We work hard to ensure that you are protected from fraud when you accept credit and debit card payments, but there are ways that you as a business can be vigilant too. Here are some simple tips on how to spot and avoid possible fraud.
Potential signs of a card present fraudulent purchase
Cardholders who:
- Pull a credit card out of a pocket rather than a wallet or purse.
- Purchase an unusual amount of expensive items.
- Purchase an unusual variety of items, such as clothing of several different sizes or items with a wide variety of value.
- Try to hurry you up near closing time.
- Tell you not to bother inserting their chip card or swiping their magnetic stripe card (claiming the card is damaged or some such reason).
- Hand you their mobile phone claiming their bank is on the other end and will provide an approval code.
Some signs that a card not present transaction is higher risk
- Orders that include several of the same items (when it would be unusual to purchase multiples).
- Orders made up of "big-ticket" items that have high resale value.
- "Rush" or "overnight" orders.
- Orders that fail AVS (Address Verification Service) or CID (the 3 digit value on the back of the card).
- An international order from a country that your business doesn’t market to for a product the cardholder should be able to purchase at home.
- Multiple purchases on the same day.
- Orders shipped to a single address but made on multiple cards.
- Multiple transactions on one card or similar cards with a single billing address but multiple shipping address.
- Multiple failed attempts to purchase prior to a passing authorization.
Refer to your Operating Procedures guide you received for more in depth information regarding managing risk and fraud.
Existing merchant customers: Call us at 1-800-451-5817, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Or contact your account manager.
