I'm a s/w developer and noticed some unusual sales coming from europe for some s/w that people from there would not normally buy.
This had been going on for a few months before I started looking at the email addresses. They were more than likely throw-away hotmail addresses (random character prefixes) used to purchase the s/w. I suspect this person/persons are using the purchase of the inexpensive s/w to test the credit card information so that they can be sold as verified and used to make larger purchases. I reached out to the company that takes care of my online purchases to get their take, but I haven't heard back as of yet. I googled what I suspected was happening and found this: 7 Sophisticated Shopify Scams That Will Blow Your Mind that says
"There is card testing scam, and chargeback scum and both involve loose of money which is actually Not healthy for business and can quickly destroy the customer-retailer relationship.
With a chargeback, the credit card provider demands back payment for a retailer for goods which were fraudulently bought, disputed or a fraudulent transaction happened.
Shopify scammers are very intelligent, on the card testing scam, it usually occurs when determined scammers have many stolen cards and numbers and are typically tried on trial and error until the correct combination is achieved and then the card used to make purchases over the Shopify platform."
Just something new to be aware of especially if you use PayPal, since PayPal will charge the business owner $20 on top of the lost sale when someone files a chargeback. I would have gone out of business had I stayed with them!
This had been going on for a few months before I started looking at the email addresses. They were more than likely throw-away hotmail addresses (random character prefixes) used to purchase the s/w. I suspect this person/persons are using the purchase of the inexpensive s/w to test the credit card information so that they can be sold as verified and used to make larger purchases. I reached out to the company that takes care of my online purchases to get their take, but I haven't heard back as of yet. I googled what I suspected was happening and found this: 7 Sophisticated Shopify Scams That Will Blow Your Mind that says
"There is card testing scam, and chargeback scum and both involve loose of money which is actually Not healthy for business and can quickly destroy the customer-retailer relationship.
With a chargeback, the credit card provider demands back payment for a retailer for goods which were fraudulently bought, disputed or a fraudulent transaction happened.
Shopify scammers are very intelligent, on the card testing scam, it usually occurs when determined scammers have many stolen cards and numbers and are typically tried on trial and error until the correct combination is achieved and then the card used to make purchases over the Shopify platform."
Just something new to be aware of especially if you use PayPal, since PayPal will charge the business owner $20 on top of the lost sale when someone files a chargeback. I would have gone out of business had I stayed with them!
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