Card not present (CNP) transactions have become popular today because of their effectiveness in making payment transactions easier. They refer to purchases that consumers make without really being present, or without the presence of their credit or debit card. CNP transactions can be easily understood when you think about mobile payment solutions or making payments online via a PC.
However, there is a rise in fraud cases associated with CNP transactions, and this has made it necessary for us to adopt new methods of dealing with online fraud cases. Financial institutions are now implementing protective solutions to curb such incidences. Here are a few merchant tips that your business can use to control CNP purchases and maximize on profits.
Financial Rules Must be Set in Place
One of the reasons why fraudsters are having an easy time is because some merchants do not understand CNP transaction well. For any merchant to survive the current technological age, he must be conversant with the systems that he decides to embrace to do online transactions for goods and services. In line with this, he must creatively engage workers and clients on new back-end code rules that they should adopt during CNP transactions. While this sometimes can be a tedious venture, this will ensure more safety for CNP transactions.
Contracting Expert Help in Monitoring CNP Transactions
On another front, a merchant can decide to get a vendor, by whom all transactions must go through, before reaching him. The vendor in turn takes charge in discharging mitigation application procedures, which involves coming up with rules for ordering and making purchases, velocity running, and making use of scorecards. The vendor also manages financial data, reconciles performance and should also be present to connect directly to the merchant on a real time basis.
Be on the Alert
If you are a merchant who decides to fly solo, there are certain characteristics from purchases and orders that you must be alerted about. Before mentioning them, it is important to note that not all of these point out to fraud attempts. However, if you get a combination of many of these characteristics from a purchase, you should be able to identify a fraudster without much difficulty.
Also, be alert when it comes to first time shoppers, as most of the time, fraudsters will pose as new visitors on your online store. Also, a red flag should be waved when the order being made is larger than normal. This also includes orders of several items of the same kind. Shipments that are indicated as ‘rash’ should also be flagged and you should be more keen on those shipped to international addresses.
Customer History Always Helps
Maintaining a solid database of repeat-customers also helps a merchant curb CNP fraud cases. For starters, you can compare sales from individual clients to spot any possibility of scams. When an order is made from multiple cards, you can simply compare current records against historical records to pick out fraudulent transactions. Also, it is important to pay attention to the IP address. If multiple cards are linked to one location, then you will need to have the transaction flagged.