Prevent card testing fraud with digital fraud prevention

Fraudsters typically obtain a list of card numbers from data breaches or they purchase a list from the dark web. Sometimes, they attempt phishing scams to get payment information. For example, they may send fake, official-looking emails from banks or retail stores asking victims to click a link or call a phone number and give out personal information. 

Bots are software programs designed to run tasks automatically. They can run tasks like inputting card information on a checkout page in seconds. As a result, they can test hundreds, even thousands, of cards per hour. Because bots speed up the card testing process, handling the issue can quickly become unmanageable or, in some cases, impossible to do on your own.

Fraudsters typically target businesses that process a lot of low dollar transactions — such as quick service restaurants. Card testing works when a fraudster can make a large number of small purchases in quick succession. And a business that accepts small orders will likely not notice the fraud right away, so it’s easy for fraudsters to get away with it.

When you have fraud issues, sometimes it's difficult to know what the root cause is. With card testing, there are a few key indicators that can tell you if you're experiencing this issue.

The first thing you want to watch for is changes in trends over time — such as sudden increases in decline rates or a spike in chargeback rates. Then, you'll want to investigate those trends further by looking at real-time interactions happening on your site.

For example, If you see dozens of low-dollar transactions happening in quick succession paired with a high number of declined orders, you most likely are experiencing a card testing attack.

Check out our blog for more information about the warning signs of card testing fraud.

You can avoid card testing by improving the security parameters on your website. That includes adding CAPTCHAs, setting up firewalls, requiring card security codes, running AVS checks, and monitoring IP addresses. These tools can help you mitigate large attacks performed by bots and prevent fraudsters from making purchases with stolen cards.

Additionally, you can add account takeover prevention so that fraudsters cannot hack into and use customer accounts to test cards.

While these tools can help, fraud detection software is truly the only way to detect and stop these attacks completely. Plus, it can be a hassle trying to monitor so many different things on top of running your business.

That's where Kount comes in. Our industry-leading technology can prevent a variety of fraud types — all on one platform.

Once fraudsters find valid cards they often go on to make larger purchases — with you or at other businesses. Or they might sell the list of valid card numbers online so that someone else can commit other acts of fraud.