The,Latest,Not-so-Greatest,dot marketing The Latest, Not-so-Greatest dotCon Game

Automation technologies represent a fundamental aspect of any modern industry. The major types of industrial automation solutions, such as DCS, PLC, SCADA, and MES, are used on a large-scale in process and discrete industries.DCS technologie Awhile ago, I got an email from one of the "gurus" I follow and it shocked me. The gist of it was this person wanted to trade services for a household item.To say it floored me would be an understatement.What was worse was a few days later t

Affiliate Program Managers Beware!!Last week I became the unwitting victim of the latest Internetscam.I own and operate 3 affiliate programs and as such am used toreceiving and filing order confirmation emails all day long. Iwas noticing a recently registered affiliate (overseas) forEZineMoney.net was really racking up the sales.Much to my delight, I emailed to congratulate him on hissuccess. Next day, four chargebacks in the mail, allattributable to his sales/reseller site. Two cards, bothcharged twice with different Order Names. Then, the phonestarted ringing with other people who did NOT order my ebookthat had EZineMoney.net charges on their credit cardstatements.Now, what I *should* have noticed with each/most of theseorders was the following:1. Order Name and Name on Card were different.2. Email addresses of customers were *strange* and oftensimilar in nature ie: [email protected], [email protected],[email protected], or, this: [email protected]. Ofcourse, these don't exist.3. None of these *customers* bothered to register for thereseller program after ordering. About 75% of real customersdo.When the fraud hit the fan, I called a well-known competitorfor his advice, and I wasn't two sentences into my explanationwhen he stated in no uncertain terms - fraud! He then told meto watch out for an email from this guy "almost begging" forhis commissions check. No more than half an hour later, that*desperate* email graced my inbox! See, this astute marketerhad been hit with this scheme recently.Now, what makes this all the more ludicrous, is this thievingreseller was using stolen credit card information JUST toreceive his commissions a month or more later! I mean, howlow-percentage can you get?Oh silly me, here I was congratulating an active reseller andhe must have been laughing his lyin' derriere off at mynaivety! However, last laugh was on him, as his site wasdeleted, and, his HUGE commission check NOT written! Notsurprisingly, when I informed him of the deletion of his siteand the withholding of his commissions, he had the parts toreply with the following:"all i can say that is not unfair and i will see a way to getmy rights and my money. Best regards".Double negative aside,"Best regards" my butt!The story gets worse though. Shortly after undertaking alengthy audit of orders, I came across my good friends friend,who registered under him of course, and voila!, a ton offraudulent orders there. Migraine-bound at this point, Idiscover a third and fourth participant!When all is screamed and done, a LOT of innocent people hadtheir credit cards charged in my name (they will all berefunded of course) and my bank account is going to be reducedby an amount that would make most people's teeth rattle! Therewill be endless hours of refunding these innocent cardholdersand adjusting applicable commissions (a notable affiliateprogram directory is the innocent sponsor of the firstculprit). Plus, of course, my merchant account is in jeopardydue to the sheer volume of fraudulent orders and chargebacks.Valuable lessons learned here folks. I'm quite sure I will beable to add to this list once I'm all the way through thisdilemma, however, I felt it best to let you in on some goodadvice right now:1. Thoroughly check each credit card order you receive. If yousee irregularities as per what I've listed above, refund thecard right away before they batch. The email address will mostlikely be fake and you will not be able to reach the customerby email.2. You *may* want to consider blocking out some countries fromyour program. Many third world countries are infamous forcredit card fraud. In this case, the cards were all domesticbut the resellers were from Europe and Asia.3. If you use Authorize.net you may want to check out theirnew FraudScreen.net service. If you use another gateway, checkto see what fraud prevention services they have in place.4. If you detect fraudulent orders, contact your merchantaccount provider right away. They should be willing to workWITH you on the problem. Remember, you will have a certain*allowance* in terms of chargebacks/refunds and you may standto lose your account if you reach or exceed that threshold.5. Lend a sympathetic ear to those victims whose cards werecharged fraudulently. Some, as in my case, will beunderstandably angry and although that anger should bedirected at the thieves, they may lash out at you. Act ontheir refunds immediately!6. Once you are *sure* a reseller is using this scheme, deletethem instantly but make sure to *Save* all their registrationand commission data before you do so. These documents may berequired in future investigations. I informed each resellerwith this notice:"We have terminated your website and are withholdingcommission payment pending investigation of the fraudulentorders emanating from your website. Authorities in allcountries involved have been given complete documentation."This way, in the slight event they are innocent (my guyscertainly weren't), you haven't technically accused them. Youmight want to contact your attorney before officiallynotifying them.It's almost inconceivable to me that even the most desperatethief would resort to buying (or hacking) stolen credit cardinformation only to use it in such a way as to expect afinancial reward 1-2 months later when there is a better-than-average chance they will be caught, not paid at all andreported to applicable authorities. These morons did however,cause me great grief, which has only just started, and whichyou can probably avoid altogether.Just as I was putting the finishing touches on this article, Ireceived an email from a friend and fellow affiliate programmanager who was concerned about fraudulent orders and guesswhat? She had the same thieving resellers as I had!Considering that this appears to be a growing problem, it ismy hope that you will take my advice to heart before youbecome a victim of The Latest, Not-so-Greatest dotCon Game! Article Tags: Latest Not-so-greatest Dotcon, Not-so-greatest Dotcon Game, Latest Not-so-greatest, Not-so-greatest Dotcon, Dotcon Game, Fraudulent Orders