The last 12 – 18 months have seen a massive shift for many restaurants and the hospitality sector in general, such as adding delivery and pay & collect services to remain viable and support their local communities.
With the increase in phone payments or indeed any transactions that are not chip & pin or secure Ecommerce, this has sadly opened the door to fraudsters resorting to extraordinary measures to con businesses.
Here is how it works:
• Business will be contacted via email or phone with a request to cater for an event
• They will then place an order for a large quantity of food and/or alcohol & agree to pay on collection
• Typically, and right at the last minute the “fraudster” will contact the business, paying over the phone using a stolen or compromised card and then arrange for goods to be collected by taxi (making a very convincing excuse as to why they can’t meet you in person or let you deliver to their address)
• Thereafter the payment will be charged back as a fraudulent transaction, resulting in the business losing £revenue and stock
Unfortunately, most businesses can experience more than one transaction over a couple of days with this type of scam which may see them lose even more money & stock.
What to look out and listen for:
• High-value orders that are easy to resell
• First-time customers placing multiple orders
• Multiple purchases of the same item on a card
• Hesitant customers and those who make errors when providing their personal information
• Customer sends a taxi, a courier, a friend, or a member of their team to collect the order they placed
Paul Shaw CEO at the Restaurant Collective said
“I’m pleased that acceptcards® have highlighted this problem in our sector. By being aware of these signs and talking to your teams so they know what to look out for, means we can identify the fraudsters as soon as possible and stop them in their tracks before becoming a victim of this callous crime.”
Fraudsters will always be looking for new loopholes, so remaining vigilant to this type of scam will hopefully prevent your business being a victim, avoiding the potential loss of stock and revenue which could run into hundreds and sometimes thousands of pounds.
There are many ways to take payments safely and securely when taking phone payments. Speak to us so we can make sure you and your business is protected.
https://acceptcards.co.uk/contact
