Accepting card payments online carries an elevated risk of card misuse, as the payer and the card are not physically present during the transaction. Consequently, the merchant cannot compare the cardholder’s signature on the receipt with the signature on the card or otherwise verify that the card is being used by its rightful owner. Card data misuse occurs to some extent online, especially in industries where products are easily resold or where high transaction volumes make misuse difficult to detect.
Typical Indicators of card misuse in order information:
- Suspicious customer contact information:
- Does the customer's email address in any way refer to their name? Orders from email addresses that use free email services @hotmail, @gmail, @yahoo and other similar services may be a sign of misuse.
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Does the customer's phone number look real? If needed, you can call the number to make sure the number is real. Take special care with prepaid numbers (such as Finnish numbers that begin with 046).
- Does the customer's address seem real? Misuse often involves using the address of a hotel or other public location. Another possibility is a payment where the billing address and shipping address are different.
If the payer's IP address is displayed in your online store, we recommend comparing it with the customer's address information. You can find IP tools by searching for "IP address locator". IP search results are not always accurate, but the customer's IP address and contact information should be accurate, at least the country information.
If possible, also check if the customer has made multiple orders recently or whether the same billing address was used in multiple orders. Pay close attention to orders with the same billing address but are being sent to different shipping addresses. In cases of card misuse, it is common for additional orders to be placed shortly after a successful attempt.
Please note that the list above is not exhaustive, and the presence of a certain indicator doesn't necessarily mean that the payment is fraudulent. If you suspect card misuse, please contact us before shipping the order.
We are happy to review the situation and provide assistance regarding the payment in question: support@paytrail.com or +358 20 718 1820.