internet fraud, the tips for avoiding fraud, and stories from actual victims.
- Read MerchantSeek's article "10 Ways to Reduce Chargebacks and Fraud" for excellent tips on reducing credit card fraud and customer chargebacks.
- Gather tips from VISA for protecting your business from fraud and consumer chargebacks in a Card-Not-Present (CNP) environment.
- Check out the Overstock Fraud
Watch Forum to identify new and emerging trends in fraud and how they impact the online community.
- Investigate Online Escrow Services before you choose one.
- Visit the US Department of Justice Internet Fraud to access a useful government resource page for all
types of Internet fraud.
Keeping tabs on known crooks
If someone's trying to scam you, chances are pretty good that they've already
scammed others. A few sites post the identities of known cyber criminals, and it
doesn't hurt to keep tabs on the Internet's Most Wanted. Check out the following
sites:
- eBayersThatSuck.com is a
gathering place for victims of eBay auction fraud. This site allows users to
share their opinions and experiences with other eBay members.
- Auction Black List allows
users to search their customer to find past cases of fraud they may have
committed. The site allows users to enter fraud cases into the database.
Fighting fraud is always like battling a seven-headed dragon. As soon as you
identify one scheme, the fraudsters have six others in the works. To avoid
becoming a victim, visit the fraud sites mentioned in this article regularly to
remain aware of the latest strategies. Knowing how the fraudsters play the game
is the best way to adjust your own fraud prevention game plan. |
Protecting Yourself Against Online Fraud
Although Doba, online marketplaces (such as eBay), and your payment
processors (such as PayPal or MoneyGram) have systems in place to protect you
from falling victim of online fraud, you need to learn some basic self defense.
The following top 10 tips for avoiding fraud can provide you with most of the
protection you need:
- Understand as much as possible about your buyer.
The more you know about your buyer, the better! Compare your buyer's contact information
to his or her buyer account, payment account, and the shipping address
associated with the transaction platform. This information should almost always
match, and when it doesn't, it can mean big trouble for you—the seller.
- If your gut is telling you that something's wrong with the
transaction, contact the buyer by any means necessary, including phone, to
confirm or alleviate your suspicions.
If the buyer will not give out
his or her telephone number or refuses to answer even the most basic of
questions, you may be dealing with a fraudulent order/buyer.
- Avoid buyers who ask you to ship an item to a country other than the
one in which their payment originates.
Buyers who ask you to ship to a
country other than the one from which their payment originate, are usually
trying to pull a fast one! Do not participate in these sorts of transactions
unless you are absolutely certain you are NOT dealing with a scammer.
- Before selling anything online, first find out what steps your
transaction platform and payment processor require you to take for your
transaction to be covered by their fraud protection program.
If fraud
protection is offered, make sure all of your transactions follow appropriate
guidelines.
- Examine your buyer's feedback.
If the transaction platform, such as eBay, Yahoo! Auctions, or Overstock.com, offers it, be
smart and conduct a thorough review your buyer's past transactional history.
- Do not deal with buyers who insist on receiving a shipment tracking
number prior to making payment.
A product should never be delivered
before you—the seller—receive and verify payment. Also, payment processors such
as PayPal and MoneyGram will never ask you—the seller—for a shipment tracking
number prior to releasing the buyer's funds.
- Be wary of escrow sites recommended by your buyer.
If you choose to use an online escrow service or agent, the only site that is widely
recommended is Escrow.com.
- Avoid International orders, because they can be very problematic.
If a problem occurs with an international transaction, it could be much
more difficult to resolve if the buyer is located outside the country from which
you conduct business.
- Be wary of buyers offering payment above your asking price in
exchange for expedited shipping services.
Offers to pay additional funds well above your asking price should always be considered suspect and
handled with extra caution.
- Pay special attention to orders made for gift purposes.
Mismatches between billing and shipping information should be reviewed
thoroughly. Many popular transaction platforms and payment processors do not
provide fraud protection for sellers who deal with buyers who make gift-related
purchases.
By following these tips for every single order you receive, you can
significantly reduce your exposure to online fraud. The next article in this
series shows you how to report suspected fraudulent transactions, to further
limit any losses you may incur and assist in bringing online fraudsters to
justice. |
How To Avoid Fraudulent Wholesalers
The following articles were published in the March 2006 of the Wholesale Pages... UK Wholesalers & UK Dropshippers Directory newsletter, and are reprinted
here by permission [pers.comm.03.07.06, Mark Johnson]. These articles contain information specific to the U.K., but the principles apply
in Canada and the United States as well. We've provided the appropriate Canadian federal and provincial resources in the right-hand
column.
NOTE: The key links in the following article are intact,
but those illustrating problematic content are obviously out-of-date.
How to detect and avoid fraudulent companies and wholesalers
As we mentioned in our previous newsletter, recently there has
been an influx of fraudulent wholesalers and dubious bulk discount
stores on the net. In this newsletter we will concentrate on how
to detect such companies and what necessary checks you must carry
out before investing in any business venture. Additionally we
have also issued a warning against a company, which to a normal
visitor would seem to be a legitimate and an authentic business
but in fact is full of suspicion.
To detect whether the company you are dealing with is genuine or not, you must carry out these checks.
- A professionally designed with a good layout is not an indicator
that the business is genuine. A lot of wholesalers do not have
great looking sites but are registered and authentic businesses.
Never EVER get convinced by the design of the site.
- Ensure that the company accepts payments via credit/debit cards
and other online payment methods like paypal, nochex etc. If the
company ask you to wire (BACS) money directly
into their account then avoid trading with them as most definitely
they are scamming you.
