Snowinn fraud prevention

A snowHead

I bought some skis from snowinn yesterday and this morning I received the message below. It looks legitimate but I've certainly never been asked to provide something like this before. Can anyone confirm whether this is their normal procedure?

We have received correctly your recent purchase, thank you!

In our bid to reduce fraud on the internet, we have issued new measures of security. This procedure is part of our intent to fight against Internet Transaction Fraud, and, this way, protect all of our clients.

If you have already sent the information asked, please disregard this email.

To proceed with your order and to deliver it in the estimated time, we will need some extra details from you. We kindly ask you to:

- send us a copy of your identification document (ID card or Passport). This document should show clearly the name and surname of the card holder. This document is not stored and will be deleted.

or

- send us the authorization code assigned to this transaction by your credit card company. The authorization code can sometimes be called a serial number. This is gen! erally a five or six digit code and may be a combination of letters and numbers. You can only obtain this code by calling your bank. This number is confidential and only the credit card holder can contact their bank to obtain this information.

To improve processing time, you may email us the authorization code or the copy of your identification document by using the form on our contact page and choosing the topic "8. Copy of my ID (passport or ID card)".

Please keep in mind that you have 3 days to send us your identification document or the authorization code. After that period, without receiving this information, your order will be cancelled.

We do not accept mobile phone bills or driving license.

Thank you for understanding, we hope that we can send your order as soon as possible, and meet the expectations you have of us.

Best regards.

Maria
Customer Service

A snowHead

I would ring them to confirm..........

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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Snowinn offer great prices but their customer service is appalling. Good luck getting them on the phone or to respond to email. And even better luck if the skis arrive on anything like the estimated delivery date. Often then seem to advertise stock they don't have and then try to source it. In my case I had to wait almost 4 weeks for something I was promised in a week. On another occasion I gave up and told them to cancel the order.

I have seen this type of information asked for before where the transaction is high value. I'm 99.9% certain it is legit but for piece of mind try to call them.

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@el nombre, is what you said they sent you a <Copy><Paste> of the email?

In which case do the typos exist???

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I've ordered from snowinn several times and everything was delivered on time. Without hassle.
was never asked for this info though, but purchases were never more than 215 at a time.

i think there may be another thread where someone mentions getting asked for this

After all it is free

Emailing a copy of your passport does not strike me as a good way to "fight against Internet Transaction Fraud". Rather the opposite.

Yep, its an exact copy/paste. I guess the fact that it's a foreign company could explain typos but you would have thought even the Spanish would know 'generally' wasnt spelt with an exclamation mark.

It looks legitimate as far as it being from snowinn as they don't ask for any details in response to the email and the contact form on the site does include the option of sending the details they've asked for. I guess the question is more whether snowinn is legitimate rather than the email specifically.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

sounds iffy to me, but i vaguely recall one of the German bike stores making similar requests for foreign purchasers using foreign credit cards. Think there they wanted to see a photocopy front+back of the credit card, probably to cover their asses that you are a genuine purchaser, because their business model relies on reducing the number of returns, and that the 3 digit code you typed in the website matches the photocopy.
I'd have told that German co to do one. The spanish one is up to you to decide if there's enough info for ID fraud.

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@el nombre, I bought bike panniers from "BikeInn", the same company and had the same thing. My first thoughts were that it was a bit strange, but then thinking about it, every hotel and campsite in Spain takes a photocopy of your passport so what extra harm could sending them one do? Sent it off and got the panniers OK (for a very good price!) - but as others have said their delivery timescales are over-optimistic!

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I've made purchases off Snowinn before and everything has arrived within the stated time without any issues, my purchases were never over £200 before so may not have triggered their additional security measures. I'd not be too concerned about a company asking for a copy of a passport or for the transaction code as an anti fraud measure. However you should never send a copy of the front and reverse of a credit or debit card, any no reputable company should ever ask you to do so. Companies are not allowed to store those details unencrypted owing to industry security standards known as PCI DSS, if they are found to be doing so they could be liable for their licence to accept card payments to be revoked or pretty hefty fines.

You know it makes sense.

