Merchant Security and Loss Prevention

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.