Keep your eyes open for the following fraud indicators. When more than one of the following statements is true during a card-not-present transaction, fraud might be involved. So, follow up, just in case.

• First-time shopper: Criminals are always looking for new merchants to steal from.
• Larger-than-normal orders: Because stolen cards or account numbers have a limited life span, criminals need to maximize the size of their purchase.
• Orders that include several varieties of the same item: Having multiples of the same item increases a criminal's profits.
• Orders made up of "big-ticket" items: These items have maximum resale value and therefore maximum profit potential.
• "Rush" or "overnight" shipping: Criminals want their fraudulently obtained items as soon as possible for the quickest possible resale, and aren't concerned about extra delivery charges.
• Shipping to an international address: A significant number of fraudulent transactions are shipped to fraudulent cardholders outside of Canada.
• Transactions with similar account numbers: Particularly useful if the account numbers used have been generated using software available on the Internet (e.g., CreditMaster).
• Shipping to a single address, but transactions placed on multiple cards: Could involve an account number generated using special software, or even a batch of stolen cards.
• Multiple transactions on one card over a very short period of time: Could be an attempt to "run a card" until the account is closed.
• Multiple transactions on one card or a similar card with a single billing address, but multiple shipping addresses: Could represent organized activity, rather than one individual at work.
• In online transactions, multiple cards used from a single IP (Internet Protocol) address: More than one or two cards could definitely indicate a fraud scheme.
• Orders from Internet addresses that make use of free e-mail services: These e-mail services involve no billing relationships, and often neither an audit trail nor verification that a legitimate cardholder has opened the account.

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