{"id":7085,"date":"2019-11-29T12:00:46","date_gmt":"2019-11-29T12:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/?p=7085"},"modified":"2026-01-29T10:20:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T10:20:37","slug":"in-store-fraud-stay-vigilant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/in-store-fraud-stay-vigilant\/","title":{"rendered":"7 ways for retailers to stay vigilant against in-store fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMoney Matters<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t7 ways for retailers to stay vigilant against in-store fraud\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"Ashley\t\t\t\tAshley Thompson<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Online transactional security has garnered scrutiny over the past decade, given its booming popularity and subsequent risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But brick-and-mortar businesses aren\u2019t in the clear as the extra attention to online security almost serves as a helpful distraction for low-tech criminals looking to steal card information the old fashioned way, at the point of sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If retailers become lax in their in-store payments security, they jeopardise the sensitive information of the millions of UK shoppers who prefer to shop in-store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditional defence methods against fraud are still critical. Fraud losses on face-to-face purchases<\/a> on the UK high street increased by 13% in 2018 to \u00a369.8 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use these seven tips to stay ahead of in-store fraud and reduce the risk of card fraud liability at your retail business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Regularly check unattended payment terminals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The global Europay Mastercard and Visa (EMV) standard has significantly decreased counterfeit card fraud since 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Counterfeit card losses totalled \u00a316.3 million in 2018, a decrease of 33% compared to 2017 and 90% lower than its peak of \u00a3169.8 million reported in 2008 as published in the UK Finance\u2019s research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decline doesn\u2019t mean hackers have stopped looking for ways to infiltrate card readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Criminals commonly attach concealed or disguised devices to the card reader slots of ATMs and unattended payment terminals (UPTs), such as self-service kiosks at grocery stores, ticket machines at railway stations, cinemas, and car parks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regularly monitoring your UPTs means you\u2019re more likely to spot anything that seems suspicious. Even further, updating your terminals to support contactless payments can reduce the risk of card skimming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contactless cards have a built-in security feature that occasionally prompts the cardholder to enter their PIN to prove they are in possession of their card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Don\u2019t accept physically damaged cards<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Be alert if a customer lets you know right away that their card has trouble reading. One common fraud scheme is getting the cashier to enter card details manually to bypass the anti-fraud features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cards that can\u2019t be read by a mag-stripe or chip reader are a red flag. Instead, ask for another form of payment or decline the transaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Use smart reporting to spot red flags<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your payment processor<\/a> continually monitors your business\u2019 transactions for fraudulent activity using the power of data to detect suspicious transactions. Those that fall outside the norm are flagged as a potential fraud risk and investigated for validation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This extra surveillance can help you locate suspicious activity over time as well like frequent returns and chargebacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you know you will need to perform a transaction that is out of character for your retail business, advise your payment processor first to prevent a legitimate purchase from being flagged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Build safeguards against card-not-present fraud<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Card-not-present (CNP) fraud quickly became the most common type of card fraud in the UK with a reported \u00a3506.4 million stolen<\/a> in 2018. Mobile wallets and NFC payments have, coupled with the surge in online shopping to create new opportunities for fraudsters to use stolen card information to make purchases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This form of payment presents a specific challenge to retailers in being able to verify who the actual cardholder is, and consequently being able to authenticate their payment effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regulation is helping with this as the EU has mandated Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) under PSD2. SCA requires the customer to present two of three forms of identification:<\/p>\n\n\n\n