LP CORNER with Theresa Rowsell
BATTLING BOGUS TRANSACTIONS
C
anadians use credit and debit cards millions of times a day to pay for everything from their morning cup of coffee to flat- screen TVs. In fact, Canada is fast becoming one of the world’s largest per-capita users of electronic payments, prima- rily due to their positioning as a convenient and secure cash alternative. However, consumers are not the only ones who love their plastic. Thousands of busi- nesses are defrauded out of millions of dol- lars every year by technically savvy criminals taking advantage of the credit and debit card system. To avoid financial losses from bogus transactions, and to maintain the trust of Canadian consumers, businesses need to be vigilant in protecting them- selves and their customers from credit and debit card fraud. A number of se- curity features are built into the cards themselves, such as new chip and PIN technology, but there are a few simple steps that busi- ness owners can take to ensure transactions in their stores are legitimate.
CREDIT CARDS If staff members are suspi- cious a customer’s credit card is fraudulent, the first step they should take is to ask to see another piece of identification. Comparing the card signature with the signature on the sales re-
ceipt is a quick and easy way to verify the customer’s identity. But checking the signature is not fool proof as staff members also need to look carefully to ensure the identification presented has not been tampered with.
As previously mentioned, a number of today’s cards have state-of-the-art security features like repetitive colour designs of the credit card company name in the signature panel. If this area is altered, discoloured, glued or covered with white tape the card may be fraudulent. Also, if the embossing on the card has been tampered with, there may be “ghost images” of other numbers,
22 SECURITY MATTERS • JULY/AUGUST 2010 DEBIT CARDS
It may be more difficult to protect your busi- ness from debit fraud because staff are not handling the card, but there are ways that you can protect yourself and your customers. At the point of sale, staff should remind customers to shield their PINs if they are swiping their cards, and if you have a chip terminal remind your customers to insert their cards first to avoid any unnecessary swiping. As a responsible business
owner, there are several best practices that should be fol- lowed on a daily basis to en- sure credit and debit systems are not compromised: • Point-of-sale PIN pads should be treated like cash and secured away at closing; • Check your PIN pads at the start and end of each shift to ensure the serial number matches and inspect Auto- mated Banking Machines reg- ularly for anything unusual; and • Talk to your payment
service provider periodically about other steps you can take to prevent fraud from happening at your location. Credit and debit fraud may not be entirely preventable, but by following some simple procedures, you can save your business thousands of dollars and help maintain the trust you’ve built with your customers.
Theresa Rowsell is the associate vice president of operations loss prevention with the Retail Council of Canada (
www.retail-
council.org).
A few simple security steps can go a long way to ensuring credit and debit card transactions are legitimate
and the hologram may be damaged. Holograms on unaltered cards will show clear, three-dimensional images that appear to move when the card is tilted.
Aside from the simple identification checks and security features, staff can also verify the card with recent lists of stolen and invalid credit cards; to be ab- solutely sure, call the credit card company for authorization.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32