Best practices for preventing fraud
Be vigilant to protect your business from fraud-related risks and offer your clients a more secure environment.
Regularly change your administrative personal identification number (PIN)
- Every quarter, change the administrative PIN used to carry out sensitive transactions like purchase refunds and corrections on your payment solution.
- Make sure that only a few key employees have the PIN. If an employee is terminated, change the PIN immediately and keep it confidential.
Use chip cards whenever possible
Because they’re more difficult to counterfeit or tamper with, chip cards help reduce fraud. They increase security for in-person transactions because the card and the cardholder's identity can both be validated.
Online transactions are also more secure because the dynamic cryptogram that is used changes with each transaction. That's why fraudsters prefer magnetic stripes and try at all costs to use them, or to have the card number entered manually. Make sure your clients to use the chip to make their purchases.
Be wary of unusually high withdrawal amounts on debit cards (withdrawals with purchase)
- Set a maximum amount that can be withdrawn in cash when a purchase is made (debit cards only).
- Identify situations where customers purchase low-cost items and ask to withdraw a considerable amount of cash. This is often fraud.
- Never authorize a cash withdrawal on a credit card. This practice is prohibited.
Suspect fraud?
Take the customers' card and check the security features. Make sure the last 4 digits on the card match the 4 digits printed on the transaction receipt. Ask for 2 pieces of photo ID to identify the cardholder and check their signature, if applicable. However, you may not record their personal information.
You can also call 1-800-361-8120 and request "authorization code 10." One of our advisors will be able to tell you what to do.
USE FRAUD PREVENTION TOOLS
Monetico makes all of these tools available to guarantee your security as a payment solution user, and the security of consumers purchasing your goods and services.
Tools for payment terminal transactions
Protect your equipment with a secure base
A secure base not only prevents the theft of PIN pads and payment terminals, it also thwarts certain fraudulent acts at the point of sale. By using the base, you provide your clients with a secure environment where they can carry out transactions with peace of mind.
Features of the secure base for PIN pads
- Made of sturdy, durable metal
- PIN pad can be solidly attached to the base, protecting it against theft
- PIN pad protectors allow users to enter their PIN confidentially
- Highly-resistant steel security cable can be made to measure
- Cable can be easily adjusted by customers while effectively discouraging fraudsters
Desjardins-approved secure base providers
Mobilier de bureau Tangente
By phone: 514-328-4713
Online: Visit the Tangente website
Halo Metrics
By phone: 514-603-3390
Online: Visit the Halo Metrics website
Laicor
By phone: 705-748-9846
Online: Visit the Laicor website
Activate the security code feature on your payment terminal if you often conduct sales over the phone
The security code (CVV2 or verification value) is used to confirm cardholder authenticity when transactions are carried out by phone or online. It’s made up of the last 3 or 4 numbers printed on the signature panel on the back of the card, or in a white box to the right of the signature panel, or on the front of the card just above the credit card number.
The code is unique to each card and does not appear on the magnetic stripe, which means fraudsters can't get hold of this data because it can only be seen by someone who is actually in possession of the card.
This feature will help you validate the cardholder's authenticity when they are not present, in order to prevent fraud-related problems.
To activate the security code feature
Contact Desjardins technical support.
By phone
Montreal: 514-281-2880
Toll-free: 1-800-363-3514
Tools for online transactions
3D Secure security protocol
3D Secure is an online payment security protocol that helps merchants lower the risk of fraud. It’s used to confirm cardholder authenticity, ensuring that only the real cardholder can use the card to make purchases online.
Verified by Visa* service
The Verified by Visa (VbV) service, based on the 3D Secure protocol, is a global program designed to make online shopping more secure for both consumers and merchants. Cardholders register for VbV through the financial institution that issued their card and select a personal password to authenticate their identity online.
Find out more about the Verified by Visa (VbV) service
MasterCard SecureCode®
MasterCard SecureCode, based on the 3D Secure protocol, is a confidential code associated with the cards of consumers who make purchases online. This code is only known by cardholders and their financial institution.
