Klarna - rife for fraud?


This new Klarna payment method - it's basically buying stuff online and getting it on click. It arrives and you pay for your jeans or whatever in three small instalments. I'm sure it works well for a lot of people.

But given you can get stuff without paying up front for it, it seems a bit open to scammers.

I've had four letters this week from Klarna, with my name and address on, saying I've bought summat at H&M Online and they've not received any payment from me. They include an email address which isn't mine.

I've called them each time and they have told me that they've reported the fraud and because there's no payment been taken, that I'm okay. Only a small credit check is done at the time of purchase so I don't need to worry about it affecting my score either.

Seems to be an absolute goldmine for fraudsters, Shirley?


Also, I've had a package delivered today to my address from a retailer I've never used, addressed to someone else's name, but it's not with Klarna, so I'm starting to get a bit suss. Can't see any payment from my accounts for this one either.
 
It does appear to be a problem.




There are a few other companies offering the same service too.
 
It does appear to be a problem.




There are a few other companies offering the same service too.
I sae The BBC article after I'd googled them, but she actually received the item to her address. Iv'e not received anything (other than the one today, but Klarna say that's not them, so It might just be a wrong address).

It's a bizarre model and I don't see how they can make it work, especially if they're allowing different shipping and billing addresses, which they must be, otherwise I'd have £120 worth of H&M clothes right now.
 
And If people buy anything on a CC from them hit with a charge plus interest from CC company with nowt on the website
 
I sae The BBC article after I'd googled them, but she actually received the item to her address. Iv'e not received anything (other than the one today, but Klarna say that's not them, so It might just be a wrong address).

It's a bizarre model and I don't see how they can make it work, especially if they're allowing different shipping and billing addresses, which they must be, otherwise I'd have £120 worth of H&M clothes right now.
Things will have hanged a lot now due to volume, but after uni one of my roles at an outsourcing company was monitoring possible customer fraud for various companies. We used an automated system that would probably flag up about 10-20 orders a day out of a couple of thousand (busy periods like Christmas would be between 15-20k).

You could easily spend an hour checking though details for an order that was only £30. The issue being that even if a small order got through then that would then create a positive score with all the retailers signed up to the system.

Potentially with yours I’d expect two orders were placed, the first to your delivery address and then cancelled straight away.

I’d be very surprised if Klarna or the companies using Klarna have staff spending up to an hour investigating low value orders now.
 
I bought some trainers a few months ago and inadvertently paid using Klarna. No idea how it happened, went to checkout and just followed some instructions and realised I’d paid using Klarna. They wanted no more than an email address.

This sort of service isn’t anything new but the lack of checks is alarming.
Ive just done exactly the same. Bought some trainers from schu and paid for them in one go but it was still done through Klarna. Not happy as I think they a credit search which may now show up on my credit report.
 
Ive just done exactly the same. Bought some trainers from schu and paid for them in one go but it was still done through Klarna. Not happy as I think they a credit search which may now show up on my credit report.
I honestly didn’t even notice I’d done it, felt put out by it TBF. Paid it straight off but wasn’t happy.
 
Ive just done exactly the same. Bought some trainers from schu and paid for them in one go but it was still done through Klarna. Not happy as I think they a credit search which may now show up on my credit report.
Apparently they don’t do a credit search. I asked specifically because I was concerned at this fraud causing a footprint but they said they only do a brief credit search that doesn’t show on your report.
Things will have hanged a lot now due to volume, but after uni one of my roles at an outsourcing company was monitoring possible customer fraud for various companies. We used an automated system that would probably flag up about 10-20 orders a day out of a couple of thousand (busy periods like Christmas would be between 15-20k).

You could easily spend an hour checking though details for an order that was only £30. The issue being that even if a small order got through then that would then create a positive score with all the retailers signed up to the system.

Potentially with yours I’d expect two orders were placed, the first to your delivery address and then cancelled straight away.

I’d be very surprised if Klarna or the companies using Klarna have staff spending up to an hour investigating low value orders now.
It looks like one was put through on 6th Feb, then four on 8th Feb. All for £20-45.

I know it’s hardly worth Klarna investigating for that amount which is why it seems a bit of a weird business model given it’s so easy to get credit, and all of the payments are meant for small amounts. Wonder what the interest rate is (off to Google).
 
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PayPal do a pay-in-three option now as well, only limited credit checks seemingly. Same with Amazon but with payments spread even further. I've made use of them but they do make me raise an eyebrow, seems like asking for another credit crunch.
 

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