The auth code does not enable any fraud and they will have that in the acknowledgement from the card processor. It is a pain for you to get but simply gives them some faith that you are the card holder. If sending passport copy then I suggest covering the passport number as this, along with name, would allow a third party to obtain a copy and potentially start ID theft and it's no use to the seller.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

Bought from them twice and no probs either time, both items round the £100 mark but didn't have to provide any additional info. Arrived in good time too.

A snowHead

I've bought from them a few times and had the passport thing once.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

If Snowinn was a UK business then they'd be shutdown by Trading Standards in a matter of weeks.

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Turning into a Snowinn good or bad thread so thought I'd add my pennies worth , bought the children some new ski boots was warned that one pair wouldn't be available until Oct so would have to wait . The time between dispatch and delivery was long and I became a little nervous but they arrived and I am happy with the purchase , would I buy from them again ? only if the price was very competitive and I knew I didn't need the items immediately .

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My experiences of Snowinn - bought smaller stuff (Dynafit crampons etc,) no problems, good price, quick delivery. Bought Ortlieb panniers, identity check caused delay, then they were not in stock so had to be brought in from Ortlieb, so took about three weeks. They were a very good price though, and since the website listed every single ortlieb pannier they make it was not surprising they didn't keep stocks of all of them. I would use them again for difficult to source items at a good price.

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After all it is free

@dogwatch, But pretty much every hotel and campsite in Europe will take a photocopy of your passport!

I'd be more concerned about electronic copies.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

If you do decide to go ahead - photocopy your passport - redact some details with a marker pen and then rescan and e mail it to them, scrub out part of the passport number and a bit of the date of birth, that will prevent anyone from collecting too much data on you.

Having lived in Spain virtually every transaction involved ID.

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@dogwatch, if this was a company that I hadn't dealt with before possibly, however I have therefore I would see the risk of identity theft as much reduced.

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@dogwatch, Also by placing an order with the company you'll have already provided far more potentially harmful information.

I've bought skis from these guys at a great price but they did take ages to arrive. I wasn't asked for this information, though, and I can't see what good it would do them if you provided it. Still, I like @chocksaway approach, that would be a way out.

You know it makes sense.

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Ended up going with the passport scan and a few MS Paint alterations. They didn't question the fact half the info was covered up so probably could have got away with covering even more. Just a word of warning though for anyone else doing similar, if you're wanting to cover up the passport number, it actually features on there 4 or 5 times in various forms. Just something to be aware of.

As for delivery, it was delayed a bit but it's out for delivery now so its not been too bad.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

as others have said Snowinn and it various other names are legit.

equally as others have said asking for passport info is not a good fraud prevention as it can be used towards identity theft.

If you are unsure I would contact your bank/card provider and ask them for clarification as to this being a legit practice.

lastly remember you have card protection with credit cards, but also VISA operate a similar system for your normal bank card but it starts at a lower amount that does the credit card one.

A snowHead

Conscious some fellow SHs may be looking for new gear. Just to advise I bought a Salomon jacket and pants from SnowInn a few weeks back (at a very reasonable price compared to high street), and yes I got the whole passport ID thing which did throw me a bit, but found the service absolutely fine. I even had to call them to change delivery to express delivery and no hassle. I know some people have commented on gear not arriving, but my stuff arrived a few days later (but was marked as 'in stock' when I ordered so maybe something to watch out for).

A snowHead

@brianr, to add to this... We placed an order at the end of Nov. It turned up about 3 weeks later. They'd cancelled two of the items because they couldn't get them, but everything else was fine. Unless I'm buying stuff months in advance of it being needed then I probably won't bother with them again just in case delivery takes a long time or whatever I want gets cancelled.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Ordered some boots from them, but they keep putting back the delivery date until now the boots won't arrive until after our skiing trip has finished! Have asked them to cancel order, but waiting to hear back. Dreadful website and a nightmare to contact -certainly would not use them again. I was asked to provide ID, but to be fair, I was using a card registered to a UK address but asking to deliver to Austria, so I thought that was reasonable.

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Ordered on 14/01/2016. No rush delivery chosen. All goods arrived today. So 14 day delivery. Got a very good price so overall happy. Not skiing for 8 days yet so had time for this wait.

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Have had email confirming cancellation and promising refund, so fingers crossed. Got boots for same price from Amazon. At least I'll have them for skiing in March.

Help!!

Snowinn fraud prevention

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