The risks of accepting Wire Tranfers

Hi guys,

Just set up my site 2 days ago (https://www.watchmeoutlet.com )and my first sale was a scam...:censored:

Anyway, the guy registered with an adress from Ghana, and when he arrived to shipping module, he changed it to UK (otherwise he wont be able to checkout, because i blocked the shipping module to countries like Nigeria, Ghana, etc).

On checkout, he choose to pay via Wire Transfer, so automatically he received an e-mail with my bank account details ; Name, IBAN, SWIFT.

As soon as i got the order, i check the name and adress on google and it was on the Nigerian Scams list. Immediatly sent and e-mail to the client, warning that adress was on a black fraud list and the police authorithes would be notified.

As no answer occured (obviously), i notified the British Police, my bank, and sent his IP adress to Ghana Police as well. Also blocked is IP on our server.

What are the risks? What can those creative :censored:persons can do with our bank details?

Because of this episode, now we are not accepting wire transfers, and probably will loose some business....

Anybody got some experiences like this?

Thanks!

It is common advice everywhere to never pay for something by wire transfer, as the majority (or at least a lot) of such requests are scams. Really about the only safe uses for wire transfers are to send money to someone you know. I suspect the only real sales you will lose are naive people who don't know better than to send a wire transfer to a stranger and can't think of any other way to pay.

Unless your bank is very sloppy in their security practices, there's no real risk to you on the receiving end. It's the naive senders who get hosed with wire transfers.

It is common advice everywhere to never pay for something by wire transfer, as the majority (or at least a lot) of such requests are scams.

The problem is that this is the method of choice for many Europeans.

There is a big difference between getting an email request for for a wire transfer to "get your lottery winnings" and posting those details to accept payment for a purchase.

The one caution I would advise is DO NOT ship until the money is verified to be in your bank account.

Thank you all for your comments.

After all, i´ve decide to start accepting wire transfers again. The bank saw no risks, my competitors are doing it, and some costumers started asking about it.

Plus, with wire transfers i dont get roubed by Paypal:yuck:. (3,5% and a lot of "business days" until you get your money).

So, my next quest will be to have a decent merchant account, so paypal will be used less and less until the complete ZERO.

Any suggestions for a good merchant account, zen cart friendly? Iddealy with no setup fees, monthly fees, just a fair %.

Cheers zenners. :thumbsup:

Iddealy with no setup fees, monthly fees, just a fair %. Good luck with that:)

At my volume, I've found Paypal far cheaper than credit card processors... obviously this will be different at higher volumes.

Ditto what Glenn said. I have both a merchant account and a PayPal account. Overall, PayPal costs me less in fees.

@jadn79 just so you know, asking for service provider recommendations is frowned upon in this forum.

Paypal has fees and so will banks providing merchant accounts. It's a cost of doing business.

Recommendations by PM, please.
See also the list of Recommended Services at the top of the page.