Save Yourself From Merchant Frauds!

Save Yourself From Merchant Frauds!

Fraudsters are constantly looking at new ways to extract money. With more and more customers shopping online, Merchant Frauds are on the rise. In this blogpost we talk about staying safe from Merchant Frauds.

We all have read or heard of instances where a buyer ordered or paid for a product online but never received it. That’s an example of Merchant Fraud! Fraudsters can go any extent to steal your money. A merchant/seller sets up a fake website with goods to order. The company’s address, contact number, policies for cancellation, return & refunds, and a payment gateway for making transactions are all fake.

Now, the merchant needs to tie up with a payment gateway to start accepting payments from his customers. Payment gateways or payment processors are expected to perform deep background checks on merchants before providing them payment services.

To avoid getting caught in the process, the merchant sets up a personal bank account for transferring money through NEFT or uses a personal QR code instead of a merchant QR code. This way the merchant imitates a legit payment gateway and all he has to do is promote his business on social media platforms, and wait for customers to make transactions.

Reminder: PhonePe on-boards merchants with registered and active mobile numbers only. Merchants have to go through a rigorous verification process, KYC document checks and multiple surprise store visits. Only then are they allowed to start accepting payments via PhonePe. You can be assured when you pay with PhonePe.

In most cases of Merchant Fraud, customers detect that something is wrong only after the payment has been made or when the product delivery date has been breached. They usually reach out to the website’s customer support team and realise that a fraud merchant has taken away their money.

You can prevent frauds like these. Here’s what you need to keep in mind.

-Do not trust all shopping websites. Check for customer feedback, reviews and the website’s social media page (if available) before buying from there.

– Only buy from trusted shopping websites and platforms.

-Report the fraudulent website to Google.

-File a chargeback on the debit/credit card, bank account(UPI) used to pay at the fraudulent website to get your money back.