Tag: payment security

5 Common Types of Payment Fraud—And How to Stop Them Before They Hit Your Business

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Key Takeaways

  • Identifying and understanding various types of payment fraud is essential for businesses to protect their revenue and reputation.
  • Each payment fraud type—such as account takeover, overpayment fraud and card testing—requires tailored prevention strategies and vigilant monitoring.
  • Implementing robust security measures and staying informed on the latest fraud tactics can help businesses stay ahead of evolving threats.

Payment fraud is one of the biggest threats businesses face today. Attacks are evolving fast, becoming harder to detect and even harder to stop. Understanding the different types of payment fraud is the first step to protecting your customers and your bottom line. Each fraud type demands its own tools and defense strategy—generic fraud prevention measures won’t cut it. Keep reading to learn the impact, warning signs and best practices for preventing five common types of payment fraud.

 

5 types of payment fraud

 

1. Account takeover (ATO) fraud

What is it?
Cybercriminals gain unauthorized access to a victim’s accounts to steal money or information. Fraudsters access a victim’s online account through phishing emails and websites, brute force attacks, social engineering, data breaches, malware or SIM card swapping.

Business impacts

  • Financial losses: When account takeover fraudsters make unauthorized purchases or transfer funds, individuals and businesses take a financial hit.
  • Chargebacks: After the account holder discovers the ATO, merchants can expect chargebacks (with fees added to each transaction).
  • Higher operational costs: Fraud teams must investigate account takeovers and invest in more robust security measures. Customer service teams field calls from distressed customers, increasing customer care costs.

Warning signs

  • New or unauthorized transactions
  • Large withdrawals
  • Random and sporadic spikes in traffic
  • Requests to change passwords, address, or payment beneficiary
  • Multiple failed login attempts—especially from an unusual location or time of day
  • New or unrecognized devices accessing an account

Ways to prevent ATO fraud

  • Implement front-door controls to stop fraudsters and bots before they gain unauthorized access to the payment system.
    • Multi-Factor Authentication (e.g., one-time passwords and biometrics)
    • Rate limiting/IP controls (limiting the number of failed login attempts allowed from a single IP address, device, or user account within a short period)
    • CAPTCHA
  • Monitor accounts to detect unusual activity.

 

2. Overpayment fraud

What is it?
A fraudster uses a stolen credit card or counterfeit check to pay significantly more than the agreed-upon price for a good or service. Then the fraudster asks the victim to refund the excess amount using a legitimate, irreversible payment method (like a wire transfer, payment app, gift card or cash). Merchants and rental property managers are common victims of overpayment fraud.

Business impacts
Total financial loss for the business/victim include:

  • The amount of the legitimate refund they sent to the scammer
  • The goods or services they provided to the scammer
  • Fees incurred from the fraudulent overpayment (e.g., chargeback or returned deposit item fees)

Warning signs

  • Sends more money than they should and claims it was a mistake
  • Overpays using a check from a different name or account than the buyer
  • Pushes for quick repayment—often before the original check clears
  • Requests refunds through methods that are difficult to track or reverse, such as gift cards or wire transfers or payment apps
  • Refuses to correct the payment themselves (e.g., by sending the correct payment)

Ways to prevent overpayment fraud

  • Never refund overpayments: Do not accept a payment for more than the selling price. If someone overpays, cancel the transaction and ask for the correct amount.
  • Wait for payments to clear: Don’t ship any item until you are sure the payment is valid. Even when your bank makes the funds available in your account, the money can be withdrawn later if the payer’s bank determines that the check is fraudulent or the true account holder reports unauthorized activity.
  • Only accept secure payment methods: Instead of taking checks, which offer less protection from fraud, accept cash or person-to-person payments through trusted, secure payment systems such as Venmo, Apple Pay or Google Pay. This may dissuade scammers from targeting your business in the first place.

 

3. Card testing

What is it?
Cybercriminals use bots to run small transactions or authorizations across large batches of stolen or generated card numbers to identify which cards are valid. Once verified, those card details are used for larger fraudulent purchases or sold on the dark web.

Business impacts

  • Transaction fees: Every attempted transaction—whether it’s approved or declined—costs merchants money. During card-testing attacks, these fees can escalate quickly, and too many declines may cause processors to label a merchant as “high risk,” triggering higher fees.
  • Chargeback fees: Even small successful test charges lead to chargebacks when cardholders notice unauthorized activity. Each dispute carries a fee, and excessive fraud-related chargebacks may result in higher processing costs or account termination.
  • Wasted staff time: Fraud, security and IT teams must investigate logs, block fraudulent IPs and clean up incident fallout—time that produces no revenue.
  • Lost revenue from false positives: To fight bots, merchants or payment platforms may tighten fraud rules, unintentionally blocking legitimate customers and losing sales.

Warning signs

  • Sudden spikes in authorization attempts
  • Many $1 (or smaller) transactions in rapid succession
  • Multiple card numbers used from the same IP, device or region
  • High decline rates due to large volumes of invalid or expired data
  • Transactions from unfamiliar or high-risk geographic regions
  • Inconsistent or mismatched billing information

Ways to prevent card testing

  • Transaction monitoring and alerts: Implement real-time monitoring of payment activity to detect unusual patterns, such as multiple low-value transactions or repeated declines, and automatically alert fraud teams for quick response.
  • Limit failed attempts and block suspicious accounts: Set thresholds for failed payment attempts and restrict further activity from accounts or IP addresses exceeding those limits to reduce the risk of automated card testing attacks.
  • Strong authentication: Require card verification value (CVV) and address verification service (AVS) checks. Add CAPTCHA to forms that allow card-on-file storage.

 

4. First-party (chargeback) fraud

What is it?
The customer makes a legitimate purchase but later files a chargeback with their bank, falsely claiming they didn’t authorize the purchase or receive the goods, or the product was damaged.

Business impacts

  • Financial losses: The merchant loses the product and revenue from the sale and incurs a chargeback fee from the payment processor.
  • Higher processing fees and scrutiny: Merchants with high chargeback ratios are subject to higher fees and monitoring by the payment processor.
  • Increased operational costs: Investigating chargeback claims, gathering evidence and responding to banks are labor-intensive tasks.

Warning signs
Red flags emerge after the purchase, typically via patterns in the customer’s behavior and dispute history.

  • Frequent chargebacks from the same customer
  • Customer claims they didn’t receive the order, despite delivery confirmation
  • Disputes filed shortly after the transaction (especially for digital goods or subscription services that have already been used)
  • Chargebacks with no prior contact with the merchant (i.e., no attempt to resolve the problem)

Ways to prevent first-party (chargeback) fraud

  • Keep detailed records: Document transactions, shipping/delivery details and customer communications to defend against chargebacks.
  • Use fraud prevention tools to:
    • Track chargeback patterns and flag high-risk customers for manual review.
    • Monitor transaction timelines and flag disputes raised unusually quickly.
    • Detect intent to commit friendly fraud chargeback.

Banks contact the merchant immediately when an account holder contacts them about a suspicious transaction. The merchant can pre-emptively refund the money before a formal chargeback is filed, avoiding the chargeback fee and preventing a hit to the merchant’s chargeback ratio.

 

5. Merchant bust-out fraud

What is it?
Cybercriminals use stolen or synthetic identities to establish fraudulent merchant accounts. After processing small, legitimate transactions for a few months, the fraudulent merchant suddenly “busts out” by processing a massive volume of fraudulent transactions (using stolen credit cards) before quickly disappearing.

