What is Carding?
According to Investopedia, carding is credit card fraud where a thief steals a series of credit card numbers which it then resells on illegal websites. Carding can also occur when stolen store-branded gift cards are then sold to unsuspecting victims or used to purchase good that can easily be sold for quick cash. By the time the credit card thief is apprehended, if at all, there are several victims in the chain of events.
How Does It Work?
Carding often occurs as part of a phishing (sending fake emails from reputable companies to get personal information including passwords and credit card numbers), hacking, or malware attacks on large data archives. The criminals then trade the stolen credit card information on illegal websites.
The basic credit card information captured includes:
Card owner name
Credit card number
Expiry date
Card Verification Value (CVV) number
Zip code associated with card owner's residence
How to Prevent Carding in Your Business
There are some ways you can block carding of your customers' private data. You need to protect the data as well as make your eCommerce site as impenetrable as possible. Here are some ways to stave off carding.
Require CVV Validation - this is the code on the back of most major credit cards. Require it when a customer is making an online purchase.
Add Address Verification Service (AVS) - AVS compares the billing address entered by the purchaser with the billing address on record at the financial institution as part of the authorization for a transaction. It adds another layer of safety to a purchase.
Control Transactions - require a minimum transaction amount above $10 as well as a valid login to access your payment/order page. You can also slow data transfer speeds to control the number of transactions per minute/hour, hampering bots from slamming transactions through.
Add "I am not a robot" - validation to your purchase page so that a human must validate the transaction that a bot or automated script would ignore.
Making yourself more aware of the tricks and schemes used by thieves is the best way to proactively keep your business and customers safe, along with protecting the profits in your pocket.
Get More Information!
For more up-to-the-minute information on carding, phishing, and how to protect your business, please visit SalesSensePayments.com; or call Mike Krause directly at 305-723-1234.