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There are people who make it their mission in life to take advantage of peo-
ple who aren’t paying attention. We are always looking for what could be
the next thing. The difference between now and four years ago is the ability
for people to get large numbers of valid credit cards.
—DAWN OLDS, HALO SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS
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24 •
PPB
• MAY 2015
INNOVATE
internal accounts receivables area also
adopted changes aimed at flagging ques-
tionable orders.
McGuire points out that the issue is
more than about getting paid. “Just because
the credit card goes through does not mean
there won’t be repercussions for distributors,”
he says. “You risk the ability to work with the
credit card companies in the future if you
process payment that you suspect is not legit-
imate.” Dawn Olds, HALO senior vice presi-
dent of operations, adds, “If the customer
refuses the charge and they show they didn’t
authorize the charge, you will be charged
back, and too many charge-backs will raise
your rate with the credit card companies.
Eventually, you will lose your ability to charge
any customer cards.”
She also adds that if companies routinely
accept bad cards, the news can quickly spread
on social media and hurt the company’s
reputation.
HALO’s stringent procedures have paid
off, but companies can’t let down their guard.
“There are people who make it their mission
in life to take advantage of people who aren’t
paying attention,” says Olds. “We are always
looking for what could be the next thing.”
“The difference between now and four
years ago is the ability for people to get
large numbers of valid credit cards,” adds
McGuire.
McGuire had a recent personal experi-
ence where the business credit card he uses
for international travel was stolen while in
China. A few weeks later, he noticed a $6,000
charge on his statement from a printing com-
pany located about an hour away. “It was for
a shipment of printed materials to India,” he
says. He called the printing company and
asked who authorized the charge. “They said,
‘We thought it was strange that someone
with that accent was named Terry McGuire
but we processed the card anyway,’” says
McGuire, with a sigh. “The key thing is to
have a written protocol on how to identify
these types of scams and how to deal with it
within your organization and distribute the
information throughout your organization.
You can’t assume that it’s as obvious to every-
one else as it is to you.”
Tina Berres Filipski is editor of
PPB
.
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