September 24th, 2020 by Admin
With more retailers than ever before embracing e-commerce, the fraud journey is becoming a focus for many. It is clear, though, why retailers have paid more attention to the customer journey. After all, in addition to shaping a customer’s overall experience, a customer’s journey determines whether or not they will make a repeat purchase. Too often, however, when focusing solely on the customer journey, the fraudster’s journey remains overlooked. To bring the fraud journey into focus, we need to understand what it really is and where retailers should be placing their efforts.
Like the customer journey, the fraud journey is the path fraudsters take when interacting with a brand. In the case of the fraud journey, we consider the actions a fraudster takes to commit fraud. Understanding the fraud journey and focusing on the fraudster’s actions will enable online retailers to dramatically reduce fraud conversion rates and ultimately prevent fraud.
It’s not by chance that the customer’s journey and the fraudster’s journey are often mentioned together. In their attempt to satisfy customers while also detecting and preventing fraud, many retailers are faced with an impossible juggling act: Do I prevent fraud or give my customers the experience they want? True, balancing between the two, enabling the paths to co-exist, is challenging, yet it can be achieved. Taking the time to understand the intricacies of the fraud journey can help reduce false positives and cut down on chargebacks.
The True Cost of Chargebacks
Chargebacks. The very word sends shivers down the spine of even the most experienced online retail fraud fighters—with good reason. Chargebacks end up costing retailers in additional fees as well as in customer dissatisfaction and it’s nearly impossible to truly evaluate the cost of chargebacks.
It’s estimated that for every $100 in chargebacks, retailers end up paying $240! But the problem with chargebacks goes far beyond any fees or penalties incurred. The issue with chargebacks is that if a customer gets to the point where they have to request a chargeback, the damage has already been done.
Why Does the Fraud Journey Matter?
Let’s consider the forecast that e-commerce is expected to make up 22 percent of all global retail sales by 2023. Or that it’s predicted that U.S. e-commerce sales will jump 18 percent due to Covid-19. E-commerce sales are at an all-time high, and there are no signs this trend is going to slow down anytime soon. This emphasizes even more the need to focus on the fraud journey. The fraud journey has an impact when building an effective chargeback management strategy and it is directly linked to customer retention and acquisition.
The fraud journey gives one an in-depth understanding of users who could be fraudsters, based on suspicious behavior. Retailers looking to up their fraud prevention and chargeback management game, need to have a clear understanding of the fraud journey. This understanding will make it easy for them to differentiate actions a legitimate user would take, from fraudulent actions. For example, a change of the shipping address upon login indicates a possible fraudulent action. Carefully considering the behavior of a legitimate customer at every stage of the customer journey can help isolate suspicious activities with more accuracy, and thus cut down on false positives.
Fraud Prevention: The Ultimate Juggling Act
Understanding chargebacks and how to prevent them, starts with understanding how retailers approach fraud prevention. In cases where retailers focus on detection and prevention at the payment stage, or even only one part of the payment stage, fraudsters are able to successfully move through their journey undetected until it is too late.
If a fraudster’s activity is detected as suspicious and flagged only at the payment stage, gives an opportunistic fraudster plenty of opportunities to monetize the service by other means before their presence is detected. This could include everything from promo abuse and referral abuse to new account fraud.
That’s exactly why a more advanced fraud prevention and detection approach is required. For example, using technologies such as behavioral biometrics will enable retailers to stop a fraudster long before the payment stage, before any real damage is done, and will help cut down on chargebacks.
Is it really that simple? Retailers are rightfully concerned with the need to ensure that detection of fraud early in the fraud journey, early enough to prevent damage including chargebacks, will introduce as little friction as possible into the customer’s journey. At times it seems retailers can’t win. If they flag an activity as suspicious based on strict rules, they might find themselves with a rise in false positives and possibly disappointed legitimate customers. Other times retailers rely on fraud detection and prevention at the payment stage, ignoring any fraudulent activity, which happens before that, throughout the customer journey. Either way, with fraudulent activities getting more sophisticated, retailers are dealing with a growing number of chargebacks due to fraud.
In-depth understanding of the fraud journey, identifying and monitoring its various touchpoints, will help retailers to reduce fraud and still maintain the balance between customer satisfaction and security.
Proactive Chargeback Management
The common passive-reactive approach to chargeback management is proving to be insufficient as fraudsters are increasingly using tools such as bots and emulators to scale their attacks. Behavioral biometrics-based fraud detection introduces a proactive approach to counter advanced fraud. As opposed to focusing on login or checkout only, and reacting too late, behavioral biometrics focuses on user behavior throughout the entire customer journey, making it easy to identify suspicious and potentially fraudulent behavior at its earliest stage, enabling to stop the fraudster in his tracks, before damage is done.
