Fraudsters ride off empty handed

A local independent retailer is warning other businesses to be wary of credit-card-come-distraction-theft, after almost falling prey himself to a devious fraud amounting to several thousand euros.
“There was no consistency in what he wanted, he just seemed like he wanted to spend money,” says George Allen, proprietor of Virginia-based ‘Feel Good Bicycles’. The local merchant had become increasingly suspicious due to the “odd questions” and behaviour after two men who pulled up at his town-centre shop around lunchtime last Thursday, July 26. One, Mr Allen said “did all the talking”; while the other just “skulked around the store” and said nothing.
It was a “hunch” Mr Allen admits may have saved a large portion of his yearly incomings.
When the duo, who appeared not to be of Irish descent, eventually put together a package of items, including several bikes directly off the shop floor, it amounted to in the region of €3,000.
They paid by card, swiping for payment rather than using chip and pin. “He had said he wanted to spend €6,000. I asked if he wanted to put a deposit down but he said he was happy to pay in full,” says Mr Allen, who became further unsaddled by the men’s adamant demand for the transaction be concluded immediately, without last-minute checks on the bikes carried out.
“I wanted to make sure the bikes were 100 per cent before leaving, but they said ‘no, we’ve a mechanic who can do that’. That went on for a while, but eventually agreed to let us get on with it.”
It was at this point that Mr Allen contacted the credit card company. “When they saw me with the credit card machine in one hand and the phone in the other, they demanded taking the bikes right now or get a refund. So I said ‘fine then, have a refund!’”
What transpired was sheer diligence on behalf of Mr Allen. After the men had left, he cross referenced the payment receipt number to the card used for the refund but they didn’t match. “I’d thought ‘okay, they didn’t take the bikes, if it was a scam I’ve got away with it’. I hadn’t checked it when I was doing the refund. The one who was talking was talking the whole time, he knew what he was doing.”
While there are plenty of protections for card fraud victims, companies enjoy no such luxury. In business terms, for a small independent retailer like ‘Feel Good Bicycles’, Mr Allen said the loss would have amounted to a down-payment on pre-ordering a new bike model.
There has been a sharp rise in card fraud in Ireland in recent years, with businesses pedalling an up-hill challenge coming to terms with combined losses of more than €30 million per annum.
Mr Allen was lucky though. Once he recognised the anomaly, he contacted the credit card company immediately, which then quickly put the brakes on the refund being issued. He subsequently contacted other bike retailers to set off a chain reaction, fearing they too might be targeted. The shop owner fully intends to report the incident to gardaí in the coming days so the matter can be fully investigated.
Since the incident however, Mr Allen has been stunned, not only by the lack of protection for retailers on such issues, but by the dearth of information available to assist companies on how to spot scams. He’s therefore calling on the banking sector to do more to address the matter.
“You’re really at the mercy of anyone willing to chance their arm,” muses Mr Allen, who believes that the overall aim of the men who entered his shop was probably to seek a refund regardless.
“It was clever. They were possibly never after the bikes at all and always after the cash, looking back on it with hindsight. The whole thing seemed dodgy but, when you’re a small business and someone is trying to give you money, it can be distracting. But I’m sure it’s the same with any business. Whatever the case, it’s the business that’s victim at the end of the day, cash or stock.”