Business impacts
Merchant bust-out fraud primarily impacts the acquiring payment processors and banks. When the victims of the fraudulent sales (the cardholders) file chargebacks, the processor is left to absorb the massive financial losses, as the fraudulent merchant has already withdrawn the provisional funds and vanished.

Warning signs

  • Inconsistent data: Missing or inconsistent personal data during the initial merchant account application may signal a synthetic identity.
  • Building a fake profile: The fraudulent merchant may initially make timely payments and normal purchases to build up a credit history.
  • Frequent credit requests: Regular requests for credit limit increases are disproportionate to the business’s financial history.
  • Sudden activity spike: A dramatic, uncharacteristic increase in the volume or dollar value of transactions may signal impending merchant bust-out.

Ways to prevent merchant bust-out fraud
Payment processors and banks should require rigorous checks throughout the merchant lifecycle, including:

  • Comprehensive onboarding checks: Partner with a payment processor that completes thorough merchant onboarding, including verification of business ownership, validation of tax identification numbers and review of corporate documents to ensure each merchant is legitimate and not operating under a synthetic identity.
  • Ongoing transaction and risk monitoring: Ensure your platform continuously monitors merchant activity for unusual patterns, such as sudden spikes in transaction volumes or suspicious payment behaviors. Automated systems flag high-risk accounts for further review, helping to detect and prevent bust-out fraud before losses occur.

 

Fight payment fraud with CSG Forte

The easiest way to safeguard your customers’ financial data and your revenue is to partner with a modern payment services provider who offers a secure payer engagement platform. CSG Forte provides robust tools to defend against multiple types of payment fraud.

Are you ready to take online payments faster and safer? Contact the experts at CSG Forte today to learn more or sign up for a demo.

What Are Card Testing Attacks?

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Key Takeaways

  • Card testing attacks are a growing threat to eCommerce merchants, causing financial losses, operational disruption and reputational damage. Recognizing early warning signs is critical for effective detection and prevention.
  • Layered payment security controls are essential to block automated card testing fraud and protect your business from chargebacks and increased processing fees.
  • Partnering with a PCI-compliant payment service provider ensures access to advanced fraud prevention tools, real-time monitoring and tailored security solutions that help safeguard revenue and customer trust.

Imagine opening your payment operations platform to see thousands of small, unexplained charges. By the time you react, it’s too late. Your business, and your customers, have been blindsided. Card testing fraud isn’t just a nuisance; it’s a silent, persistent threat that can drain resources, damage trust and leave even the most vigilant merchants scrambling to recover. That’s why staying a step ahead of these invisible attackers is more essential than ever.

Card testing fraud is rampant and increasing, affecting 33% of global eCommerce merchants. Card testing attacks are stealthy, often escaping detection because the low-value transactions fly under the radar. At that volume, the financial and operational fallout can devastate businesses. Strong payment security measures are essential for effective card testing detection and prevention. Modern payment service providers must implement robust monitoring and authentication controls to keep from getting blindsided.

 

What is a card testing attack?

A card testing attack is a payment fraud scheme where cybercriminals use bots to quickly run small transactions or authorizations through large batches of stolen or generated card numbers, determining which cards are usable. If a transaction succeeds, the card is validated. The fraudster then uses these working card details for larger, unauthorized purchases or sells the validated card information on the dark web.

 

6 signs of a card testing attack

Card testing often escapes detection because cardholders and fraud detection systems don’t notice the small transactions.

Look for these indicators that your business may be under silent attack:

  1. Sudden spikes in transaction volume: An immediate, large increase in the number of attempted authorizations that far exceeds your normal, legitimate payment traffic.
  2. Numerous $1 or smaller transactions, often in quick succession: Many attempts to purchase the cheapest item on the site. Another fishy indicator: $0 authorization holds (used for free trial sign-ups or card-on-file verification).
  3. Use of multiple cards: An actual buyer wouldn’t make several attempts to use different card numbers from the same IP address, device or geographic area.
  4. High rate of declined transactions: Because the fraudster is testing large lists of stolen and often expired data, the ratio of failed transactions to successful transactions is high.
  5. Geographic mismatch: Transactions originating predominantly from countries or regions known for high fraud or are outside the merchant’s usual geographic customer base.
  6. Inconsistent billing information: A mismatch between the billing information provided and the card details on file.

 

The high cost of card testing attacks

Although each fraudulent transaction is small, the damage to businesses can be substantial. The direct financial costs include:

  • Transaction fees: Merchants pay a small processing fee for every transaction attempt—successful or declined. In a card testing attack, these fees can quickly add up to thousands of dollars.
  • Chargeback fees: Successful $1 charges made during the testing phase result in chargebacks when the legitimate cardholder sees the unauthorized charge. The merchant is then hit with chargeback fees (typically $20–$100 per instance).
  • Processing fees: Payment processors may classify merchants with too many fraud-related chargebacks or declines as “high risk,” resulting in higher processing fees or account termination.

Card testing attacks also create operational disruption and costs, such as:

  • Blocked traffic and increased downtime: The massive, sudden influx of authorization requests can overload the merchant’s payment gateway or e-commerce servers, potentially slowing down the website or causing temporary denial of service (DoS). This prevents legitimate customers from completing purchases, damaging customer experience and decreasing revenue.
  • Wasted staff hours: Security, fraud and IT teams must spend valuable, non-revenue-generating time analyzing transaction logs, blocking fraudulent IP addresses and manually cleaning up the aftermath of the attack.
  • Lost revenue due to false positives: One way to combat bots is to tighten fraud warnings, causing some legitimate customer transactions to be mistakenly declined. This results in lost sales and customer frustration.
  • Reputational damage: Customers expect businesses to protect their payment information. Frequent fraud incidents damage the brand’s reputation and customer trust, leading to reduced sales—or churn.

 

Why are some sites more attractive to card testers?

Some websites and platforms are more attractive to card testers because operational characteristics or poor security practices simplify card validation on those sites. Card testers look for platforms where transactions can be approved for the lowest possible amount, to avoid raising alarms with merchants or cardholders.

Card testers choose platforms with these payment security limitations:

  • Weak bot detection: Websites with minimal or ineffective CAPTCHA, behavioral biometrics or bot detection tools allow automated scripts to run unchecked and rapidly.
  • No CVV requirement: Sites that don’t require the Card Verification Value for small transactions make it easier to test cards that only have the number and expiration date (the details stolen in data breaches).
  • Tolerant velocity limits: Platforms that fail to set strict rate limits on the number of transactions allowed from a single IP address, device or user account within a short period allow bots to test hundreds of cards in minutes. Without velocity limits, bots can rapidly guess CVVs or other card details using brute-force methods.

While PCI compliance is essential, effective card testing prevention requires layered security controls. Here’s how PSPs defend your business against card testing fraud.

 

Detecting and preventing card testing attacks

Since card testing is an automated attack, defending against it requires identifying and stopping the bots. PSPs do this by implementing IP and device controls that monitor transactions, blocking suspicious ones.

  • Implement bot and velocity detection: Since card testing is an automated attack, defending against it requires identifying and stopping the bots. PSPs do this by implementing IP and device controls that monitor transactions, blocking suspicious ones.
  • Velocity limits (also called checks or rules): Sites that don’t require the Card Verification Value for small transactions make it easier to test cards that only have the number and expiration date (the details stolen in data breaches).

