The ADF wishes to advise all customers be aware of a current overpayment fraud trend that is impacting Queensland businesses.
Overpayment or ‘payment in error’ fraud involves fraudsters making payments via a business’s online payment link and then contacting the business to advise an incorrect payment amount was entered or the payment was made in error and they request the funds be returned via account transfer.
How the Fraud Works
This is quite a sophisticated fraud attempt where the fraudster works hard to make you believe they made the payment in error and that they need the funds returned immediately.
- The fraudster steals credit card details and then uses these stolen credit card details to process a payment using your online payment link (BPOINT page) for a relatively large amount
- The fraudster will then email you to confirm if you received the payment, they generally don’t ask for the money back immediately as they attempt to build a rapport with you first
- When you advise that you have received it, they will then ask for you to return the funds. They will either say that they only wish to make a small payment or donation and will request the difference be returned to them via account transfer or they will say they made the payment in error and request the full amount be returned via account transfer
- They have been successful in their fraud if you return the funds via account transfer and you will then be out of pocket the amount that you transferred plus the amount of the original transaction as the issuer of the stolen credit card will also reverse the transaction from your account.
How to Protect Your School or Parish
There are a number of steps that your business can take to protect yourself from frauds of this nature.
- Ensure your staff are aware of this scam and understand how it works so they can identify it, avoid it and report it.
- Perform regular reconciliations of your BPOINT payments to ensure you can allocate all payments
- If you receive any payments that you are not expecting or the records do not match any you have on file, refund the payment immediately back onto the card via BPOINT
- As per you merchant refund policy, refunds can only be granted in the method the payment was made eg a card transaction can only be refunded back to the card
- If you receive any emails requesting an overpayment or payment made in error be refunded via account transfer, do not action it. Advise the sender that you will refund the transaction directly back to the card and process it through BPOINT immediately.
- Under no circumstances should you refund the transaction via any other method.
More details on this scam can be found at https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/types-of-scams/buying-or-selling/overpayment-scams
If you are concerned that you may have been a victim of this or any other scam, please contact the ADF immediately.