Currently, when a user registers on my site, they can simply order straight away. I am having issues with fraudulent email addresses, and I'd like my first time customers to confirm first. Is this possible?
Verifying an email address exists won't prevent fraud. Temporary emails are easy to create. If customers really don't want to give you their email address then trying to force them will likely just reduce your conversion rate.
If you're concerned about verifying that customers are genuine, there are two very useful settings under Webstore > Checkout Settings:
Put orders on hold for new customers
Hold orders over a certain amount
That will flag risky orders and let you perform whatever manual verification you want. We call customers to verify large orders - scammers don't usually take the call.
Hi Erik, Thanks for the prompt reply.
My client's shop has no guest checkout, so they need an email to purchase, so they aren't worried about potential lost sales.
This particular store gets up to 100 new customers a day, so calling them all isn't a viable option.
We use the e-way gateway at the moment, and fraud is rampant. It's a shame
Can you recommend any other options or integrations that could help? We're positive that if we can verify an email address / phone number, that would block 95% of the issues.
Long story short, scammers are selling products for half the price off ebay, and shipping them directly to their customers by buying off our site with fake card details. Absolute insanity.
Fraud is a huge problem for many online businesses. Verifying email addresses won't help. Phone is a good option, maybe they could implement it for large orders as a starting point? We call under the pretense of verifying their shipping address, but we're mostly checking if they answer.
Most payment gateways offer an anti-fraud option. eWay's product is called Beagle. If you're experiencing a high level of fraud then it's probably a good idea. I've heard good results in some cases.
Unfortunately the payment processors can really only deal with fraud from compromised cards. Things like chargeback fraud occur with a customer's own credit card and there is nothing you can do.
Hi Erik,
Thanks again. Unfortunately the fraud is happening a lot, even on smaller orders. The site seems to be targeted specifically, and usually with unreported cards.
On another note, because we are expecting the fraudulent customers to be bots, having email verification might be enough to deter users. I find it odd that this isn't a feature, or even available as an extension of some sort? We've had a lot of success in deterring fraudulent sign ups (at least a large portion of it) by using this method.
Anyway, thanks again!
If it's that common and bot-related, definitely try Beagle (or equivalent from another payment processor). They take a lot of factors into account to determine potential fraud. They can also report the fraud rating back to Neto so you can see the risk on every order.
