Let me paint you a picture. You wake up and discover you’ve had a sale of $997 of a product that you don’t sell many of. Well, not unless you have a targeted promotional campaign on that product. Hmm that’s nice easy money. Over the next few days you get more of these sales. That’s unusual, but you notice there are 2 affiliates responsible for the referrals so you figure they must be running a campaign on that product, probably offering bonuses to people who buy.
Ooh that’s nice. Someone else is doing the marketing and you pocket the sales.
You email to congratulate them 
Then you get another $997 sale. This time it is for tickets to a live event. But hang on……the customer is in the UK and the workshop is in Sydney. And the workshop was 2 weeks ago!
Hmmm something is not quite right here.
To find out what happened, how we worked it out, and what you MUST do if this happens to you….simply watch this 5 minute video below. Love to hear your comments so please take time to write below.
Janet – how awful for you!! This hasn’t happened to me (thank goodness) however I’m so grateful that you shared this with us.
I can’t believe that one of your affiliates would stoop so low and do this! Just terrible!
Here’s hoping you do get your money back from him!
Hi Janet,
Thank you so much for sharing this awful experience. It is amazig what people will do, however just knowing what to look for and what to do if it happens, is great to know. I really hope you get your money back, and that this does not happen again – to either you or to anyone else. Once again, thank you for sharing.
What a challenging year you are having Janet.
But good to see that you are rising to each one.
At least they know you are onto them.
Loved hearing the kookaburra in the background.
And obviously wishing you every success going forward.
Hey Janet,
Very interesting video. thanks for the tips. I had quite a few incomplete sales a little while back, where people were trying to see if certain card numbers would work. Glad they didn’t -don’t like the sound of the $200 charge back fee!! how on earth can they charge so much when it is out of your control??!!
Claire McFee
Creator Organize Your Life Organizers
Hi again janet,
Another thing that may have happenend to you that has happened to me that you might have tips on how to prevent – is dodgy people some how being able to use your email address/es as their own and sending spam emails all over the place. I get post masters all the time saying ‘sorry we couldn’t send your email’ to places I’ve never emailed, plus actual emails to me from – for eg; orders@organizeyourlife.com.au to orders@organizeyourlife.com.au
As far as I know theres not much can do and it doesn’t appear to be affecting the business in any way.
any insights would be appreciated.
thanks,
Claire McFee
Creator Organize Your Life Organizers
Hey Ann Marie, I suspect that the affiliate is one of the credit card thieves who was savvy enough to work out they could get some extra cash by signing up as an affiliate before they tested the transactions. Their greed may cause them problems as at least we have a paper trail to follow because the accepted the money. Apparently it is hard to prosecute unless there is an actual charge back. But hey, I wasn’t about to risk $200 a pop to help track them down.
Glad this helps Gail.
Hey Nobby – I lined the Kookaburra up to sing in cue!
Claire looks like you had a close call. $200 is steep isn’t it? And you have to refund the money too. Banks! (she says with clenched teeth).
Hey Douglas The Wonderful Web Man (who a customer emailed today to tell me she thought he was cool) has done some research on how to protect your email address.I’ll see if I can get him to drop in here and share his wisdom
Hi Janet,
Thankyou for the tips.
If only they could create, what they do in a positve way, they would be much better off.
Yes, I had a plane flight ticket payed by my credit card overseas. I don’t even know how they got my numbers in australia.
Thanks to me to checking bank and check bank each day and know my INS and OUT account.
I got the whole amount back plus fees.
It was an inconveince to change visa card and all the details but all got sorted
Hi Janet,
Wow…nothing I would ever think of. Thanks so much for sharing your “trials” so authentically. We learn from others if we listen.
While I’ve not had this happen to me, I have just recently experienced the need to cancel my bank card and be issued another one. I did a “trial offer” for 30 days. After 10 days, they charged my credit card. I called and cancelled the order, and they argued with me that they would not credit my account, because although it was a 30 day offer, you had to cancel within 14 days. What?
On top of that, I hired a (relatively well-known) copywriter for a “deal” to redo my web copy for $495. He offered no written contract or agreement, but I insisted on one. (Really?) The work was to be completed in 1 week. Now, 5 weeks later, I’m asking for a refund. He still hasn’t “captured my true voice” so he says he’s still working on it. There’s no communication unless I contact him. He refuses to refund me, but says he will complete the work. When?
