Card-Not-Present (CNP) Payments expert Patricia Carlin will be speaking in a segment called “Where Does Fraud Start and What Should You be Looking For? at the first annual Flourish Conference. Her panel will discuss the root of the problem in branded currency and what merchants can do to mitigate the fraud problem.
This problem exists both with online credit card payments as well as within branded currency – any tender that is branded and used at a specific merchant. Gift card, referral and loyalty programs all face attacks by unscrupulous characters looking to scam unsuspecting customers for an easy pay day. While mega retail data breaches that lead to the leaking of sensitive customer payment card data are widely reported in the media, gift card fraud goes largely unreported. However, it’s impact can be just as devastating to merchants, who face damages to their brand reputation as well as the cost of stolen currency.
Carlin has worked with merchants who have faced these setbacks, particularly in the online realm where more vulnerabilities exist. She has seen merchants attacked by hackers as well as fraudsters who take advantage of channels like e-gift cards to steal merchandise and transfer funds that don’t belong to them. At the end of 2016, e-gift cards generated roughly $10 billion in sales. Many of those gift cards are purchased by fraudsters with valid payment cards, only to be sold on a black market. The fraudsters then chargeback the gift card purchase with the issuing merchant, pocketing the ill-earned profit.
“By the time merchants find me, they are often in a tough spot,” said Carlin. “They typically o have already been hit with a high number of chargebacks and face harsh fines and penalties from the card brands. They have to create and implement a chargeback reduction plan to appease the card brands, all while trying to run a successful business. It’s a tightrope walk that many merchants simply aren’t equipped to handle on internal resources alone.”
As founder of She Is Payments, Patricia has a long history of helping CNP merchants establish merchants accounts and protect those merchant accounts against online fraud and chargebacks. Since 1999, she has worked with merchants of every type and size to set up stable merchant accounts and maintain the integrity of those accounts through hands-on fraud and chargeback management. She helps merchants create and execute on chargeback reductions plans and implement the right combination of tools to prevent fraud.
About Patricia
Her experience is everything. With over 14 years of merchant account management, Patricia has helped niche merchants establish and maintain healthy merchant accounts. Her clients range from SaaS and Startups to Online Dating and MLM merchants. Patricia has worked with both low risk and high risk merchants to streamline payments processing and protect the bottom line from fraud.
You can read more about Patricia’s experience and ability to help merchants here.
