Card-Not-Present Transactions

Extra Protection When There’s No Card

Visa CNP payment acceptance

Take these steps to accept Visa CNP payments: 

1.	Obtain an authorization.
2.	Verify the card’s legitimacy:   Ask the customer for the card expiration date and include it in your authorization request. An invalid or missing expiration date might indicate that the customer does not have the actual card in hand. Use fraud prevention tools such as Card Verification Value 2 (CVV2) and Verified by Visa. Find out more.
3.	Look for general warning signs of fraud (listed below).
4.	If you receive an authorization, but still suspect fraud:   Ask for additional information during the transaction (e.g., request the financial institution name on the front of the card). Confirm the order separately by sending a note via the customer's billing address rather than the “ship to” address.

To report suspicious activity, contact your merchant financial institution.
 

Potential signs of CNP fraud

Look out for the following fraud indicators. When there is more than one during a card-not-present transaction, fraud might be involved. Follow up, just in case. 

1.	First-time shopper: Criminals are always looking for new victims.
2.	Larger-than-normal orders: Because stolen cards or account numbers have a limited life span, crooks need to maximize the size of their purchase.
3.	Orders that include several of the same item: Having multiples of the same item increases a criminal's profits.
4.	Orders made up of “big-ticket” items: These items have maximum resale value and therefore maximum profit potential.
5.	“Rush” or “overnight” shipping: Crooks want these fraudulently obtained items as soon as possible for the quickest possible resale, and aren’t concerned about extra delivery charges.
6.	Transactions with similar account numbers: Particularly useful if the account numbers used have been generated using software available on the Internet (e.g., CreditMaster).
7.	Shipping to a single address, but transactions placed on multiple cards: Could involve an account number generated using special software, or even a batch of stolen cards.
8.	Multiple transactions on one card over a very short period of time: Could be an attempt to "run a card" until the account is closed.
9.	Multiple transactions on one card or a similar card with a single billing address, but multiple shipping addresses: Could represent organized activity, rather than one individual at work.
10.	In online transactions, multiple cards used from a single IP (Internet Protocol)address: More than one or two cards could definitely indicate a fraud scheme.
11.	Orders from Internet addresses that make use of free e-mail services: These e-mail services involve no billing relationships, and often neither an audit trail nor verification that a legitimate cardholder has opened the account.

 

Visa CNP fraud prevention tools

Appropriate preventive action can help reduce fraudulent transactions and potential customer disputes. Make use of these Visa tools and controls to verify the legitimacy of the Visa cardholder and the card in every card-not-present transaction. 
 

Tool	Description
Card  Verification  Value 2  (CVV2)	Is a three-digit number imprinted on the signature panel of  Visa cards to help card-not-present merchants verify that  the customer has a legitimate card in hand at the time of the  order.    The merchant asks the customer for the CVV2 code and  then sends it to the card issuer as part of the authorization  request. The card issuer checks the CVV2 code to  determine its validity, then sends a CVV2 result back to  the merchant along with the authorization. CVV2 is required  on all Visa cards. To protect CVV2 data from being  compromised, merchants should not keep or store CVV2  numbers once a transaction has been completed.
Verified by Visa (VbV)	Enables e-commerce merchants validate a cardholder's  ownership of an account in real-time during an online Visa  card transaction. When the cardholder clicks "buy" at the  checkout of a participating merchant, the merchant server  recognizes the registered Visa card and the “Verified by  Visa” screen automatically appears on the cardholder’s  desktop. The cardholder enters a password to verify his or  her identity and the Visa card. The issuer then confirms the  cardholder’s identity.

 
 

Merchant materials

Visa offers a variety of fraud prevention, security and risk management materials to merchants, including reference guides and videos.  
 Click here to learn more about these materials.