- Try to talk to a representative of the company on the phone,
it is always nice to talk to someone and clear your doubts.
- Visit their contact page and look for their contact/postal
address. Try to determine whether it is a physical postal address
or just a mailbox. If it’s a mailbox, find out why the company
doesn’t have a proper postal address and where do they actually
trade from?
- Request to visit their warehouse or trading office, even if
you do not intend to do so. Any fraudulent company would be hesitant
to let you visit their premises.
- Visit the Companies House website (www.companieshouse.gov.uk)
and use their search index to determine whether the company is
registered with them or not. Sole traders do not have to register
and as result this would only serve as a secondary check but none
the less will definitely help to clear any doubts.
We hope these checks will help you to differentiate a scam company
from legitimate wholesalers.
Warning – How we implemented these checks to reveal a scam
We would like to warn all our members against a company which
might seem to be selling products at great bargain prices, however
by paying close attention to details and visiting their website
you will discover that you might be taken in for a scam. We are
not directly accusing the company of setting up a scam but there
are too many discrepancies to neglect, and as a result we are
issuing this warning.
The company website address is: http://www.appliancesyouneed.co.uk/
(let's call this site 1)
They are selling home appliances like fridges, freezers, dish
washers, laptops, plasma screens, etc at 40% reduced prices as
compared to the market rate. Initially the prices, products and
website layout seem great and give the felling that it’s
a legitimate business with a long trading history. A normal visitor
can easily get convinced that this is the bargain he/she has been
looking for!
However here is the catch. If you look at the WHOIS details of
site 1, the first thing that
will strike you is that the website was only registered in January 2006, indicating that it has been
recently set-up. Additionally it has been registered by an individual
rather than a company:
Now lets visit another website and compare these two:
www.trade-appliances.co.uk
(let's call this site 2)
The first thing to notice is the similarity in design and the
range of products both of them are selling. On checking the prices
you can notice that the RRP prices on the Appliancesyouneed.co.uk
are exactly same as the prices on Tradeappliances.co.uk, however
the actual selling price of every item on site 1 has been greatly
reduced to lure and entice the visitors. Clearly all these points
are raising more and more suspicion against site 1 but lets overlook
everything for the time being and give site 1 the benefit of doubt.
Having mentioned that, there is one thing which cannot be overlooked.
Visit the following page:
www.appliancesyouneed.co.uk/index.php?pid=delivery
where site 1 boasts to have a fleet
of 10 trucks for timely delivery, yet on their terms and conditions page, under the delivery section
they state that deliveries can take up to 21 days. Additionally look carefully at the image on this page and compare it to the
image on
www.trade-appliances.co.uk/aboutus.html.
So the question is which company actually owns the fleet of trucks! Of course appliancesyouneed is trying to fool the visitors.
What Appliancesyouneed have done right to lure the customers
What Appliancesyouneed have done wrong
(Points to remember for protection against fraud)
As a result of this investigation we would like to issue a warning
to our members to be extremely careful and vigilant whilst trading
with this company as all the above information points towards
the company being a scam, however we would like to refrain from
accusing them directly and leave this decision to you.
Lastly, we have also contacted trade-appliances regarding this
and they have confirmed that they have no connections with appliancesyouneed.co.uk
and this is how they have responded to our mail.
--------------------------------------------------
Dear Mark,
Thank you for forwarding this information to me, you are quite
right, they seem to have copied and pasted pretty much everything
from our web site.
As you point out, the truck image is a picture of our trucks
and the building behind is where I sit typing this email!!!
I appreciate you taking the time to do this and will now be taking
action to remove this web site.
Kind Regards
Emma Lowe
E-Commerce & Marketing Manager
Trade Appliances Group Ltd.
www.trade-appliances.co.uk
--------------------------------------------------
Lastly, do remember that we are always here to answers your queries.
Best Wishes and Kind Regards.
Rob Kent
Wholesale Pages.
www.wholesalepages.co.uk |
Canadian Resources
 FEDERAL
Importer Database
Canadian Importers Database
The Canadian Importers Database (CID) provides lists of companies importing goods into Canada, by product, by city and by country of origin.
Canadian Company Capabilities
Canadian Company Capabilities (CCC) is Industry Canada's centrally maintained current searchable database of 60,000 Canadian
businesses, including hundreds of specialized manufacturing, service and product specific business directories
with powerful advanced search and reporting capacity. Business profiles contain comprehensive information on contacts, products,
services, trade experience and technology.
Related Sites
Virtual Trade Commissioner
Competition Bureau
An independent law enforcement agency responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Competition Act,
the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act,
the Textile Labelling Act and the
Precious Metals Marking Act.
PROVINCIAL
Provincial Registrars
NOTE: Bold link leads to full contact information. These sites may be used to obtain information about provincially registered companies.
Alberta
Alberta's Governement Services, Corporate Registries
British Columbia
British Columbia's Ministry of Finance, Corporate Registry
Manitoba
Manitoba Finance, Companies Office
New Brunswick
Service New Brunswick
Newfoundland & Labrador
Department of Government Services - Registry of Companies
Northwest Territories
Corporate Registry, Government of Northwest Territories
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia's Registry of Joint Stock Companies
Nunavut Territory
Government of Nunavut website
Ontario
Ontario's Ministry of Consumer and Business Services
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island's Office of Attorney General
Québec
Le Registraire des entreprises - Direction des entreprises
Quebec (Montréal)
Le Registraire des entreprises - Direction des entreprises
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan's Department of Justice, Corporations Branch
Yukon Territory
Government of Yukon | | | |
