Card Verification at the Point of Sale

Preventing credit card fraud in face-to-facecompare the provided information to the one stored in
transactions often depends on the preparedness andthe magnetic stripe.
motivation of the point-of-sale staff. The merchant hasIf you are using a terminal that displays or prints the
a responsibility to verify the card account number ataccount number on the sales receipt, it will usually use
the point of sale, before a transaction is completed.the last four digits of the number. If the numbers do not
Doing so is also in your own best interest, as everymatch, you will receive a "No Match" message. In such
unauthorized or fraudulent transaction will most likelyinstances you should make a "Code 10" call to your
result in a chargeback that you will not be able tomerchant account provider's voice authorization center
reverse. Most point-of-sale terminals today allowand follow the instructions.
merchants to verify that the account numberVisa and MasterCard, as well as all other major credit
embossed on the front of the card is the same as thecard companies now require that point-of-sale
account number encoded in the magnetic stripe of theterminals truncate card account numbers when printing
card. The exact verification procedure will depend onthem on sales receipts. This means that only the last
the type of terminal used at your store. Somefour digits of the account number should be printed on
terminals will display the information contained in thea sales receipt and the expiration date should not be
magnetic stripe or will print it on the sales receipt.shown at all. This is intended to be an additional
Others will check the numbers electronically. The latterpreventive measure to protect consumers against
type of terminals will ask the merchant to input the lastcard processing fraud.
four digits of the embossed card number and