The scams some people use to rip businesses off…
I know of a newsagent who wanted too access a business service urgently. They were told the price and provided a credit card. That failed to go through so they were called back and a second card was provided. The transaction went through. They got immediate access to what they wanted. Over subsequent days they used the service over and over, downloading and extending the value they achieved. Six weeks later, they contacted their credit card company claiming the use of the card was fraud.
I own the company that has been hit by the scam. The time being spent to prove the legitimacy of the charge, to provide documentation supporting the charge, phone conversation notes and more is considerable. In the meantime, the newsagent has unfettered access to what they downloaded, to the products they purchased once agreeing on the price.
A consequence of the experience is a tightening of back office processes, and this is the point of my post here. It is often misbehaviour by one that impacts on the vast majority in any community who behave well.
There are people in our newsagency community who do not act as if they are in a community with metal obligations of respect. They do not act thinking their behaviour could impact on other newsagents.
Speaking as a supplier, I’d love a place to share details of newsagents to not deal with, a bit like putting up a phone or video of someone who steals from a shop. But that idea is not possible so you suck it up, learn from the experience and move on.
While writing about it here provides some relief, it is minimal compared to the cost to the business regardless of where the fraud investigation lands.
