A Guide to Preventing Credit Card Fraud
Credit card fraud continues to be a significant issue for businesses and consumers, and it hurts us all. Moneris has taken a proactive approach to helping merchants reduce fraud by creating the Moneris "Every Card. Every Time" fraud prevention program to help educate front-line staff about fraud.
Download the 12 Potential Signs of Card Not Present (CNP) Fraud Guide
Download the Visa and MasterCard Fraud and Chargeback Program ThresholdsWhat can my staff and I do to prevent fraud?
The basics of fraud prevention can be broken down into two sections.
Face-to-face transactions
Key areas of focus:
Suspicious customer behaviour
Fraud prevention begins with keeping your eyes and ears open. Signs of suspicious customer behaviour can include:
- Customer has randomly collected merchandise without the usual care
- Customer may appear nervous or in a hurry
- Customer may take the card from their pocket instead of their wallet and the signatures may not match
- Customer makes large, random, expensive purchases
Card security features
All cards are designed with special security features to deter counterfeiting and alteration. When you are presented with a card, look for the following elements:
- On the front:
- Verify the match of print and embossing
- Embossing
- Hologram
- Valid date
- Compare account numbers
- On the back:
- Signature panel
- Signature
Proper processing procedures
- Check the card's security features
- Always insert a chip card into the terminal. Only swipe transactions when the chip is not present.
- For manual transactions, always get an imprint of the card
- Compare the signature with the back of the card
- Keep your card reader in proper working order
- Use Fraud Detection Equipment (SecuriSource)
Code 10 authorizations
Code 10 is a universal code that allows you to alert an authorization department of a suspected fraudulent transaction without alarming the customer. Call for a Code 10 when you think a transaction needs a closer look, or when you believe a fraudulent transaction is occurring. If you are at all suspicious, call Moneris at 1-866-802-2637 and follow the prompts for a Code 10.
Mail order/telephone order and Internet fraud
There is anonymity buying through the mail, over the telephone or online, but here are the steps you can take to help stop credit card fraud. Watch for:
- Larger than normal purchases
- Orders of "big ticket" items for resale
- Orders shipped Rush or Overnight for quick sale
- Transactions on similar account numbers
- Orders shipped to a single address but made from multiple cards
Additional resources
- Moneris reference guide:
- Force Post Disablement on Moneris® Gateway:
- Protect your pin pad - merchant education tool kit provided by Interac Association:
FAQsPhishing
Phishing is a type of fraud that uses email, web pages and text messages to gather personal, financial and sensitive information for the purpose of identity theft. Most commonly, users receive spam email, text messages and pop-up windows that appear to come from legitimate businesses asking the recipient to confirm or provide personal information such as passwords, social insurance, credit card and account numbers.
How can you protect your business from online threats like phishing?
Be aware of the potential risks and educate yourself and your staff on how to handle them. Question the source of all email messages you receive, and call us to confirm the source of any email messages or other communications if you have any concerns. Build into your regular routine time to evaluate and update your security procedures. Moneris Solutions does not ask its merchants to provide, confirm or update their records via email. We will not send emails from a third party address or link to a third party site.