Make card testing harder through stricter authentication. Payment platforms should introduce friction to deter unauthorized users (who often lack complete card data), without alienating legitimate customers who experience security fatigue.

  • Mandatory CVV: Require the card verification value (CVV) for transactions to deter automated testing bots. Because the Payment Card Industry (PCI) rules prohibit storing CVVs, credentials stolen from data breaches rarely contain the security code. Bots try to guess the CVV, but repeated attempts trigger velocity limits, locking the card or blocking the IP address.
  • AVS (address verification service) checks: Compare the billing address provided by the user with the one on file with the credit card company to uncover inconsistencies that may indicate fraud.
  • CAPTCHA: Place robust, modern CAPTCHA challenges (harder for bots than simple checkboxes) on forms that allow users to save a new card-on-file, as this is a common attack vector for testing.

 

Why CSG Forte?

Card testing is one of the top five payment fraud threats facing eCommerce merchants. Although fraudulent $1 charges may seem insignificant, ignoring them can lead to substantial financial and operational damage. As with any payment fraud, the strongest defense is partnering with a payment services provider that offers modern, robust security.

CSG Forte helps organizations minimize the risk and operational impact of card testing attacks with a unified, PCI-compliant platform and layered security controls tailored to your business. Are you ready to protect your business from card testing fraud? Contact one of our security experts at CSG Forte today.

 

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

How can I detect a card testing attack?
Look for patterns such as a sudden spike in low-value transactions, repeated declines from the same IP or device or unusual transaction velocity. CSG Forte’s platform provides real-time monitoring and alerts to help you spot these signs quickly.

What are the best practices for preventing card testing fraud?
Implement bot and velocity detection, device/IP fingerprinting, tokenization and real-time monitoring. Regularly review your security settings and stay up to date with compliance requirements.

How does CSG Forte help protect against card testing attacks?
CSG Forte delivers advanced security features—including bot/velocity detection, device fingerprinting, tokenization and automated account verification—to detect and prevent card testing before it impacts your business.

What are the operational and financial risks of card testing?
Risks include increased chargebacks, higher processing fees, reputational damage and potential placement on card network monitoring programs.

Can I purchase CSG Forte’s security tools as standalone solutions?
Yes. Many of CSG Forte’s value-added services can be purchased as standalone modules, allowing you to tailor your security stack to your business needs.

Account Takeover Fraud: Building a FORTE Defense

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Key Takeaways

  • Account takeover (ATO) fraud is a business problem, not just a security issue: It drives direct losses, chargebacks and higher support volume while eroding trust in your portals and digital channels.
  • The FORTE framework gives you a simple way to organize defenses: Firewall and front-door controls, OTP, risk-based monitoring, tokenization and encryption give risk and ops leaders a shared language to discuss gaps and priorities.
  • You do not have to implement everything at once to make progress: Start by reviewing login flows, high-risk actions and how your payments partners handle tokenization and encryption, then build a phased roadmap to strengthen ATO defenses over time.

Account takeover (ATO) fraud is one of the most costly—and least visible—ways organizations lose customers and revenue. Instead of headline-grabbing breaches, ATO fraud often shows up as disputed payments, frustrated account holders and support teams left without answers. Why? Because on paper, the logins looked legitimate.

Attackers have learned that if they can get into a user’s account, they can move money, change contact details, enroll new cards and set up recurring payments—often without touching your core systems. That makes ATO fraud a high-impact threat for any organization that offers bill pay portals, customer portals or embedded payments inside software platforms.

Without E2EE, passwords stored in a database could be exposed to a breach, which puts users at risk of identity theft and financial fraud.

The FORTE framework introduced in this blog covers firewall protections, one-time passwords, risk-based monitoring, tokenization and encryption. This easy-to-follow framework gives risk, security and operations leaders a practical way to organize defenses. Read on to learn more.

 

The FORTE framework: 5 layers of ATO fraud defense

For risk, security and operations leaders, ATO fraud is a cross-functional problem. That is why it’s useful to have a simple way to explain defenses and tradeoffs to stakeholders who do not live in security tools all day. The FORTE framework is one way to do that.

F – Firewall and front-door controls: keeping bad traffic out

Your first line of defense is keeping obvious bad traffic away from your login pages and account features. You don’t need to be an infrastructure expert to understand the basics:

  • Web application firewalls (WAFs) block common attack patterns and suspicious requests before they reach your application.
  • Rate limits and velocity checks slow or stop bots that hammer your portal with credential stuffing attempts.
  • IP reputation and geolocation filters flag traffic from known bad networks or regions where you have no legitimate users.

Together, these front-door controls reduce automated attacks that ever reach your authentication logic. They won’t stop a targeted phish against a specific user, but they make bulk ATO campaigns much harder and more expensive to run. A practical first step is to ask your teams and providers:

  • Which WAF and front-door protections do we have in place today?
  • How do we tune rate limits to avoid locking out real users while frustrating bots?
  • How do we monitor for sudden spikes in login failures or suspicious requests?

O – OTP and stronger authentication: making stolen credentials less useful

If a password is the only barrier between an attacker and a customer account, you’re relying on the weakest link. Stronger authentication doesn’t have to add endless friction—it simply makes credentials alone insufficient for high-risk actions. Core options include:

  • One-time passwords (OTPs) by SMS or email for logins from new devices or locations
  • App-based or push authentication in a trusted mobile app
  • Step-up checks for sensitive actions like changing payment methods, updating contact info or enrolling in autopay

Used well, these controls make ATO far harder because stolen credentials are less useful without access to a device or inbox. Good questions to ask include:

  • Where do we use OTP or stronger factors today?
  • Do we challenge only at login, or also for high-risk actions?
  • How often do users abandon sessions due to friction?

The goal is to balance friction with risk.

R – Risk-based monitoring: spotting suspicious behavior before it becomes loss

Even with strong front-door controls and OTP, some takeover attempts will slip through. Risk-based monitoring helps catch them by assigning risk scores based on behavior and context. Key signals include:

  • New devices or browsers
  • Logins from unusual locations or networks
  • Sudden shifts like many failed logins, rapid password changes, or adding multiple new payment methods

With these signals, you can:

  • Prompt for extra verification when risk is high
  • Flag sessions for manual review
  • Temporarily limit high-value payments or changes to stored data

Behavioral analytics, device intelligence and simple rules can all support this layer. The goal is to move from a one-time yes/no login decision to an ongoing evaluation of whether a session still looks legitimate.

T – Tokenization: limiting the damage if accounts or data are compromised

No defense is perfect. If an attacker does manage to take over an account, the question becomes how much damage they can actually do. Tokenization helps answer that question in your favor.

Instead of storing raw card numbers or other sensitive payment details in your systems, tokenization replaces that data with tokens that are useless outside a specific context. A token replaces the underlying card information when you initiate payments, yet the actual card number lives in a secure vault managed by a trusted provider.

For account takeover scenarios, tokenization offers several advantages:

  • Even if an attacker gains access to an account, they cannot see or exfiltrate raw card data.
  • Backend systems that only work with tokens hold less sensitive information, reducing the blast radius if something goes wrong.
  • You can revoke or rotate tokens without forcing users to reenter full card details in many cases.

In a world where ATO is a persistent threat, limiting what an attacker can steal if they get in is just as important as keeping them out in the first place.

