Suspicious $1 donations

[HFBHTF]

We’ve started seeing unexplained $1 donations through our non-profit website.  The donations have consistently come from emails of the form <username><5 digits>@gmail.com.  Anyone else seen this?

[JK_Fiber_Art]

Hi HFBHTF,

It's a common practice for testing stolen credit cards.  The not so honest people find a small website that accepts donations (churches and small businesses are usually targeted) - they make a small donation (normally 1$), if the transaction goes through, they know that the credit card in question (usually stolen) is good - after that, they go shopping.   You get the $ for now but, it's possible the card issuer may or may not take some sort of action assuming the card was reported to them.  Just one of the many scams out there for testing stolen cards.

[choraladmin]

Yes, exactly the same thing is happening to us right now. What can we do to stop this?

[JK_Fiber_Art]

Unfortunately if accepting Donations you cannot stop something like this - you would have to pre-screen every transaction which I don't think is possible.  You could either refund the Donation or raise the minimum - seems not so honest people like the small amounts as they are usually under the radar for testing stolen credit cards.