Looking up
references
There is a lot you can find out about a customer before you ship an
order. The least you can do is to check if their phone number is listed
and/or if their name matches the shipping address.
CAUTION: Not finding and an entry, does not necessarily mean that
the deal is "fishy", but if you do find the name and number
listed under the shipping address you can be relatively sure, it will
be ok.
Most western countries have a phone directory of some nature online.
Good addresses for US customers' lookup: http://www.switchboard.com http://www.whitepages.com