CHICAGO — Emerging global e-commerce companies should expect a steady flow of fraudulent orders from less-industrialized countries, said Mike Kolentus, general manager of fulfillment at Borders.com, speaking at the Parcel Logistics Expo, which kicked off here yesterday.
“We know that if we get something from Haiti or Belarus that we better have customer service check (the order) out,” he said. “Ninety-nine percent of the orders from Haiti will be fraudulent.”
Kolentus said after his speech that his company discovers 30 to 40 cases of international fraud each day. He said the books e-tail site has been using a system that ensures all orders of $50 or more are checked for authenticity.
International fraud perpetrators, however, have reacted by placing multiple orders of smaller dollar amounts, he said. Kolentus said the money lost was minimal for a company the size of Borders.com.
“It's pretty hard to catch someone in Kurdistan … but international orders probably only represent 2 percent of our orders,” he said.
Smarterkids.com has experienced recurrent fraudulent orders in former Eastern bloc nations, said Mark DeChambeau, vice president of operations at the Boston-based site.
However, he said, overseas sales have accounted for only 1 percent of the educational toys retail site's business so far.
