Protecting your business against chargebacks and fraud

Australia only

Whether you trade online or offline, your business is always at risk of fraudulent transactions resulting from stolen credit cards or other buyer scams.

But don’t worry - here are a few things to look out for to protect your business and minimise the risk of customer disputes and chargebacks.   

• Is the customer placing an unusually large order, or large quantities of orders in a short period of time?
• Is the order being paid for using multiple cards? This could suggest the buyer is trying to avoid card limits.
• Do you have an order where the shipping address is different to the billing address?
• Are you receiving multiple orders to different customers at the same address, or is the address from an unusual location?
• Is it a large order or expensive goods where the customer requests next-day or expedited shipping?
• Can't contact the customer via phone or email?
• Has the customer asked you to pay for freight which they'll reimburse later?

While these activities won’t always be fraudulent, if it seems suspicious it’s worth taking the time to check.

What you can do if you think there's fraud

If you're suspicious of fraud, here's a few things you can do:

• Call the buyer and verify the order
• Search the internet for the buyer's name, shipping address, email address and phone number - keeping an eye on consistency between the information

If you can’t verify a customer’s details, or you’re still suspicious - cancel the order.

If you believe you've been the victim of fraud, contact the online payments team on 1300 783 674.