Whether you’re a person who loves to live your life in a fishbowl of public scrutiny or you set all of your posts to “private,” there’s no denying the tremendous impact social media has had on all of us.
Merchants might not think of social media as a place to find information and insights about their chargebacks, but you might be surprised at how often friendly fraudsters spill their secrets on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms—and if you’re resourceful, you can use these postings to your advantage. How can merchants use social media to make a winning case against fraudulent chargebacks?
Maybe that’s why some people will brag about getting stuff “for free” by purchasing it and charging it back. They wouldn’t take such a cavalier attitude talking about shoplifting or burglarizing their neighborhood, but they’re happy to normalize and encourage the act of filing fraudulent chargebacks.
This attitude may be bad news for merchants, but there’s a silver lining. When people are careless or overconfident enough to post proof of their chargeback fraud to social media, merchants can use those postings as compelling evidence in chargeback representment. If you can show from the cardholder’s own words or photos that the claims they’re making aren’t true, you should be able to convince their issuing bank to reverse the chargeback.
While the specific reason codes may vary, all of the major card networks will consider social media postings as evidence for the following chargeback reasons:
Social media postings can be a compelling form of evidence, but you have to be careful about how you use it. Whether the cardholders is defrauding you or not, they have privacy rights that must be respected, and if you cross those boundaries in an attempt to gather evidence against them, you may not only lose the chargeback case, but expose yourself to further liability.
Here’s the two most important rules to follow:
That means you definitely can’t use a personal account friend or follow the cardholder so you can use their private photos as evidence. You also can’t use a public post made by one of the cardholder’s friends—even though it’s in public view, the friend isn’t involved in the chargeback case and you can’t bring them in as a “witness.”
Likewise, before you submit a posting as evidence, you’ll want to edit out the names and faces of any people in the post who aren’t the cardholder—this won’t necessarily impact the case, but it’s the responsible thing to do.
That covers the biggest “don’ts”—but what about the things you can do to strengthen your social media evidence? The most important thing is to include as much corroborating data as possible.
That means taking screenshots that include timestamps and geolocation, which many social media posts helpfully include by default.
You may also want to include related postings that provide context for the evidence you’re submitting.
Although you will see the occasional self-incriminating confession from fraudsters who can’t resist bragging about their latest score, what you really want is clear-cut evidence that the issuing bank will immediately understand. Photos that clearly falsify the cardholder’s dispute claims are the best social media evidence to find.
Here are a few typical examples:
If submitted with timestamps and a rebuttal letter that explains how the evidence relates to the claims made in the dispute, evidence like this has a strong chance of convincing the issuing bank that they’ve got a fraudulent chargeback on their hands.
Don’t forget that as important as it is to fight chargebacks, it’s even more beneficial to prevent them from happening at all—and you can use social media to help reduce your chargebacks. Increasingly, consumers expect to be able to interact with merchants in real time, on social media, instead of always having to go through traditional customer service channels.
If you see a customer on social threatening to file a chargeback against you unless you resolve their issue, take them seriously! While there are bad actors out there who just want to stir up negativity, it’s almost always in your best interest to find a way to make them happy—or at least let them feel like you gave them a fair hearing. Excellent customer service is a must for every merchant that wants to avoid chargebacks, and if you can provide it through social media, you can be even more proactive about resolving conflicts and building a great reputation for yourself.
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