Adopting advanced technologies like behavioral biometrics will provide retailers with visibility and insight into the entire fraud journey, leading to better, data-driven decision making, pre-transaction prevention and cut down chargebacks.
SecuredTouch is the expert in adaptive fraud detection solutions for online retailers and financial institutions. Using machine learning, the technology continuously analyzes hundreds of behavioral data points to differentiate between human and non-human behaviors, human to device interactions and behavioral anomalies to provide early detection of fraud. The solution identifies sophisticated fraud throughout the customer journey while simultaneously improving the user experience. Businesses benefit from reduced drain on internal resources and increased transaction rates, ultimately leading to an improved bottom line. Today, our award-winning solutions are used by some of the world’s largest retailers and financial institutions.
By Ran Wasserman, CTO, SecuredTouch – Sponsored Content
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing, Credit Card Security, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Financial Services, Internet Payment Gateway, Mail Order Telephone Order, Merchant Account Services News Articles, Merchant Services Account, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, nationaltransaction.com, Small Business Improvement, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: chargeback, fraud, Fraud prevention, fraud protection, National Transaction Corporation
Over the next three weeks we will explore on this blog some of the reasons why National Transaction Corporation is the preferred choice for travel agents.
The Travel industry is one of the world’s largest industries with a global economic contribution of over 7.6 trillion U.S. dollars in 2016. (Statista)
At NTC we recognize that travel agency payment processing has some unique hurdles to overcome, but we are leveraging our innovation because we want our travel agency partners to explore how our solutions transcend the challenges that travel agents face.
Secure processing is one of the reasons why National Transaction is the preferred choice for travel agents
National Transaction Corporation has Secure Merchant Payment Processing – Because when your customers know their data is safe, they keep coming back!
You’ve heard of the many data breaches within major corporations that have occurred in just the last few years, when customers’ confidential credit card information is stolen and businesses lose a small fortune in repairing the problem. The cost of such a security breach goes far beyond that, however; once a business has lost the trust of its customers, 60% of those cardholders will go elsewhere for their purchases and services, according to studies on the problem.
Imagine if this happened to your travel agency merchant account? It could be disastrous, especially because agencies tend to deal with high-dollar sales from a moderately-sized pool of customers – so every client counts.
NTC knows that you, like us, care about your customers, and we want your travel agency to be seen as a trustworthy place to book a dream vacation. The first step is for your business to be PCI-DSS compliant.
PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry-Digital Security Standards) requirements were put in place by the credit card associations to deal with the increasing problem of identity theft and data loss. The requirements vary according to the types and the number of payment transactions your agency goes through, but you can be sure that NTC will help you stay compliant with the latest security standards.
In the event of a data breach, we are here to eliminate the negative impact it can have on your company. NTC may be able to help you with the fines, assessments, and other costs from the networks, and we will consult with you on how to proceed to protect your agency and your reputation.
As you know, data security is as much a concern for the business owner as it is for the cardholder – your customer. When your clients know that their data is safe with you, they will keep coming back to your agency to book their next great trip!
If you cannot wait to read blog number two out of this three part series, feel free to call NTC now at 888-996-2273 to find out the best options for your travel agency!
Posted in Credit card Processing, Credit Card Security, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: cardholder, data, fraud, merchant account, payments, Security, transaction, travel, visa
September 18th, 2017 by Elma Jane
Smart Security for Smart Businesses:
Safe-T for SMB streamlines the PCI process while providing the layered security needed to protect card data
EMV – Fraud protection at the point of sale
EMV chip technology keeps the consumer’s card in their hand. It also helps protect the business from card-present fraud related chargebacks.
Encryption – Protection of payment card data in-transit
Safe-T scrambles cardholder data using advanced encryption technology, so data is protected at the point of entry, and throughout the authorization process.
Tokenization – Token ID protection of stored payment card data
Safe-T returns a token ID or an alias, consisting of a random sequence of numbers to the point-of-sale so the actual card number is never stored. Token IDs can be used for follow up transactions (i.e. recurring payments, voids, etc.).
Reduced PCI – Protection from complex PCI compliance
Maintaining PCI Compliance can be intimidating – second only, perhaps, to completing your taxes. Safe-T eases this process for customers by reducing the number of PCI Self-Assessment questions by more than 60% from 80 questions to 31.
Financial Reimbursement – Financial protection from a card data breach
Recovering from a card data breach can be costly for a small business. Safe-T offers Card Data Breach Reimbursement to financially protect your customer’s business in the event of a card data breach – regardless of the type of card data breach.
