Sometimes it is hard to tell when an order is 100% fraud. In these cases, a Courtesy Call can help provide you with more information.
When you do a Courtesy Call, there are some important questions that can be asked in a polite/friendly way. Here is a script to get you started:
- "We work hard to protect our website customers, and we are calling to ask you a few questions about your order."
- "We always try to verify out-of-state orders: have you checked to see if your credit card has been compromised in the past few days?"
- "Can you please verify your Billing Address for your order?" A scammer might stumble on this one, and not have the billing-address in memory.
- "Can you please verify the Delivery Address for your order?" (An out-of-country scammer might stumble on this one and not know their Delivery Address immediately, because they probably have a few dozen intermediary addresses they ship to.)
- "Did you realize you were placing an order from an out-of-state bookstore? Why did you select us? What school are you enrolled at?"
- (Out-of-state parents will say they wanted to choose the bookstore from the campus their child attends).
- If they say "price" chances are that they could have purchased it cheaper from another store....
- "Did you realize you selected FedEx Overnight - are you aware there are more economical methods?" (Or conversely, "Did you realize you selected ground - are you aware we could get it to you faster?"
Feel free to leave a voicemail for your customer letting them know who you are and what your intentions were (as far as verifying their identity). It's unlikely that a scammer will call you back. Conversely, someone who genuinely wants the mercandise will call and probably appreciate the extra layer of security.