Chargeback Gurus' Audio Blog

Phone numbers have become a common way to verify your identity online. We’re in an era where many of us view our smartphones as practically extensions of ourselves, so it stands to reason that sending a text message to a personal phone number is a good way to perform two-factor authentication or validate a login from an unfamiliar device.

This method is secure and effective—unless a fraudster manages to hijack your phone number with a SIM card swap. It’s not the easiest scam to pull off, but when it succeeds, what can victims do to mitigate the damage and protect their online accounts?

Many of the apps and sites that store our most valuable personal data—like our social media, email, and online banking—use our phone numbers to make sure we are who we say we are when we’re trying to access or make changes to our accounts. After all, most of us always have our phones nearby, and replace them immediately when they’re lost or broken.

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/sim-swap-fraud

©Chargeback Gurus 2021
Production: Emily Woodward
Narration: Sarah Rife

The most important step when processing a credit card transaction is getting an authorization from the card issuer. This provides the confirmation that the customer’s identity has been verified to the best extent possible, and that the card is valid and has sufficient funds to cover the purchase.

A card transaction that hasn’t been authorized is like a great big bullseye target for chargebacks. However, interpreting the authorization codes that the issuer sends back can be confusing. What do the various codes sent back in authorization response messages mean, and how can merchants use them to make safer decisions when processing transactions?

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/credit-card-response-codes

©Chargeback Gurus 2021
Production: Emily Woodward
Narration: Phil Claffey

In this hyperconnected digital world we’re living in, customers can come at you from any direction, and smart merchants are learning to meet their customers where they’re at—no matter where that might be. The name for this approach of marketing and selling across multiple platforms is the omnichannel, because it encompasses every possible vector through which merchants might engage their customers.

Unfortunately, any conduit for customers will also bring fraudsters, and the omnichannel presents them with multiple opportunities and vulnerabilities to exploit. How can merchants safely take advantage of omnichannel marketing without exposing themselves to excessive fraud and chargebacks?

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/omnichannel-payments

©Chargeback Gurus 2021
Production: Emily Woodward
Narration: Phil Claffey

To many American consumers, it may feel like QR codes had their moment a few years ago, but they never really went away—and with contactless payments becoming a big priority in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, they’re starting to make a comeback.

QR codes offer an easily accessible way to receive contact-free payments without investing in the near-field communications hardware required by many digital wallet platforms, but greater accessibility sometimes means a greater risk of fraud. How are fraudsters exploiting QR codes to steal money, payment card credentials, and sensitive personal data?

QR (Quick Response) codes were invented in 1994 to track materials in automobile factories, but the dawn of the smartphone helped them take off in a big way for the average person. While they were prevalent for a time, they never quite found their essential purpose—not in the United States, anyway, where they typically served as shortcuts to load a URL or contact information on your phone. In China and Southeast Asia, however, they found widespread use as a means to facilitate digital payments.

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/qr-code-payments

©Chargeback Gurus 2021
Production: Emily Woodward
Narration: Phil Claffey

At a glance, processing a credit card payment couldn’t seem more straightforward. The card goes in the slot, the terminal does some behind-the-scenes communication with the credit card mothership, the customer scribbles a rough approximation of their signature on the screen, and presto—a transaction has occurred.

For the layperson, this explanation may be sufficient, but merchants need a better understanding of the technical details of credit card processing in order to protect themselves from fraud and chargebacks. What do merchants need to know about how credit card processing works, and how can this inform the best practices for handling transactions?

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/credit-card-processing

©Chargeback Gurus 2021
Production: Emily Woodward
Narration: Phil Claffey

Every merchant knows how their transaction process is supposed to work. The customer gives you money, and you give them your goods or services in return. It’s never ideal when merchants have to give money back to the customer, but of course it happens frequently and is sometimes unavoidable.

When you’re dealing with payment cards, there are three different ways that payment reversals can occur. Each happens for different reasons, with its own special implications for the merchant. What are the three types of payment reversals, and how can merchants minimize the impact reversals have on their revenue?

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/payment-reversals

©Chargeback Gurus 2021
Production: Emily Woodward
Narration: Phil Claffey

Every merchant knows that when it comes time for a customer to make a payment to complete a purchase, any little bit of friction can lead to annoyance, second thoughts, and a lost sale. Once consumers get used to an easier way of paying for things, they rarely like to revert back to the less convenient way of doing things.

“Seamless” transactions have been the watchword for a while, but the industry is turning its eye toward idea of invisible payments. What are invisible payments, how do they work, and what do merchants need to do to prepare for this new way of conducting transactions?

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/invisible-payments

©Chargeback Gurus 2021
Production: Emily Woodward
Narration: Phil Claffey

Back in the days of check fraud, brick-and-mortar stores used to post mugshots behind the cash register that said, “Do not accept checks from this person!” Not a very sophisticated anti-fraud solution—but it worked. In the era of eCommerce fraud and cybercrime, things aren’t as simple.

Online anonymity is the fraudster’s best weapon, and consumer demands for stricter privacy regulations have the side effect of making it even easier for fraudsters to mask themselves. However, device fingerprinting remains an effective and hard-to-evade method of identification. How can device fingerprinting be used to stop fraudsters and prevent chargebacks?

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/device-fingerprinting

©Chargeback Gurus 2021
Production: Emily Woodward
Narration: Phil Claffey

Life would be easier for merchants if customers never wanted to return things, but returns are a fact of life and an inevitable cost of doing business. The silver lining is that every return is a potential chargeback avoided—if the customer hadn’t gone through the return and refund process, there’s a good chance they would have tried to get their money back from their bank instead.

In fact, returns and chargebacks often share the same root causes, and refunds are always preferable to chargebacks because they’re cheaper and less harmful to your business. What are the most common reasons behind customer returns?

It’s good to have a generous return and refund policy. When customers know they can come to you with their problems, return an unwanted purchase, and get their money back, they have little reason to dispute the transaction with their bank instead. With a return and refund, you’re only out the cost of the transaction, and you may even be able to resell the returned product.

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/return-reasons

©Chargeback Gurus 2021
Production: Emily Woodward
Narration: Phil Claffey

Many of the most effective fraud prevention methods are all about answering one simple question: is the person making the transaction really who they claim to be? There are various ways to put this to the test, but none of them are infallible.

Many merchants choose to rely on two-factor authentication by requiring their customers to log in with a password and then enter a one-time code sent to their phone via SMS messaging. How reliable is SMS verification when it comes to authenticating the true identity of a person trying to make a credit card purchase?

Most methods of identity verification are based on an idea called “the three factors of authentication.” The premise is that you can verify someone’s identity by using three different factors: something they know, something they are, and something they have. “Something you know” could be a login password. “Something you are” could be biometric data, like a fingerprint. And “something you have” could be a smartphone.

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/sms-verification

©Chargeback Gurus 2021
Production: Emily Woodward
Narration: Phil Claffey