One of my merchants asked me for tips on preventing fraud online and off. I offered some ideas on the spot and then thought it might be good to put together a list of several ways merchants can minimize the bane of fraudulent transactions. Do you have ideas on steps merchants can take to do this effectively?
Drake Oakley, Merchant Level Salesperson
Drake,
A list of tips for merchants on reducing fraud is an excellent idea. First, check with your ISO to see if the company already has such a list. Also, the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) is managed by the PCI Security Standards Council to help prevent fraud throughout the payments ecosystem. In addition to helping your merchants obtain and maintain PCI compliance, encourage them to become familiar with the extensive resources at the council's website, https://www.pcisecruitystandards.org. Evi Triantafyllides penned an article on this topic for our Nov. 28, 2016, issue. Titled "The friendly fraudster: Your merchants' worst frenemy," it details several types of fraud ecommerce merchants typically encounter. Being aware of these can help merchants spot and thwart fraud attempts. The article is available at www.greensheet.com/emagazine.php?story_id=5176&search_string=merchant&search_string2=fraud%20prevention.
Also, our MLS Forum discussed this topic recently. After you log in to the forum, you'll find the thread here: www.greensheet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=43249. Some ideas offered are to train staff to take time when running transactions and not just rush to get to the next sale. If a transaction is declined and the customer says he or she is calling a credit card company rep, don't speak with the so-called rep on the customer's phone. And never call a number on the customer's card, because the card could have been altered. Only use the number provided by your processor for verifying transactions.
In addition, use the Search feature accessed from www.greensheet.com and look for "fraud prevention" and similar phrases. You'll find articles in our archives that should provide more ideas to fill out a list of tips for merchants.
Editor
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