Credit card fraud is shifting rapidly to the eCommerce elements of US top credit card processing companies are reporting.  This is due to the rapid shift in POS technology to be EMV and chip card compliant.  This technology greatly reduces the amount of fraud at the point of sale.  In the past criminals were able to easily skim card holder data but this is not the case any longer now that EMV has been introduced to the US market.  Therefore, fraud has now taken a major shift to the rapid growing eCommerce segment of US credit card processing services.

Home Depot is now the latest victim of a large scale data breach targeted at stealing customers credit card information which results in identity theft.  Home Depot publicly revealed on September 8th that it's payment data systems were breached in both the U.S. and Canada.  Although, it appears that Home Depot has not yet confirmed that customer credit card information was comprised.  Home Depot apparently found out about the breach from banking partners and law enforcement on September 2nd.

Bottom line, if you are a retailer of any size now is the time to take action to prevent a possible data breach.  Believe it or not identity thieves are employing all kinds of methods to obtain your credit card and personal information at the point of sale.  If you are using an outdated credit card machine you are the primary target of these thieves.  They seek out businesses with old legacy technology and point of sale equipment.  In addition, if you are storing credit card information in unsafe ways you could be putting your customers at risk.  New legislation being passed through the government will soon place the liability of payment system data theft on the party which has the most outdated technology.  For instance, if a fraud was committed from a card that could have been processed in a more secure method with more up to date equipment the liability automatically falls on the person with the outdated equipment.  Banks are setting this up so businesses take the responsibility of updating old payment systems to adequate means of protecting card holder data and security standards.

Contact Bravertek to get more info on our low rate, no cancellation fee merchant account processing and eCommerce programs.  We have a free equipment program for any type or size of business!  From individual sellers just going into business to franchises and corporate partnerships Bravertek will give you the same personalized services that are necessary to growing your business.

At some point every business (even the most reputable businesses) will encounter some sort of friendly fraud or chargeback activity from a customer or client that chose to pay by credit card.  You may be asking yourself why someone would initiate a chargeback for a good or service that never had any problems.  The answer is very simple, banks advertise total security and fraud protection services.  This gives any buyer the ability to dispute a settled credit card transaction that was processed through any of the major card networks.  Many times clients are truly just confused about where the charge came from and/or maybe a spouse or family member controls the account and does not agree with the purchase and decides to initiate a chargeback with their bank.  Businesses that process a high number of recurring payments experience high levels of chargeback activity due to the fact that customers may have changed their minds or forgot they supplied credit card info for a recurring payment or they simply don't have the financial means to keep up with the payment arrangents.  As we can see here there are more than one good reason why a person may initiate a chargeback by mistake.

If you are looking for a way to reduce chargeback initiations by your customers you must educate them on your refund policies and why disputing a charge with their bank is never a good means of solving a problem or getting a refund.  Instruct your customers to instead contact you first to try and settle the dispute and/or receive a refund.  In a retail setting chargebacks are relatively low compared to e-commerce accounts although the problem still remains.  Sometimes retailers make the mistake of placing the wrong name on their credit card descriptor.  If a customer cannot match the name on their statement to your business they may not recognize it and dispute the transaction.  In addition, retailers must always instruct employees to check the ID card of customers using credit card payment.

Bravertek works with industries and merchants who are prone to high levels of chargebacks.  We can even get an account approved that has been previously canceled due to chargebacks.  Contact us today or click below for a merchant account quote.

Opertaion Choke Point is a new initiative by the US Government to uncover and literally choke the financial life out of questionable businesses that have been known to engage in fraudulent or morally reprehensible services that could be legal fronts for an illegal operation.  Many payment processors have been held accountable for processing credit card payments and offering merchant account services to illegal operations.  In the past, payment processors or banks would not be held accountable for turning a blind eye to questionable business practices or high levels of chargeback activity.  With Operation Choke Point in affect this is all about to change!

Bravertek does not condone illegal activities in any way and we would never knowingly help a fraudulent applicant obtain business financial services!  Before we submit any merchant application to a payment processor we do our own 10 point examination to make sure that no red flags come up and that the business has a good online history with no signs of fraudulent activity or excessive complaints.  This is for our organizational protection and reputation as well as the protection of consumers and our payment processing partners.  We don't want to deal with any business that hops from one processor to the next as well as businesses with excessively high levels of chargeback activity.  It's not only a waste of our time to deal with these applicants, it actually endangers consumers and our processing partners!

On the other hand, although Operation Choke Point has hindered many businesses Bravertek understands that many honest businesses do exist in high risk industries and are feeling the pressure from this new initiative.  Only a small percentage of high risk merchants take part in shady criminal activities.  At Bravertek all applicants are considered and we promise to give you an honest and fair chance to get a merchant account regardless of what industry you operate in.