Chargebacks911® COO Monica Eaton’s New Feature for PaymentsSource
Buy online, pick up in-store orders—commonly referred to as BOPUS—are very popular with consumers and merchants alike. But, as Monica explains in her latest guest feature for PaymentsSource, legitimate buyers aren’t the only ones loving the situation.
PaymentsSource offers frontline coverage and analysis for payments professionals. They provide “critical insight and thought leadership on the fast-moving global payments sector,” attracting an audience more than 16,000 followers representing merchants, acquirers, issuers, gateways, and PSPs.
As she explains, fraudsters have several avenues open through which to abuse the BOPUS model. “One might use account takeover tactics to make purchases on a valid user’s account, then pick up the goods and vanish before the cardholder realizes what happened,” she says. “That’s a clean-cut case of fraud, but other situations are less obvious.” Of course, that’s not the only threat; as BOPUS expands, we may see friendly fraud instances spike, too.
The solution: adopt reasonable restrictions on BOPUS orders to prevent fraud losses. This is the only way to make sure this potentially-lucrative revenue stream doesn’t turn into a source of loss.
“Fraudsters tend to be opportunistic. They’re constantly looking for new ways to abuse businesses and cardholders, making it difficult for security professionals to keep up. That said, the desire to provide a better customer experience presents its own obstacles. Requesting a photo ID at the time of pickup, for example, seems like a reasonable prospect for BOPUS, but many retailers don’t consider this a priority.”