E – Encryption: protecting data in motion and at rest

For ATO, encryption matters in several ways:

  • Transport-level encryption (such as TLS) ensures that credentials and session cookies are not exposed to eavesdroppers as users log in or perform actions
  • Database and disk encryption make it harder for attackers to read sensitive data if they gain access to infrastructure or backups
  • Key management practices determine how easy it would be for a criminal to misuse encrypted data if they obtain partial access

When combined with tokenization, strong authentication and risk-based monitoring, encryption helps ensure that even successful account takeovers do not automatically turn into catastrophic data breaches.

 

Practical steps to strengthen your ATO defenses

No organization flips a switch and implements every element of the FORTE framework overnight. The point is not perfection. It is clarity.

The important thing is to move deliberately. ATO fraud is not going away, but you are not starting from zero.
If you rely on a payments platform or embedded payments provider, bring them into the conversation early. Ask how they support FORTE-style defenses and where they can take work off your plate so your teams can focus on the parts of account takeover fraud defense only you can own.

Taking these steps not only protects your customers and sensitive data, but also empowers your organization to outsmart fraudsters at every turn—because building your fraud-fighting FORTE is the strongest move you can make in today’s threat landscape.

Get Protected with CSG Forte

Ready to put FORTE to work and fortify your defenses against account takeover fraud? Check out what CSG PaymentsProtection.ai can do for you, then reach out to talk to the experts at CSG Forte to learn how to implement firewall protections, OTP authentication, risk-based monitoring, tokenization and encryption.

 

FAQS

Q1: What is account takeover fraud?

Account takeover fraud happens when a criminal gains control of a legitimate user’s account and uses it to make changes or perform transactions without permission. Instead of breaking your systems, they log in with stolen or guessed credentials, then update contact details, swap stored payment methods or move money. Because the activity often looks like a normal login, ATO can be hard to spot until customers complain or losses pile up.

Q2: How do you prevent account takeover fraud?

Preventing account takeover fraud starts with hardening the front door, then layering in smarter checks as activity unfolds. That means putting controls like web application firewalls, rate limits and IP reputation in front of your portals, then adding stronger authentication such as OTP or step-up challenges around high-risk actions. From there, risk-based monitoring, tokenization and strong encryption help reduce both the likelihood and the impact of ATO when it does occur.

Q3: How do you stop account takeover fraud in real time?

Stopping ATO in real time depends on your ability to spot risky sessions quickly, not just bad passwords. Risk-based monitoring that looks at device, behavior, location and velocity can flag suspicious logins or actions as they happen, then trigger extra verification, temporary limits or blocks. When your payments platform and security tools work together, you can challenge or shut down high-risk activity before it turns into confirmed loss.

Q4: How can enterprises prove account takeover fraud prevention reduces losses?

Enterprises can show the impact of ATO defenses by tying security metrics to business outcomes. That includes tracking ATO attempts versus successful takeovers, measuring changes in fraud write-offs and chargebacks over time and comparing loss rates before and after key controls like OTP, behavioral analytics or tokenization go live. When you line those numbers up with support volume and customer complaints, it becomes much easier to show how account takeover fraud prevention contributes directly to lower losses and a healthier digital business.

How Can Embedded Payments Improve Your Business?

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Many new businesses and entrepreneurs face problems with payment processing. This is mainly because they do not know about the different payment solutions available. Because payment technology constantly evolves, selecting a solution that offers the most advantages to your operation is critical.

Using a reliable payment service provider is helpful. It lets you enjoy in-house payments. You don’t have to set it up on your own.

CSG Forte can help your company accept many payment methods. This is true no matter how you do business with your customers. Our cloud-based solutions let you manage all your payments in one place. This includes debit cards, credit cards, in-person purchases, and ACH transactions.

 

What is an embedded payment solution?

Embedded payment solutions allow businesses to accept credit or debit card payments directly into their existing software platform. They can link your payment systems to other important parts of your business. This includes your customer service management (CRM) program, payroll, and accounting functions.

One main benefit of these solutions is that they reduce the steps needed to manage your payments. They do this through automated accounting and recordkeeping.

Because the system posts payments for you, there’s no need to reconcile invoices or balance your general ledger later. Integrated payment solutions also work with banks to automatically process the incoming payment information.

 

Why should companies switch to Embedded payment solutions?

Businesses that implement embedded payment solutions into their operations experience instant benefits, including:

  • Security: Integrated payment solutions require fewer people to access your most sensitive financial data. They also eliminate manual entry, making them less susceptible to theft or interception. These systems have safeguards that make it safer to store valuable data. They use encryption to deter cybercriminals.
  • Revenue optimization: Companies can complete transactions and process invoices instantly using integrated payment solutions. Getting and posting payments quickly helps cash flow. This allows companies to build better relationships with customers, vendors and banks. It also boosts profitability.
  • Fewer errors: Calculation errors often lead to significant accounting problems and inaccuracies with revenue reporting. Integrated payment processing reduces these issues by eliminating double transactions and automatically relaying transaction information to the proper destination.
  • Streamlined operations: With integrated payments solutions, businesses can improve efficiencies in their accounting processes, eliminating the need to enter and reconcile transaction data manually. The platform automatically posts payments at the time of the sale. It shows transactions in real time. This makes accounting easier and more accurate. It also gives quick access to sales data.
  • Better customer experience: Quick transactions are a major concern for customers. They often affect how satisfied they feel and if they will come back to do business again. Customers often leave a store when they encounter long lines or potential checkout problems. An integrated payment solution helps increase checkout times by eliminating many time-consuming factors associated with manual checkout.

 

Benefits of partnering with CSG Forte

CSG Forte’s cloud-based solutions enable you to streamline payment management and increase your operational efficiency, including transaction monitoring, enhanced analysis and dispute management. Programs like Dex allow you to manage your payment operations in one location to save time and money. You can see your payment processes more clearly. This helps you do things like:

  • Cancel charges
  • Give refunds
  • Change payment methods
  • Meet other customer needs

At CSG Forte, we help our clients grow their businesses quickly and profitably. We do this by offering great payment platforms.

We create solutions that work well with your current network. We use our top technology and many years of experience. We provide everything you need to accept and manage payments anytime or anywhere.

We also offer customer support options to fit your needs, from intuitive self-service to round-the-clock assistance.

 

Contact the professionals at CSG Forte today

CSG Forte works with top software companies. They provide the best business automation, payment processing, and other solutions. Let our experts show you the advantages our integrated payment solutions can offer your business. Connect with us today to get started.

The 5 Payment Fraud Monsters: Simple Defenses and How Smart Tech Can Protect You

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The front doors are decorated, cobwebs draped just so, porch light on. From the sidewalk, your payments house looks festive and fine, ready to greet the spooks and ghouls when they come knocking.

But open the door and—yikes! Your business is like a well-decorated haunted house—inviting from the outside, but vulnerable to lurking dangers within. Fraudsters knock on your door as if they’re seeking treats, meanwhile tricking (no treat) your platform, sneaking in and turning Halloween fun into freaky horrors if you’re not in tune with the warning signs.

And when that happens, the real fright isn’t a jump scare; it’s the slow, compounding cost of doing nothing to protect your business.

The good news: you don’t need garlic, silver bullets or a room full of fraud analysts to make progress. A handful of pragmatic controls—turned on, tuned up and measured—can calm the chaos before it becomes a budget-eating monster.

