Finding a Secure Approach to Accepting Phone Payments
Credit card fraud is widespread—and it’s expensive for U.S. consumers. In fact, one recent survey found that 60% of Americans have experienced credit card fraud at least once, and 45% have been victimized multiple times. It should be no surprise, then, that according to a recent McKinsey & Company report , 69% of U.S. bill payers rank security as a top feature in the digital bill payment process .
One area of heightened risk is taking credit card payments from your customers over the phone. Your organization needs to get paid, and you can leverage tools to make taking over-the-phone and call center payments more secure.
Merchants who accept credit card payments must comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Payment card brands may fine merchants up to $500,000 per incident if they aren’t PCI compliant at the time of a data breach.
Taking Credit Card Payments by Phone Can Be Risky Business
When consumers think of how contact center agents take payments, they often think of being asked to read off their credit card number, expiration date and card verification value (CVV) code over the phone.
If that doesn’t make you a little nervous, it should. Why? That method of sharing card information may increase the risk of credit card fraud for several reasons:
A contact center agent may write the credit card information down on a piece of paper or somewhere visible where another person could walk by and steal the information.
A disgruntled employee taking the payment may steal the credit card information, using it to make unauthorized purchases or obtain funds from the account.
The customer may be in a public place when reciting credit card details. Someone may overhear the conversation and jot down the credit card information.
Reading out a CVV code negates the reason for having it. This code is used to prove the payer has possession of the card at the point of payment. Someone who overhears and captures that CVV can use it to make card-not-present charges.