Posted on May 29, 2009 by jia zhou

Friendly fraud just arose a couple months ago. It mainly coming from the consumers who wants to get free stuff from the retailers, and not wanting to pay. This practice just become too popular among the regular consumers who attempt on such schemes. Businesses, of course take every step to fight it back for their rights. But it also costs too much money for the businesses to negotiate with the card companies.

In the Wall Street Journal, they called in “Friendly fraud, but it wasn’t that friendly at all. After many research, and tracking methods. Consumers come up with many lies to dispute their charges against those retailers. They simply don’t want to pay for what they order. Here is how it works; a consumer order an item on internet, or call 1-800 number for the order. Receive it through mail and then dispute the charge with their credit card companies. They’ll complain about they never receive the merchandise, or it was misrepresented when they receive it. Whatever scheme they come up with.

The businesses will definitely fight it back to get their money worth. But the procedure on dispute items can be really staggering, and annoying. One retailer documents the entire packaging and shipping process with digital photos so they can dispute a charge-back if one arises.
Others have found that signature confirmation or other tracking methods are equally effective insurance policies. Whatever does work, the businesses learn a great lesson.