“They may be able to see the last four digits to verify it, but the data should be locked out.” Cash refunding vs. This prevents employees from accessing customer credit card information. “Once entered, the employee cannot pull the credit card number fully back up,” Black explained. When businesses use software for customers to enter their own credit card data (via a tablet or a portable credit card machine a staff member hands to a customer), something called a data lockout occurs. Kalki says one important tip for staff is “don’t write down credit card numbers.”Īccording to Will Black, the CEO of Meridian Merchant Services, today’s software helps secure customer data. “Allowing this data to be compromised can put you in great financial risk of both fraud liability and stiff fines.” “Credit card data is only allowed to be stored in very specific and secure ways,” he said. Storing customer credit card data to charge laterĭo you store credit card data for later charging? If so, you could be violating the Terms of Service of your merchant account, Parker said. “Don’t accept a card payment from someone who can’t produce a photo ID, or if the name doesn’t match the card,” he said. Phillip Parker, founder of, said it’s a good idea to ask for identification when taking face-to-face credit card payments. If there’s no signature, request identification, he said. “For purchases with a card present, always check for the signature on the back of the card,” Palko said. Matching signatures, names on cards, and IDĪnother often overlooked security issue when accepting credit cards is a missing signature. He noted that if the numbers don’t line up and are crooked, it’s likely this is a fake credit card. “Oftentimes credit card criminals use poor equipment to create fraudulent credit cards resulting in cards that visually appear irregular,” Levin said. Levin said another clue to a fake card may be in the appearance of the numbers. “If it looks as if you have a fraudulent card in your possession, call the bank phone number that is listed on the back of the card.” “Be familiar with what the different types of cards look like,” Palko said. How do you identify a fake credit card? By getting to know the appearance of real ones, according to Palko. If this occurs, he says to ask for proper identification before completing the transaction. “Criminals will often times scratch or damage the magnetic strip to force a cashier into entering in the credit card manually if they were unable to encode the credit card information on the magnetic strip,” Levin said. Adam Levin, founder of Identity Theft 911 and, says that a scratched or damaged magnetic strip could be a tip-off that a card’s a fake. Palko said criminals use a stolen a credit card number or purchase one on the black market to create their own card with their own magnetic strip. “Look closely at the card itself,” said Joseph Palko, chief marketing officer of 3dcart Shopping Cart Software. “Much of the fraud happening today is being done with cards that are being made by the person committing the fraud.” When you have a long line of customers it’s easy to overlook things about the credit card that indicate it’s a fake. “Protecting your customers’ personal data is not only good business, it’s the law,” he said. “Make sure you and your employees know the rules of how to handle credit card data, said Vikas Bhatia, founder and CEO of cybersecurity firm Kalki Consulting. This leaves your business vulnerable to fraudulent transactions and the possibility of legal action. Untrained staffĪs a busy small business owner, you may not even realize that you and your staff don’t know how to properly handle a credit card transaction. Whether you own a restaurant, store or another brick-and-mortar business, here are five things to keep in mind if your business accepts face-to-face credit card transactions. These rules make sure that all companies that process, store or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment to protect customer credit information. In fact, when it comes to processing credit card transactions, small businesses must follow The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards. However, overlooking some simple security risks could be a costly mistake leading to stolen customer information, lost revenue, fines, and even having your credit card acceptance privileges revoked. It’s probably a routine daily activity you don’t think much about. As a small business owner, you know that accepting credit card payments is pretty much a necessity.
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