For Electronic Payment Set up with this feature call now! 888-996-2273
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: card data, card present, chargebacks, chip, data, data breach, EMV, encryption, fraud, payment, PCI, point of sale, Security, tokenization
March 1st, 2017 by Elma Jane
ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS
When it comes to electronic payments, certain types of businesses are considered high risk.
Most merchants do not realize that electronic payment processors carry a financial risk on merchant accounts, and normally fund merchants prior to receiving payment from the client’s bank.
Essentially, a merchant account is an unsecured loan.
Different factors used to determine when a business is a high risk are:
- Types of products
- Services they sell how
- How they sell them
Online transactions are considered high risk because there are increased risks of fraud.
A key factor used to determine the risk of a business is chargebacks.
Chargebacks include customer refunds and fraudulent transactions.
Payment providers assess this risk to determine the percentage of chargebacks your business is likely to experience.
Businesses that are considered high risk where they take advanced payments:
- Travel agencies
- Ticketing services
Electronic payments provider is necessary if you want to accept debit and credit card transactions.
For high-risk electronic payments please feel free to call us at 888-996-2273.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: bank, chargebacks, credit card, debit, electronic payments, fraud, loan, merchant accounts, merchants, online, payment processors, transactions, travel agencies
February 14th, 2017 by Elma Jane
Prevent Freeze, Holds, and Terminations
Common ways to prevent freezing; holds and termination to your account.
Minimize Chargebacks – chargeback should always be limited. An excessive number of chargeback whether won or lost is a red flag.
Minimize Fraud – if fraud is suspected, your account will be frozen pending an investigation.
One account per business type – if you have multiple businesses, you must have a separate account. If one account is being used for a different business altogether, that’s the quickest way for an account to be fully terminated.
Sell only the services or products you said you’d sell – selling other product or services could violate your Marketing Services Agreements.
Stay within your average monthly volume and ticket – an unusually high processing volume or average ticket is one of the fastest ways to get your funds held. To avoid this, notify your provider of an expected busy month. Call your provider for a large transaction before running it.
Use appropriate payment account types – card present (retail) and card-not-present accounts (internet). Card present means both customer and their credit card are present in the store. Card-not-present means card nor the person are not physically present at the time of the transaction. A large number of card present transactions on a card-not-present account or vice versa can result in a hold or termination of an account.
For Electronic Payments call now 888-996-2273 or got to www.nationaltransaction.com and click on get started
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: card present, card-not-present, chargeback, electronic payments, fraud, provider
February 6th, 2017 by Elma Jane
Managing Chargeback:
Chargeback – a forcible reversal of funds due to a credit card holder’s dispute of the transaction. Chargebacks can be a huge headache for a business owner, it can affect a business’ ability to maintain a credit card processing account and put funds on hold.
How can you protect your business and maintain a good processing account? First, you need to know the basic chargeback types:
- Clerical – duplicate billing, incorrect amount billed or refund never issued.
- Fraud – consumer claims they did not authorize the purchase or claims identity theft. Fraud disputes can be more complicated since they are the result of fraudulent consumer purchases.
- Quality – consumer claims to have never received the goods as promised at the time of purchase.
- Technical – expired authorization, non-sufficient funds or bank processing error.
Managing chargebacks is an important piece and it can certainly be reduced, to save your business, time, money and reputation.
For Electronic Payments Set up call now 888-996-2273 or visit www.nationaltransaction.com and click get started.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: bank, chargeback, consumer, credit card, fraud, funds, processing account, refund, transaction
January 6th, 2017 by Elma Jane
Online fraud is not going away; hackers are becoming more sophisticated. While technology offer more avenues for consumers to pay, they also offer new ways for hackers to steal data.
There are several factors that increases the growth of online fraud:
EMV migration: because of EMV migration, fraud in face to face transactions becomes more difficult and moves to card-not-present transaction. This has been observed after EMV is implemented in other country.
Banking activity: it is moving online not only via online-only banks, but also mobile and online bank services.
An increase of online marketplaces: financial services pros are more proficient in identifying fraud compare to individual consumers who become sellers that can be victims of online fraud.
How can e-commerce and financial services companies reduce online fraud?
Merchants: Ensure that you have payment security. Fraudsters use sophisticated technologies, ask your payment provider for encryption and tokenization. You can also use BIN LookUp as an added security and number of benefits. Bin LookUp allows merchant or institution to check more about the transaction.
Online marketplaces: Marketplaces can protect their reputation by validating new sellers using sophisticated device and applying advanced models and machine learning to detect unusual patterns of activity that indicate misuse.
Banks: Fraudsters continue to innovate. Bank technology needs to be flexible and stay one step ahead.