Find out more about MasterCard SecureCode®
3 or 4 digit security code
The security code (CVV2 or verification value) is used to confirm cardholder authenticity when transactions are carried out by phone or online. It’s made up of the last 3 or 4 numbers printed on the signature panel on the back of the card, or in a white box to the right of the signature panel, or on the front of the card just above the credit card number.
The code is unique to each card and does not appear on the magnetic stripe, which means fraudsters can't get hold of this data because it can only be seen by someone who is actually in possession of the card.
This feature will help you validate the cardholder's authenticity when they are not present, in order to prevent fraud-related problems.
Find out more about the Visa three-digit code
Find out more about the MasterCard three-digit code
Address Verification Service (AVS)
Service offered by Visa and MasterCard
The Address Verification Service (AVS) allows consumers to use their credit card to make purchases online, by mail or by phone, and allows merchants to verify the cardholder's address with the financial institution processing the order.
How does AVS work?
AVS is used to verify whether the person making the purchase with the card is the same person who receives the monthly statement for that card. By checking the billing address indicated in the consumer's financial institution file against the billing address provided during the purchase, merchants and financial institutions are working together to prevent the use of lost or stolen Visa cards for card-not-present purchases.
For all cardholders, AVS means that when making purchases online, by mail or by phone, if the billing address provided to the merchant doesn't match the actual billing address, the transaction cannot be completed, which may prevent a fraudulent transaction.
Find out more about Secure With Visa
If you have any questions
Contact Desjardins Card Services' Business Customer Service. An advisor will be happy to answer all your card fraud prevention questions.
By phone
Montreal: 514-397-4450
Toll-free: 1-888-285-0015
PHONE, MAIL ORDER AND ONLINE TRANSACTIONS
When you agree to process transactions without the physical card, you accept the risks, including major losses of revenue caused by chargebacks.
Always be wary when...
- The amount of the order is higher than usual.
- The order consists of expensive or identical items that are easily converted to cash.
- The delivery is urgent or the customer wants to pick it up in-store.
- The delivery address is abroad, or several different addresses are provided.
- Transactions are carried out using several credit cards.
- Several transactions are carried out on one card in a short period.
For phone and mail order transactions, ask cardholders for the following information:
- Their name, as it appears on the card.
- Verification of the security code (3 or 4 digits) printed on the back of the card.
If you accept online payments, use the following security options:
- Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode, which use protocols to confirm cardholder authenticity.
- Address Verification Service (AVS), which confirms that the delivery address and the address associated with the card account match.
- Verification of the security code (3 or 4 digits) printed on the back of the card.
- Verification of the card in a negative database.
- Verification of the card expiry date and the cardholder's name.
In all cases, keep proof of merchandise delivery.
DID YOU KNOW?
For greater protection
The introduction of chip technology has resulted in a shift towards fraud on payment solutions that do not support this technology. As a result, card-not-present transactions are much more exposed to fraud.
That’s why Desjardins Card Services has made it mandatory to enter the security code (CVV) for DePOSiTEL transactions conducted via the Process a purchase following a telephone sale menu. This is an additional security measure to protect both you and your customers from fraud.
Contactless transactions
Based on EMV chip card technology, the contactless payment method offers increased security and protection against fraud. Transactions are as secure as if the card had been inserted in the chip reader.
All you need in order to offer contactless payment to cardholders whose cards have this feature is a contactless payment reader.
Authorization number
Authorization doesn't validate the transaction, it simply confirms that funds are available and the card is active at the time of the transaction. It doesn't guarantee that the person holding the card is the cardholder.
Keeping credit card numbers
During a transaction, sensitive information such as your customers' credit card numbers is transmitted, processed and sometimes saved for a few moments. To make sure that sensitive data is protected during every step of the transaction process, PCI DSS standards require the adoption of certain security measures. It's therefore important that you don't store any of this type of information, either on your computer or on paper.