The real horror: Inaction will cost you gravely

Fraud doesn’t take a holiday. When “just a little” card-not-present fraud invades your system, you can end up paying a lot more than you expected via billed authorization fees on doomed attempts, operational time answering tickets, chargeback losses and representment work, plus the invisible cost of turning away good customers when rules get over-tight after a spike.

Worse, once attackers find a soft door, they come back with friends. In other words: if you don’t have a clear “Monsters Not Welcome” sign hung and the doors securely locked, your system could be infiltrated before you even know the monsters are there.

The Halloween spike (and the morning after)

October through January is peak distraction: higher traffic and increased shopper activity create the perfect storm for fraudsters to exploit vulnerabilities. Card testing bots take advantage of the increased cover noise to stage account takeovers (harvested passwords work just fine on bill-pay portals) and abuse refund policies that are already stretched like taffy.

Then comes the January 1 reality check: disputes pile up, approval rates wobble and teams spend weeks mopping instead of supporting their clients. The trick is getting ahead of it—now.

The 5 monsters and how to keep them at bay

  1. Card testing (bots & scripts): Tell-tale signs: sudden bursts of tiny authorizations from many cards, same device/browser fingerprint, weird IP clusters.
    Stake through the heart: Enable velocity limits per IP/device/card, BIN throttling, bot filtering and AVS/CVV checks that cool suspicious bursts.
  2. Credential stuffing & account takeover: Think skeleton keys for login pages. Reused passwords + high-value bill-pay accounts = easy pickings.
    Counter-spell: Enable multi-factor authentication or opt for one-time password access when available; add device fingerprinting when risk is high, login throttling and watchlists for unusual behavior.
  3. First-party Misuse (“friendly fraud”): The cardholder is real—but the chargeback reason isn’t. Subscriptions and recurring billing are common targets.
    Ghost hunter: Set up clear descriptors, reminder emails/SMS, solid receipts and dispute playbooks with evidence packs. (You don’t win what you can’t document.)
  4. Refund & return abuse: Policy gaps turn into open graves.
    Fix it; don’t forget it: Require consistent refund inputs, track serial returners and align customer service scripts with policy (no accidental loopholes).
  5. ACH returns & NSF loops: It’s not fangs; it’s friction—in the form of fees, staff time and annoyed customers.
    Risk remedy: Get return monitoring, smart re-debit rules and payment plan options that reduce surprises.

 

An in-house hardening plan

Before you step into the payments graveyard, make sure you’re packing the right gear to close the door on monsters. Here’s your checklist to safeguard your business from horrors lurking in every transaction.

  • Shut the doors: Turn on velocity limits everywhere you accept payments—web, mobile and text-to-pay. Add BIN/IP throttles. Confirm AVS/CVV enforcement.
  • Turn on the lights: Instrument your funnel so you can see: approval rate, decline reasons, chargeback codes and ACH return codes. Create alerts for abnormal spikes (declines, AVS mismatches, refund volume).
  • Prove the customer (selectively): Apply an authorization + capture approach when risk is elevated—not on everything. Use issuer-friendly data like network tokens to raise approvals while keeping checkout smooth.
  • Stop the leaks: Enable Account Updater for recurring portfolios to prevent passive churn and risky retries. Stand up your dispute playbooks and track win rate like a KPI, not an afterthought.

 

Don’t witch-hunt the good customers

Over-blocking is its own monster. Blanket rules can repel fraud and revenue. Instead, layer your checks: let low-risk customers glide, step-up medium-risk customers and block the obvious ghouls.

When the monsters get smarter, it’s time to call in backup

The hardening plan are your garlic, but there’s no silver bullet. That’s why implementing simple, high-impact defenses to stop everyday ghouls at the gate are more important than ever. But as fraudsters evolve, so do their tricks. Scripted attacks turn into adaptive bots, synthetic identities mimic real customers and human fraud rings mask their intentions well enough to sneak past.

It might be time to consider a fraud detection platform, which analyzes big data with AI/machine learning, using advanced rulesets to spot subtle, emerging fraud patterns that less-dynamic systems can’t see. A strong platform can:

  • Cover multiple payment methods, channels and fraud vectors
  • Adapt to your specific business risks and industry needs
  • Elevate suspicious transactions in real time, allowing teams to promptly review flagged items
  • Filter and allow the legitimate transactions
  • Learn and adapt in real time

 

Two quick wins before the candy’s gone

  1. Turn on Account Updater and tokens for your recurring or invoice-based portfolios. That’s instant stability for approvals and fewer awkward “your card didn’t go through” moments.
  2. Add velocity limits and bot filtering on your most exposed endpoints. You’ll blunt card testing without clobbering good traffic.

 

Ready to de-spook your payments?

CSG Forte can help you implement simple defenses now, and plan for more robust protection tomorrow. Every day, the haunted maze of fraudsters learn more tricks, increasing the dangers and making goblins even more difficult to see.

Let’s do a fast risk review and make sure the only scares this season are the intentional ones. Get in touch today to talk to a payments risk expert.

Beat The Numbers Game: Guard Against Card Testing Fraud

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Card-testing fraud has gone from nuisance to nonstop swarm—supercharged by cheap bots and off-the-shelf artificial intelligence (AI). In 2025, fraud teams report that card testing (aka enumeration) remains one of the most common attacks online, hitting roughly 45% of merchants worldwide even as some other fraud types cooled this year. At the same time, nearly half of financial institutions say monthly bot attacks are rising, underscoring how automation is amplifying low-value, high-volume probes that quickly cascade into chargebacks and network monitoring trouble.

For merchants, that “pennies at scale” behavior isn’t harmless: enumeration drives ecosystem losses in the billions and can push businesses toward acquirer/network programs when thresholds are crossed—especially under 2025’s tighter Visa monitoring rules. If your checkout, APIs, or account pages aren’t rate-limited and bot-mitigated—and if you’re not leaning on tools like velocity controls, AVS/CVV with intelligent retries, 3-D Secure 2.x, and network tokens—you’re inviting attackers to find valid PANs and move up the value chain.

Payment solutions can play a major role in protecting businesses from card testing-related losses. But does yours have the right capabilities? Read on as we explain card testing and some fundamental ways to reduce its impact on your customers and your bottom line.

 

What is card testing?

Card testing is a payment fraud technique where cybercriminals use automation or bots to guess valid credit card numbers. It’s literally a numbers game. Fraudsters submit a barrage of small transactions of just a few cents each, testing to see if a card number is valid. Once they’ve identified a set of card information that works, they then use it either to make larger unauthorized purchases or sell the card info on the dark web.

For merchants, falling victim to card testing can disrupt operations and generate costly chargebacks. But it means more than revenue loss: there’s also reputational damage to consider. According to a PYMNTS survey, 21% of consumers said that losing money due to fraud would be the most important factor that would erode their trust in a merchant.

 

5 layers of protection against card testing attacks

In the battle against card testing fraud, your strongest line of defense is a modern payment solution. It can safeguard your transactions and customer data in multiple ways. Here’s how:

1. Spot it early

As we all know, the earlier fraud is spotted, the better. Modern fraud detection platforms are doing this better than ever by engaging machine learning and sophisticated, dynamic rules that identify suspicious transactions and evolving patterns as they happen. These systems flag and report suspicious activity before bad actors “crack the code” and make a successful unauthorized charge, or before they can go on to do significant damage with the stolen card information.

