A consultancy which specializes in helping Internet retailers better manage chargebacks has urged merchants to start requiring signatures for online purchases and to adopt better record keeping to avoid a rising incidence of “friendly fraud” transactions.

“Friendly fraud” occurs when a purchase is made with a card over the Internet and then the cardholder contacts the card issuer to report that they never made the purchase, said Chargebacks 911.

The consultancy reported that a recent survey had indicated the incidence of “friendly fraud” have climbed from 23% to 70% over the past three years.

In addition to urging online retailers to begin requiring signatures for delivery of items sent over the internet, Chargebacks 911 urges retailer to keep more detailed transaction and account histories to help recognize fraud patterns. 

The consultancy did not comment on how such record keeping would square with PCI requirements that generally discourage card data being held where it could be hacked and stolen.