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Following these few simple procedures, will help you reduce your exposure to fraud and protect your sales.

Swipe Credit Cards 

Keyed transactions have a higher decline rate as well as a higher incidence of fraud, thus chargeback. They also result in higher discount rate. On a face-to-face transaction, the credit card should always be swiped. If the card does not work,  use a manual imprint  to take an imprint of the card and have the customer sign the sales draft as well as the printed receipt. Without the manual imprint and signature, keyed transactions can result in a chargeback for a missing imprint or signature from the customer. This procedure is mandatory and should be explained to the merchant.  

Hot to Spot a counterfeit credit card

Check the Hologram and Visa and MasterCard logo to see if they look blurred.

All Visa cards should have the letters CV, BV, or PV printed next to the expiration date.

 All Visa Cards should have the BIN (first four digits of the account number) printed above the first four digits of the printed account number. If they do not match or are missing, the card is counterfeit.

If you suspect a card to be counterfeit, call your automated authorization center to report the card.

Check the signature on the sales draft and receipt

After the customer has signed the receipt or sales draft, compare the signature on the back of the card to the signature on the receipt and sales draft. If the two signatures don't match, call the automated authorization center. A representative will instruct you on how to handle the situation.

If the credit card is not signed, ask for a form of identification such as a driver's license. If they don't have any do not complete the sale. 

Magnetic stripe counterfeiting

As an extra precaution, merchants should always compare the account number printed on the receipt with that of the actual printed credit card number. If the two are different, the card's magnetic stripe has been altered and the card should be confiscated and reported.

However, there could be other reasons why the card may fail to swipe through your credit card terminal e.g. faulty magnetic stripe. In these circumstances, to process the transaction, you should enter the transaction details using the terminal's keypad. In all instances, where a transaction is manually keyed, you must also imprint and complete a sales voucher, this will prove that the card was present at the time of the transaction.

Your copy of the receipt and the voucher should then be stored together in case of further query from the processor.

Non-Swipe Credit Cards

Be especially cautious regarding mail, telephone and Internet orders, and when the cardholder is not present. These transactions are particularly fraud prone and may result in chargeback at a later date. You are not obliged to take such orders under the terms of your Merchant Agreement. If you are taking phone order do not hesitate to fax, email your invoice so that they can sign the order. When you accept a non-swipe transaction Make sure THAT that the address and zip code match. Meaning that on the printed receipt you should see something like: "Match of address and 5 digit zip code". That  means that the credit cardholder has given you the exact credit card billing address, thus his home or office address.

Be cautious of customers who:

Appear to be too young or not properly dressed to have enough credit for expensive purchases.

Seem unusually nervous or are in a hurry when completing the sale.

Have no form of identification.

Makes multiple purchases the same day at different times.

Have the credit card in their hands or pull it out of their pocket instead of pulling it out from their wallet or purse.

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