  • Tell-tale signs: sudden bursts of tiny or $0/$1 authorizations, many declines in a short window, the same card BIN showing up repeatedly, or a spike in traffic with few real checkouts
  • Why it’s happening: fraudsters now use cheap bots—and increasingly AI—to run thousands of quick tests to find a “live” card number before moving on to bigger purchases elsewhere

2. Boost your tokenization technology

Modern payment solutions typically replace sensitive card data with unique tokens—randomly generated values that are unrelated to the original card data. This adds an extra layer of security. Even if bad actors intercept the merchant’s card data, the tokens render that data useless for making unauthorized transactions.

3. Make testing harder

  • Add a light “are you human?” check on payment and account pages when activity spikes.
  • Slow rapid-fire attempts with simple limits (e.g., only a few tries in a short period).
  • Turn on AVS and CVV checks for first-time payments so obviously bad attempts fail fast.

4. Get 3DS authentication

Modern payments solutions often integrate 3D-secure protocols, or “3DS,” which stands for 3 Domain Secure. This is an authentication method for online transactions that relies on three domains:

  • Issuer domain — The bank or financial institution that issued the card
  • Acquirer domain — The bank or financial institution processing the payment on the merchant’s behalf
  • Interoperability domain (card scheme) — The payment card network (e.g., Visa, MasterCard) that connects the issuer and acquirer domains

If you’re using 3DS, a cardholder making an online purchase undergoes an additional authentication step. This typically involves redirecting them to a page hosted by their card issuer or having them provide a one-time authentication code that is sent to their phone. And it’s this extra step that adds another strong barrier against card testing attempts.

5. Update and monitor regularly

Payment fraud techniques evolve, and so should your defenses. Your SaaS provider should provide regular updates and enable round-the-clock monitoring, making sure your payment system is always equipped with the latest security features.

  • Watch for patterns, not just single declines: Unusual spikes in small authorizations, odd geographies, or “many cards/one device” should trigger a closer look.
  • Have a short playbook: Pause the affected page or endpoint, tighten limits for an hour, review the attempts, and notify your payments partner if thresholds were hit.
  • Clean up quickly: Void/refund test charges, update blocklists and, if needed, rotate any exposed credentials.

 

Act today

Safeguarding your organization against card testing is a must. Do you know if your payment ecosystem has all these protections in place for you and your customers? Talk to us at CSG Forte, and we can help you ensure your payments security is up to task—even as fraudsters put it to the test.

The Hidden Costs of Payment Declines (and What to Do About Them)

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Every business that accepts payments—whether for products, services or recurring bills—faces a common but often underestimated challenge: payment declines. These failures don’t just represent a missed transaction; they ripple through operations, customer relationships and bottom-line performance.

In 2023 alone, false declines put $157 billion at risk in the United States, with $81 billion ultimately lost due to failed transactions that could have been approved. Whether caused by insufficient funds, expired cards or fraud flags, these declines quietly erode cash flow, frustrate customers and strain internal resources.

The good news is that businesses can proactively address payment declines. Doing so will help protect revenue, improve customer satisfaction and streamline operations. Ready to learn more about how to prevent payment declines? Read on.

 

What causes payment declines?

In order to know how to combat payment declines, you first must know why they occur. Payment declines can stem from a variety of sources, some benign and others more serious. The following list includes many of the most common culprits.

  • Insufficient funds: A simple lack of money in the account at the time of transaction
  • Expired or stolen cards: Outdated payment credentials or compromised accounts
  • Fraud attempts and account freezes: Security measures that block legitimate transactions
  • High support burdens: ISVs often struggle to support merchants when payment issues arise, as they must coordinate across multiple providers. This leads to increased support requests and puts additional strain on ISV teams, making it challenging to deliver timely and effective assistance.
  • Manual entry errors: Typos in account numbers or billing details
  • Systemic gaps: Lack of recurring payment options, poor user interfaces or limited payment channels

Even with consumer-friendly features like registered checkout and self-service portals, payments still fail. And when they do, the consequences go beyond the transaction itself. Businesses may face delayed revenue, increased customer service demands and even service disruptions that damage brand loyalty.

According to recent research, 54% of consumers make late payments, often due to disorganized bill pay strategies or limited flexibility in how they can pay. These missed payments aren’t just inconvenient—they’re costly.

 

The ripple effect on businesses

Payment declines don’t just interrupt a transaction—they disrupt the entire business ecosystem. From cash flow to customer loyalty, the consequences are far-reaching and often underestimated.

For starters, when payments fail, revenue is delayed or even lost entirely. Businesses may be forced to suspend services, chase down updated account information or absorb the cost of missed transactions. These interruptions can snowball, especially for organizations that rely on recurring payments to maintain predictable income.

Delayed or missed payments are often the result of poor bill pay experiences, unclear due dates or limited payment options. The result? Service disruptions, frustrated customers and a hit to recurring revenue.

Failed payments, no matter what the reason, can quickly sour the customer experience and erode customer trust. Consumers expect bill payments to be as seamless as online shopping, but many businesses fall short. Limited flexibility, lack of self-service options and slow issue resolution leave customers feeling stuck.

And the cost of dissatisfaction is steep: 60% of consumers say they’ve switched brands after a negative contact center experience. When payment issues lead to service interruptions or poor support, businesses risk losing the transaction and, more importantly, the customer, for good.

Behind every failed payment is a team scrambling to fix it. Whether it’s manually reaching out to customers, reconciling data across systems or coordinating with third-party agencies, the effort required to resolve declines drains valuable resources. These lagging operational insights and fragmented data make it difficult for billers to respond quickly to payment issues. Without a centralized platform or real-time reporting, businesses struggle to manage the payment lifecycle efficiently.

Beyond financial and operational costs, payment declines can expose businesses to serious compliance and security risks, such as:

  • Hidden complexities. Each payment channel—whether online, mobile or in-person—comes with its own set of regulatory requirements. As political and industry landscapes shift, staying compliant becomes a moving target. Businesses that fail to adapt risk legal exposure, fines and reputational damage.
  • Cybersecurity threats. A single breach can cost millions—and the average cost of a data breach in 2024 reached $4.9 million. By adding a third party to your process—an external collections agency, for example, which requires securely transferring data to the agency’s infrastructure under its policies and processes—you introduce additional layers of cyber risk. This means you must be prepared to expand your scope of protections to safeguard your customers’ valuable data.

Businesses must adopt best-in-class security practices, including tokenization and secure data storage, to safeguard customer information and maintain trust.

The cost of recovery

When a payment fails, the recovery process can be (and usually is) costly, especially if it’s handled manually. Many businesses rely on call centers or third-party agencies to chase down failed payments. But this approach comes with a price: $2.50 per call on average, not to mention the time and effort spent by internal teams.

Adding automation changes the game. CSG Forte’s automated recovery solutions offer a smarter alternative to using valuable human hours making collections calls. With intelligent retry logic, businesses can:

  • Retry failed ACH transactions up to two more times (per Nacha rules).
  • Recover payments when funds become available—without manual intervention.
  • Avoid the need for costly third-party collection efforts.

The results speak for themselves:

  • CSG Forte offers a 60% average recovery rate (the industry average is between 20% and 30%).
  • One enterprise recovered $78 million in 2023 using CSG Forte’s recovery services.

By automating recovery, businesses:

  • Save money.
  • Preserve customer relationships.
  • Minimize costly collections calls.
  • Avoid service disruptions

 

Proactive solutions that minimize declines

Embedded payments unlock new revenue streams. ISVs can:
The best way to reduce the cost of payment declines is to prevent them from happening in the first place. CSG Forte offers a suite of proactive tools designed to improve transaction success rates and protect both businesses and customers.

