Data collected by Emailage in 2018 revealed that 48% of small businesses in the US and Canada think they’re not big enough to be a target of online fraud. The statistics debunked this myth and showed that small businesses in the US reported losing an average of over $28000 to online fraud annually.
In 2019, small businesses reported losing an average of $37,258 to card fraud alone.Fraud affects almost every merchant at some point. Point of sale terminals is the best spot for scammersto entrap merchants, which leads to chargebacks and high operation costs at best, and legal proceedings at worst. This is why it’s important to invest in clover flex terminals and that too from the right vendor!
In this blog, we’ll discuss the POS system and the role of clover flex terminals in keeping merchants safe.
Point of sale (POS) systems has made it easier than ever for businesses and merchants to sell their products. From retail to restaurants, convenience stores, salons, and even your local car wash, most small businesses nowrely on POS to quickly conduct business and manage it more effectively.
Cloud point of sale systems not only enable businesses to sell their services better, but they also offer the opportunity to leverage the system for online orders and e-commerce transactions.
However, problems can ensue if you’re unaware of important factors such as:
While these POS mistakes are common and often cause businesses great harm, they’re also avoidable, and anyone can learn the tricks to avoid them altogether.’
Make sure that your staff is educated and ready to deal with all types of POS fraud with these simple guidelines.
If you’re directly handling the purchases andfeel suspiciousfor any reason, make sure to call for a code ten authorization. Code 10 request enables the merchant to verify the card’s validity and flag any suspicious activity in real-time.
By asking simple yes or no questions, you can keep the customer calm and confirm the validity of the card in the meantime. Another way of avoiding POS scamsis by swiping every card, regardless of what the customer tells you. Scammers often deliberately damage the magnetic strip to corrupt the response message, which merchants often ignore and proceed with the sales anyway.
If that happens, your first priority should be to key the numbers inmanually,and if the system still doesn’t respond, call for code ten authorization. Code 10 requests may cause a slight delay. Still, they will ensure that you don’t have to deal with costly charge backs at a later time due to the absence of receipts or paper trail.
Once you have the imprint of the cardholder’s signature and a credit card slip proving the product’s delivery, you can proceed with the sale.
When you’re swiping the card, it’s also important to make sure that the draft signatures match the card’s signature,and there isn’t a clearly visible difference between the two. Many POs and checkout corners fail to do so, especially when dealing with a bigger crowd. Failure to do so can be costly for your business, which is why you should always ask the customer to sign the receipt again or at least prove their identity with any other form of identification card.
You can always request authorization to confirm the validity of the card. Apart from signatures, it’s also crucial that you check for initiation and expiration dates. To check whether the card is real or fake, pay special attention to the BIN number (which is often missing in counterfeit cards).
If your customer has made a big purchase on a gold credit card, always confirm their phone number and address and make sure it matches with the rest of the information.Be extra careful when the shipping address is made out to be an international location, or the cardholder’s current address is a place out of the country.
Scammers often try to make big purchases in one trip to get the most out of their stolen or counterfeit card before its detected or reported.If you see shoppers hauling multiple products in a short period of time without looking at prices or features, get extra vigilant, and follow all steps carefully.
Take your time because there’s no need to rush the process. One technique scammers use trying to intimidate the POS person by talking to them or shouting at them to hurry along the process. Don’t get bullied into missing crucial steps of the procedure because you don’t want a commotion at the store. Ask the customer to stand aside and firmly declare that you’re going to take the time needed to validate the purchase.
Double-check orders received on the phone with their delivery address being a hotel room or a non-residential area.It would be best if you made sure that the purchase is traceable,otherwise you can land you in trouble.
You also need to be careful around shoppers that come in the right at the closing time and purchase a bulk of items to rush along the checkout process.
It’s better to be safe than sorry, which is why these practices are a must to keep your business safe from all types of POS scams.
If you want to protect your business and customer information, make sure that you only invest in clover merchant terminals that offer end-to-end encryption.
Our Clover Station can help lighten your workload. It is an all-in-one POS and payments system that gives you tools to help simplify running your business, so you can focus more on doing what you love. The Clover Station can transform the way you work by accepting payments, helping track inventory, managing employees, and driving customer loyalty, all with one dynamic system. It makes it easier and faster than ever to run your business using one device. After all, you want to focus on your business, not deal with tons of paperwork; that’s exactly what the Clover Station POS system does.
Empire Paytech supports Verifone, First Data, PAX, and Dejavoo terminals. All terminals allow for either Dial or IP connection, Chip+PIN debit, EMV-Credit sales, Apple Pay, EBT acceptance, and tip entry/adjustment. Empire Paytech offers both wired and WiFi models as well as external PIN-pads, depending on your needs.
Just power it up, and you’re ready for business! For more information or details, visit our website or get in touch with us here to ask us any questions. You can also reach us at 1866-294-0476 or email us at Info@empirepaytech.com for further information.
