E-retailing or shopping online is rapidly becoming part of retailer’s everyday lives with consumers finding the internet to be a convenient and easy way to shop.
Shopping on the internet with stolen card details is one of the ways that criminals commit card fraud. Traditional card-not-present shopping by either Mail Order or Telephone Order still remains very popular with UK consumers.
These methods of shopping can provide an opportunity for criminals to commit card fraud from a distance in a non face-to-face, non-confrontational environment. It is important therefore, that retailers accepting card payments in these channels follow recommended fraud prevention advice.
When card-not-present (CNP) transactions (internet, mail or telephone) are processed the retailer requests authorisation from the card issuer. This standard authorisation only confirms that the card has a) not been reported lost or stolen, and b) that there are sufficient funds available in the account. It does not confirm or authenticate the customer as being the genuine cardholder. Therefore, if a sale is subsequently established to be fraudulent, and valid authentication has not taken place, the full amount may be charged back to the retailer, if the genuine cardholder declares they did not participate in the transaction.
In light of this, a number of bespoke CNP solutions are available
to help protect yourself against fraud in this environment, which can be used in association with your own fraud detection systems. These include Address
Verification Service (AVS), Card Security Code (CSC), MasterCard SecureCode
and Verified by Visa.
Authorisation does not guarantee payment for card-not-present transactions.
What to do if you suspect a transaction to be fraudulent
You should take as many steps as possible to prevent fraud occurring. If after following the steps outlined on this website or those advised by your acquirer, you still have sufficient reasons for concern with a CNP transaction you should contact your authorisation centre.
This call may take some time as the authorisation centre may wish to make enquiries with other departments before issuing you with the appropriate advice. If fraud is confirmed, you should notify the police by completing the Reporting Suspicions of Card-Not-Present (CNP) Fraud form.