Account Verification

Before a transaction even begins, automated verification can:

  • Confirm account ownership and accuracy
  • Ensure the account is active
  • Validate routing and account numbers
  • Flag high-risk accounts

This front-end protection helps businesses avoid declines due to outdated or incorrect information—and reduces fraud and collection activities.

Tokenization

Tokenization replaces sensitive payment data with secure placeholders, reducing exposure and accelerating checkout for recurring payments. It’s a win-win: customers feel safer, and businesses reduce the risk of data breaches.

Account Updater

Expired cards are a common cause of failed payments. With account updater services, businesses can automatically refresh card details to maintain authorization rates and avoid interruptions.

Recovery Services

When payments fail, automated recovery ensures businesses can retry ACH transactions without manual effort—boosting revenue and reducing friction.

Together, these tools form a comprehensive strategy to protect payments and preserve relationships—ensuring fewer declines, happier customers, and more consistent cash flow.

 

Protect the payment, preserve the relationship

Payment declines are more than a technical hiccup—they’re a silent threat to revenue, customer loyalty, and operational efficiency. From insufficient funds and expired cards to fraud flags and manual errors, the causes are varied—but the impact is consistent: lost revenue, strained teams, and frustrated customers.

The good news? These costs are avoidable, and the ones that aren’t avoidable are manageable. Businesses can take proactive steps to reduce decline rates, recover lost revenue, and improve the overall payment experience for customers. Here’s how:

  • Modernize your payment infrastructure: Outdated systems are often the root of failed transactions. CSG Forte’s BillPay platform offers plug-and-play modernization that integrates seamlessly with existing technology. These flexible payment options and channels mean you can meet customers where they are and let them pay how they prefer.
  • Stay compliant and agile: Regulatory requirements are constantly evolving. Choose vendors like CSG Forte that offer compliance-ready solutions across all payment channels, helping you stay ahead of legal changes and industry standards.
  • Use real-time reporting for smarter decision-making: Lagging insights can delay action. With centralized platforms like CSG Forte’s DEX, businesses gain real-time visibility into payment performance, enabling faster responses and better strategic decisions.

With proactive tools like account verification, tokenization, automated recovery and account updater services, businesses can dramatically reduce the frequency and fallout of failed payments. CSG Forte’s BillPay platform offers a modernized, omnichannel solution that not only streamlines transactions but also strengthens customer relationships and protects your bottom line.

In a world where consumers expect seamless, secure, and flexible payment experiences, businesses must rise to meet those expectations—or risk falling behind. By investing in smarter payment infrastructure, you’re not just preventing declines—you’re unlocking growth.

Are you ready to reduce payment declines and safeguard your revenue? Learn how CSG Forte’s modern payment solutions can help your business thrive with greater efficiency and reliability. Explore our full suite of payment services, or check out our customer success stories to see real-world results. Take the first step toward transforming your payments by contacting our team today so you can experience the difference for yourself!

Unlocking Growth: How Embedded Payments Empower ISVs and Drive Merchant Success

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A customer clicks “Pay Now,” and the transaction completes without ever leaving the app. That’s not just a smoother checkout—it’s a strategic shift in how businesses can deliver value, build trust and generate revenue. Embedding the payment platform right into your site or application retains and highlights your voice, your branding and, ultimately, your customer base.

For independent software vendors (ISVs), embedded payments are no longer a technical feature—they’re a business imperative. Instead of bolting on third-party processors or sending users to external portals, ISVs can now own the entire payment experience. That means faster onboarding, cleaner user flows and more control over branding, compliance and monetization.

Digital payments provide convenience and processing efficiencies, but they also introduce several risks for both payers and businesses, including cyberattacks. Cybercriminals target all types of organizations large and small, including healthcare providers, financial institutions, government agencies, retail businesses and most other types of transaction-based businesses. They’re looking for security weaknesses in outdated payment systems that make it easy to access sensitive information. Ransomware attacks, phishing schemes and data breaches jeopardize personal information—and trust.

The numbers back it up: embedded payments are expected to drive $6.5 trillion in volume by 2025, and SMBs that adopt them can see 25–50% revenue growth boosts. This means the stakes are high—and the opportunity is massive.

 

The Problem with Traditional Payment Setups

For too long, accepting digital payments has meant juggling multiple vendors, navigating complex compliance requirements and sacrificing user experience. Disconnected systems lead to:

  • Poor checkout experience that erodes customer trust: When the payment interface feels disconnected from the rest of the application—using generic third-party styling or redirecting users off-platform—it creates friction, undermines brand credibility and increases the likelihood of cart abandonment.
  • Fragmented data and dashboards: ISVs often manage merchant data across multiple disconnected systems, making it difficult to access real-time insights into merchant performance. Without a unified view, ISVs lack the visibility needed to proactively support their merchants and drive business growth.
  • Slow merchant onboarding: Completing lengthy Know Your Customer (KYC) processes, reconciling and tracking paperwork manually and juggling inconsistent integration timelines delay revenue generation and frustrate users.
  • High support burdens: ISVs often struggle to support merchants when payment issues arise, as they must coordinate across multiple providers. This leads to increased support requests and puts additional strain on ISV teams, making it challenging to deliver timely and effective assistance.
  • Data breaches: Hackers infiltrate systems and steal sensitive customer data, including payment information, to make fraudulent transactions.
  • Security and compliance risks: Without centralized oversight, ISVs face greater exposure to Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) violations, data breaches and regulatory penalties. Vulnerabilities increase when handling sensitive customer payment data across disparate systems.

These challenges don’t just impact individual merchants—they compound at the ISV level. When ISVs rely on merchant-led or third-party payment integrations, every issue their merchants face becomes magnified: fragmented data, inconsistent branding and operational inefficiencies ripple upward and outward, making it even harder for ISVs to maintain control and support their customers while also scaling their platforms. This means lost revenue opportunities and higher churn. What’s more, limited payment options and delayed onboarding contribute to lower conversion rates and higher churn.

Maintaining regulatory compliance is one of the most complex ways businesses navigate online payment risk. Regulations such as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) for data security and strong customer authentication must be adhered to, and they change regularly. Organizations have to get it right, or risk steep fines and penalties.

 

So, What Are Embedded Payments?

Embedded payments refer to the integration of payment functionality directly into a software platform—allowing users to complete transactions without leaving the application. This creates a frictionless experience for both merchants and consumers. For ISVs, embedding payments means becoming strategic partners, offering a unified solution that powers both business operations and revenue generation.

By embedding payments directly into platforms, ISVs can overcome the limitations of traditional payment setups and deliver a more unified experience. This transformative approach offers operational, branding and revenue advantages.

Operational Efficiency

Embedded payments eliminate the need for multiple providers and fragmented systems. With a unified infrastructure, ISVs gain:

  • One source of truth for transactions
  • Simplified APIs and integrations
  • Faster merchant onboarding
  • Real-time reporting and analytics

Brand Control

A seamless UX from login to checkout strengthens brand identity and trust. ISVs can offer:

  • Branded checkout experiences
  • Custom payment flows
  • Reduced churn and higher customer satisfaction

Revenue Growth

Embedded payments unlock new revenue streams. ISVs can:

  • Monetize every transaction
  • Offer value-added services like recurring billing and digital wallets
  • Set custom pricing models

Compliance and Risk Reduction

By partnering with platforms like CSG Forte, ISVs can offload burdens related to:

  • PCI DSS and KYC compliance
  • Data privacy regulations
  • Payment fraud management

 

Embedded Payments vs. Payment Facilitation Models

Not all embedded payment strategies are created equal. CSG Forte offers three flexible models to meet different business needs:

 

 

For ISVs ready to take full ownership of the payment experience, becoming a registered payment facilitator offers the highest earning potential and customization.

