Crazy Story of Credit Card Fraud Against Merchants.
I had a call for help from a merchant who books bounce houses for parties. The poor business owner had been through a nightmare of fraud and was listed on the “Match List” for no fault of his own, and now no credit card processor would accept his account.
Here is what happened. A fraudster created a website to book bounce houses for parties. Most people book these types of events way in advance. The website took people’s money and used a calendar system to allow them to pick a date and time, along with their favorite bounce house design. However, the fraudster never planned to deliver the bounce house at the time of the event. The fraudster booked a real party with a legitimate bounce house company in the area by paying only the deposit with the cardholder’s credit card, not the full amount due on the party date. The fraudster was pocketing the difference. The client who booked was duped into thinking they had an event scheduled and paid for.
When the time of the event arrived, the real bounce house company (the poor guy who called me) went to deliver the bounce house and collect the balance, only to find out the client had already paid the full value of the rental to the fraudster unknowingly. He didn’t deliver the bounce house, and people started calling their credit cards to cancel the deposit payments to the honest bounce house company and the balance of the payment to the fraudster.
This poor guy got listed on the “Match list” and was having trouble getting off of it so he could accept payments for his business. He had no business if he couldn’t take cards online.
I am not sure how to help you prevent something like this from happening to you, but I thought it was educational nonetheless.
Electronic Money Company is at the top of the list for customer service and support. Don’t hesitate to call us at 505-296-2847 if you have a problem with your current processor.
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