What can you do when your online store been defrauded? It seems not much.

25 June 2011

One of my stores was recently defrauded of $400. My disappointment grew when I was forced to deal with a series of organisations and individuals who simply didn’t want to help get a dangerous and sneaky criminal off the streets.

The culprit had gone to great lengths to conceal their identity. They had committed a string burglaries, stealing a woman’s identity and racking up several stolen credit cards with local stores and online stores.

Assuming the identity of the victim, they opened a post office box with Australia Post and began placing orders with online stores using stolen credit cards. Orders were signed for using the assumed name.

Firstly, I have the greatest respect for our police service. With enormous sacrifice, police officers place their safety and even their lives at risk for our communities every day. This respect, I’m afraid, has been slightly diminished after being bounced around several stations, 8 offices and across 2 states.

I initially called the local police station in Cessnock only a few minutes from the post office being used by the burglar, identity thief, fraudster. I explained that a PO Box was being used to receive stolen goods and was probably still being used.

The officer talked to two supervisors and responded “It’s a civil issue, there’s nothing I can do”. He suggested I lodge a complaint at my local police station in person. Although Australia Post would release more details of the box holder and participate in a sting, the officer refused to even call Australia Post or check video footage of the culprit picking up stolen goods and stated “I am not willing to investigate, there is nothing I can do”. He even suggested I visit Fair Trading and Scamwatch. Are you serious? I want the burglar and fraudster in your community caught. Fair Trading? Come on.

Disappointed, I thought I’d see if I could find anything out. After a little Googling, I found the lady who had had her identity stolen. She confirmed she had been taken for over $3,000 and was shocked to learn that her identity had been assumed. She provided a police case file for the burglary in which her identity and cards were stolen.

So I thought I would give my local police a go, as suggested by the first office I spoke to. They advised that I would need to lodge a complaint in the state the offence was committed and did not wish to liaise with the other stations, offices or Australia Post to investigate. I was told that I needed to drive over an hour to the NSW border to lodge a complaint. Surely not?.

I called the station on the NSW border who were flabbergasted at the process so far, finally I thought we can do something to protect the people and stores being affected by the thief, and maybe even catch them. They took some details and said they would call everyone involved and call me straight back for more details. That was 5 days ago.

Okay, so the clock’s ticking, our fraudster has won round one and is now using a second stolen card to order goods online (one which I had fallen foul of). I contacted the station (25 minutes from the PO Box) who dealt with the burglary, who advised that because the PO Box was outside their area of operation I needed to speak to Cessnock station again and told me to immediately ask for a supervisor or duty officer.

Not to be deterred, I called the Cessnock Police Station again. I asked to be put through to a supervisor and explained the situation.

Thieves guilty of multiple burglaries, identity theft and credit card fraud were operating in the Cessnock area. We had a PO Box that was used to receive goods only a few days ago and I thought we’re on to something.

Things that could happen at this point include arranging for Australia Post to contact Police when the fraudster collected their next parcel (only a few minutes away). The thieves have gone to some trouble to set the PO Box up, so perhaps they visit regularly? I am aware of similar stings through other online stores. Maybe check the video footage using the timestamp from my delivery and see if the culprit is known to police.

But I received a “What do you want us to do? Sorry there is nothing we can do”. I just didn’t believe it.

The message here is for online stores: You are alone when defrauded. Payment systems take their money and law enforcement are unwilling or unable to investigate serious crime including burglary, identity theft, credit card fraud and receiving stolen goods.

This complex combination of crimes must present an unreasonable strain on already stretched police resources, and some police a clearly are not equipped or educated in how to deal with cyber crime, but at it’s basic level, someone is receiving goods which they haven’t paid for. Come on guys. It shouldn’t be this hard.

I’ll keep you posted on any updates.