For account set up or terminal upgrade call now 888-996-2273 or visit www.nationaltransaction.com
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, e-commerce & m-commerce, EMV EuroPay MasterCard Visa, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale Tagged with: banks, card-not-present, data, e-commerce, EMV, encryption, financial services, fraud, merchants, online, payment, provider, Security, terminal, tokenization, transactions
December 21st, 2016 by Admin
Ways to Prevent CHARGEBACK:
Provide Receipts for every single transaction. Receipt serves as a good reminder to the purchase they make and decreases the likelihood of a charge back. Have the conditions of sale written on the receipt
Be clear about refunds, returns and cancellation policies – include refund, return and cancellation policy on your website.
Make sure charge descriptions are clear. Use dynamic descriptors – with dynamic descriptors, you can include specifics like the product purchased, business name, business location and contact information. Include a number as part of the charge description.
Provide accurate descriptions of products and services – accurate product descriptions are particularly important for online ecommerce where customers often dispute transactions because the product they received is not as it was described online.
Get signed proof of delivery products – especially if you’re an online ecommerce vendors that ships products regularly.
Communicate with customers about renewals – if your customer accounts are set to automatically renew, make sure you notify those customers of their renewal months leading up to the renewal day.
When a cardholder contacts their credit card-issuing bank and asks for a refund on a transaction for a purchase or service made on their card is called chargeback.
Most Common Reasons for Chargebacks:
Point-of-sale processing errors
Customer disputes like, customer doesn’t recognize the charge, customer claims they didn’t receive the item they ordered.
Fraud, or potential fraud (customer claims the transaction is fraudulent – the purchase was made with a stolen card).
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: bank, cardholder, chargeback, credit card, customer, ecommerce, fraud, online, point of sale, transaction
August 25th, 2016 by Elma Jane
Chargeback bumps still not clear, yet some says consumers are taking advantage of the chargeback system, while others think this increase is due to EMV implementation. Same as other countries experienced.
Whatever the reason, these chargebacks are causing stir in the payments industry.
Merchants should know two facts because of the tide in chargebacks:
- Merchants should not be accountable for chargebacks on valid, non-fraudulent cards without chips.
- Additionally, merchants who do not have EMV terminals are at a higher risk for fraud.
- The merchant is held responsible not the bank if fraud is involved as a result of card swipe.
There are a few things that merchants can do to prevent chargebacks.
- Always swipe non-chip cards rather doing it manually.
- Ask for a signature and verify each transaction.
- Be on the lookout for fraudulent cards.
- EMV chip card should not be swipe or manually keyed in.
- Follow chip card processing procedures, insert them correctly and guide your customers through the chip transaction process.
- If the chip card payment fails, ask for an alternate form of payment. Most of all do not override or swipe the chip card.
- If you have to manually enter a card number, use the security code, check the expiration date and further more take an imprint.
Better be equipped to stop chargebacks by adopting few changes in your business before they happen. If your business is not yet EMV compliant, give us a call at 888-996-2273 or visit us at www.nationaltransction.com
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, EMV EuroPay MasterCard Visa Tagged with: chargeback, EMV, fraud, merchants, payments, terminals
July 19th, 2016 by Elma Jane
Here are some of the Common Business Loan Fees:
Application Fee – is a fee charged to cover the costs of processing and assessing your loan application.
Bank Wire Fee – When borrowing a loan, lenders commonly wire the money to your bank account via ACH, because the banks need to talk to each other and ensure the money is going to the right place and that no fraud is going on.
Check Processing Fee – ACH transfers are commonly used to collect periodic repayments from the debtor’s bank account. Some lenders offer the option of paying by check, but you’ll have to pay a fee for the extra cost involved.
Closing Cost – not to be confused with closing fees, encapsulate all the fees charged for processing a loan, including origination/closing fees, processing fees, referral fees, and/or packaging fees.
Draw Fee – similar to an origination fee, but is applicable instead for lines of credit.
Guarantee Fee – is charged on all SBA loans above $150K. Guarantee fee is charged to protect against credit-related losses in the mortgage portfolio.
Late Payment Fee – Missing a payment deadline can result in a late fee. A late payment may have an affect on your personal or business credit score.
Origination Fee – an up-front fee charged for processing a new loan application. Prepayment
Penalty – Is a borrower, a bank or mortgage lender agreement that regulates what the borrower is allowed to pay off and when.
Servicing and Maintenance Cost – fees charged to cover the costs associated with collecting payments, maintaining records, following up on delinquencies and any other costs associated with maintaining a term loan or line of credit.
Business loans are available in different types, from merchant cash advances to lines of credit. The most effective way to get the best deal on a business loan is to be educated and know that Fees are Negotiable.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Financial Services Tagged with: ach, bank account, check, credit, fee, fraud, loan, payment