Unfortunately, since he has my card number, well, I don’t trust him either. So…I went to my bank, and they cancelled my card so neither could further charge me, and we’re seeking to get refunds through the bank.
Here’s my frustration. It’s one thing to be “taken” by some random company you no nothing about for $160. It’s another thing to be taken by someone who works with coaches and is known in our industry.
The past month has left me with “rising above” the work of those who choose to treat others poorly, so I can be sure to “over-deliver” to my clients!
Onward and upward!
Deni´s last [type] ..Back in the Swing of Things
Hi Janet,
I often get affilaite signups where the name and password are just a bunch of letters. I get them from Singapore, Thailand, and Hong Kong. I delete them. I never could understand what the deal was with fake sign ups, but maybe your experience explains it.
Claire – I have the same problem with the emails, and it infuriates me. I have my account settings so they should not be able to do that, but they do. They do it until I’m blacklisted again, and then they go away – since the emails won’t be delivered anymore. Neither will mine. And my blog will get the yellow security warning. And I’m the biggest prude. I try not to do anything that is deceptive in any way. But I’m listed as a big time spammer. So frustrating.
Carole´s last [type] ..Talk about a food fight
Hi Janet,
I’m so sorry this happened to you, but I want to applaud you for sharing it with your members. It’s good info to have as it can happen to anyone.
Something similar happened to me the first month I was in business online, back in January 2005. I wasn’t doing much volume at all in my shopping cart since the business was in it’s first month, however someone hijacked my brand new merchant account and my identity and opened an American Express credit card account. Then they started running that fraudulent credit card through my merchant account. Thankfully, Authorize.Net (my Internet payment gateway) contacted me immediately because they were wondering why I had 2 accounts!
After some investigation, and filing a police report as well, I ended up working with the FBI – turns out it was part of a credit card fraud scheme based in Russia! The scary thing was, when I saw the credit card application, they had a copy of my drivers license, my Social Security Number, and all of my personal information. BUT, the signature on the drivers license had been doctored, and it was not mine. Additionally, the address on the credit card application did NOT match mine – which was publicly available at the time. Apparently the credit card company didn’t check details too quickly…a bit of a scary thought.
We got it all cleaned up, and they flagged my credit report for 7 years. So every time I apply for credit, they call me to verify it is really me.
I was told this happens more than any of us would care to believe. And that all of our personal information is available online for about $30 if you know where to go. A bit scary!
Thanks for sharing and for all you do!
Debbie
Debbie LaChusa´s last [type] ..Redefining Branding
Helen good on you for keeping such a tight reign on your finances. So many people don’t.Deni sounds like you have had some bad problems with suppliers not being clear in their communication. That is so frustrating.
Claire, sometimes the sign up s with all the rubbish come from people using software to find forms to fill out hoping they will find ones that allow them to spam forums etc. That’s my theory anyway. We get heaps of them and the annoying thing is they muck up your data when you download it to excel to do any analysis on. Very annoying.
It’s frustrating re the spammers using your email address. One way we have found is to never use email addresses like info@ or admin@ and not to use what is called a catchall which means if people put anything@ it will redirect to you. That’s why we have our email as theteam@ rather than info or support.
OMG Debbie that is an incredible story. Very scary. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thanks Janet.
I think TV shows like ACA would love to do a story on this charge back rort. Should drop them a line. would be good indirect publicity.
Claire
Claire McFee Creator Organize Your Life Organizers
Hi Janet,
Thank you for the heads up, I will keep this in mind for the day I have all up and running.
This sounds like a quick ebook…
Thanks for the information and great video. Loved the kookaburas laughing at your thoughts on getting money back from Paypal!
I have a confirmation from Kashikornbank in Thailand that they have stopped the use of the credit cards that I referred to them that I thought were fraudulent. Kashikornbank were very interested in what had happened and were very helpful, which made me feel that is was worth the effort contacting them. Well done Kashikornbank.
In fraud we trust all others pay cash. These’s kid were armatures at the game Know ur bins Check validity day before large purchase Diverted VOIP to mobile hijacked domain email call ahead
And order’s get processed 100%