Barbara Feldman: Affiliate/Credit Card Scam

Affiliate/Credit Card Scam

Some credit card thieves use stolen cards not to get merchandise, but to earn affiliate commissions. If you run your own affiliate program ,you need to be vigilant in watching out for suspicous transactions, and reversing both the transaction and the affiliate commission.

What's a suspicous credit card transaction look like? Here are a few warning signs:

1) Ordering multiple copies of an electronic product (yes, some people do order multiple copies, but very few)

2) Multiple failed transactions with different names/credit cards leading up to a successful transaction

3) An email bounce from the buyer. Sometimes these are just typos. But other times they can mean fraud.

4) All of the above happening in a single affiliate account.

If you spot a fishy transaction, and can not reach the buyer, simply void it. This will protect your merchant account from a chargeback. And always remember to void the appropriate affiliate commission.

If you notice a pattern of suspicious transactions originating from a particular affiliate, fire the affiliate! In many affiliate programs, this can be as simple as changing their commission level to zero percent.