IndieCommunication: New Credit Card Fraud Red Flag

Here's the latest news from the IndieCommunication e-newsletter from the IndieCommerce team:

New Credit Card Fraud Red Flag: Suspicious IP Addresses

This new fraud check analyzes the IP address that placed an order on your website to determine what type of company it belongs to and how it is used.

Our team has been studying patterns of fraud across the IndieCommerce/IndieLite network, and one of the most reliable red flags has turned out to be the nature of the IP address that placed the order.

For more information on how this feature works, see the Fraudulent Orders document in the IndieCommerce help center.

The second section in that document, titled “New Flag for November 2020: Suspicious IP Address,” covers this latest anti-fraud feature in detail. If you have additional questions after reviewing the document, contact [email protected].

Other Types of E-commerce Fraud

An IndieCommerce store recently sent us example of highly suspicious emails they received. The first email began:

“Found a transaction from your shop previous month. This is strange since I have never visited your store. I have official paper confirming the purchase on your site.”

Another email from the same sender followed. It contained a URL linking to what looked like an online PDF, which the sender claimed was their bank statement containing proof of the charge.

The PDF was actually a compressed zip file that probably contained a nasty computer virus. Don’t open attachments or visit URLs within emails from customers you don’t know. If you receive suspicious emails or suspect online fraud, contact [email protected] so that we can warn other stores.

Limiting Product Availability to Specific Ingram Warehouses

This new feature allows your store to alter the availability of books on your website based on which Ingram warehouses have the product in stock.

This feature is not recommended for stores that rely on CDF (the "Send to Ingram" button). Limiting the warehouses will only make it harder for customers to order. (CDF shops all warehouses, regardless which ones are available to your store.)

Inventory numbers for Ingram may be different on IndieCommerce than what you see in iPage. The reason for this is that IndieCommerce uses data for Ingram’s CDF program. Quantities available for CDF may be different than quantities available to order by bookstores.

This feature is intended for stores that do their own fulfillment.

Find more information here. Questions? Contact [email protected]. If you run across what you suspect to be fraudulent orders, report them to [email protected].