Embedded payments are making waves across a multitude of industries:

  • Healthcare: HIPAA-compliant solutions streamline billing and improve collections.
  • Property management: Secure rent collection and flexible tenant payment options.
  • Government: Simplified tax, permit and utility payments with constituent-friendly UX.
  • Education: Tuition and campus payments with seamless API integration.

Take Buildium, for example—a property management platform that saw 35% YoY growth and 99.99% uptime after embedding payments with CSG Forte.

Implementation and Integration Strategy

CSG Forte makes implementation seamless with:

  • REST APIs for and onboarding, transaction processing, management and reporting
  • Dex, our payment operations platform for real-time visibility and control
  • Dedicated support teams, including Solutions Engineers and Partner Success Managers

Our tried-and-tested onboarding journey includes:

  • Discovery and solutioning
  • Integration and testing
  • Go-live and training
  • Ongoing support and optimization

Whether you choose PFaaS or full facilitation, CSG Forte tailors the experience to your business needs.

Beyond revenue, embedded payments are a powerful retention tool. One survey found that 65% of merchants are willing to switch vendors if embedded finance isn’t offered. For ISVs, this means offering embedded payments is a top predictor of vendor stickiness. Neglecting it can lead to higher churn and lost market share.

Future-Proof Your Organization by Embedding Payments

Embedded payments are more than a technical upgrade—they’re a strategic imperative. They offer ISVs:

  • Greater control over the customer experience
  • Scalable infrastructure for growth
  • New revenue streams and stronger margins
  • A competitive edge in a crowded market

Whether you’re just starting with a referral model or ready to become a registered payment facilitator, CSG Forte provides the tools, support and flexibility to help you succeed.

Ready to explore your modernized payments journey? Contact our payments experts to schedule a free demo and let’s talk about how CSG Forte can help you monetize, scale and future-proof your platform.

Why Secure, Modern Payment Portals Are the New Standard for Businesses

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Digital payments provide convenience and processing efficiencies, but they also introduce several risks for both payers and businesses, including cyberattacks. Cybercriminals target all types of organizations large and small, including healthcare providers, financial institutions, government agencies, retail businesses and most other types of transaction-based businesses. They’re looking for security weaknesses in outdated payment systems that make it easy to access sensitive information. Ransomware attacks, phishing schemes and data breaches jeopardize personal information—and trust.

Consumers are increasingly and justifiably worried about data security. A 2024 survey found that 78% of U.S. consumers expressed concerns about data security when using online services, up from 73% the previous year. Almost half (44%) of respondents had experienced data loss, identity theft or online fraud, with 29% of the victims experiencing significant harm. Only 26% of respondents believe digital payment methods are secure from theft.

Identity theft or a data breach shatters trust. Across industries, security is the most valued factor when making any kind of payment, as identified by 94% of respondents to an American Express survey. Most (84%) consumers expect strong security—to protect their data and credit—from any organization requesting payment. When their financial information isn’t protected, customers may hesitate to use online payment portals again. Or they may take their business elsewhere.

A single security lapse can have devastating consequences for a business’ reputation and finances. More than half (58%) of U.S. consumers believe that brands that get hit with a data breach are not trustworthy, and 70% said they would stop shopping with a brand that suffered a security incident.

Businesses and government agencies must prioritize payment security and risk management to safeguard customer data and revenue and maintain trust. That means investing in digital payment solutions that meet the highest standards for cybersecurity, compliance, and fraud prevention.

 

Common Payment Risks in Digital Transactions

As digital transactions gain popularity, businesses and consumers alike must understand the various risks.

Payment fraud is the main risk in digital transactions, and comes in many forms, such as:

  • Identity theft: Bad actors steal personal information to make unauthorized purchases.
  • Account takeovers: Bad actors gain access to accounts and initiate transactions without the account holder’s knowledge.
  • Phishing scams: Bad actors trick victims into revealing sensitive information such as passwords or card details.
  • Social engineering: Bad actors manipulate individuals through social engineering tactics to gain access to sensitive information or trick them into authorizing fraudulent transactions.
  • Data breaches: Hackers infiltrate systems and steal sensitive customer data, including payment information, to make fraudulent transactions.
  • Card-not-present (CNP) fraud: Common in online purchases, this refers to fraudulent transactions that occur without the presence of the physical card.

Chargebacks are another key risk in digital transactions. Customers can request a chargeback—a reversal of funds following a debit or credit card purchase, initiated when the customer files a dispute over the charge with their bank or credit card provider. A large proportion of chargebacks reverse legitimate fraud (i.e., transactions that show up on a customer’s account due to fraudulent activity). However, some chargebacks occur due to “friendly fraud”—when the customer doesn’t recognize the charge, has delivery problems or wants to avoid the return process. Whether they’re due to legitimate or friendly fraud, chargebacks are costly for businesses. Payment processing providers charge fees—up to $50 or $100 for each chargeback.

Maintaining regulatory compliance is one of the most complex ways businesses navigate online payment risk. Regulations such as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) for data security and strong customer authentication must be adhered to, and they change regularly. Organizations have to get it right, or risk steep fines and penalties.

 

Key Components of a Successful Payment Risk Management Strategy

To effectively manage payment risk, choose a payment system that includes:

Verification services

To reduce payment failures, fraudulent transactions and chargebacks, proactively verify:

  • Routing and bank account numbers
  • Account ownership
  • Customer account data is current (e.g., card not expired)
  • Accounts are active and have sufficient funds

 

Modern Security Measures

When it comes to payments, security is about more than just locking down individual transactions—it requires a comprehensive strategy that addresses every point where sensitive data is stored, transmitted, or accessed. A strong payments platform weaves together multiple safeguards to reduce risk, strengthen compliance, and maintain customer trust. The following measures form the foundation of a modern, secure system.

  • Encryption & Tokenization: Protecting sensitive payment data requires a layered approach. Tokenization and encryption safeguard information both at rest and in transit. PCI-validated end-to-end encryption disguises card data during transmission, making it appear valueless if intercepted. Meanwhile, tokenization randomly generates a unique token with no intrinsic value for every set of sensitive information. This allows credit card or ACH data—such as the primary account number (PAN) for credit cards or the bank account or bank routing number for ACH transactions—to be safely stored, processed, and transmitted across systems without exposing the actual details.
  • Access Control: Payment systems must employ strong authentication protocols so that only authorized personnel can interact with sensitive data and systems. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds a critical layer of defense by requiring multiple identifiers to access a system or approve a transaction, making unauthorized access far more difficult.
  • Built-In PCI Compliance: Another essential safeguard is built-in PCI compliance. A payment system must meet the highest compliance and regulatory standards, including PCI Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) requirements for handling credit card payments, as well as local and federal regulations. A trusted payments partner helps businesses navigate this complex landscape by providing secure solutions and supporting compliance in real time—minimizing risk and reducing the likelihood of breaches that can erode customer trust.
  • Hosted Payment Pages: Hosted payment pages also offer strong protection. Instead of entering bank account or card details directly on an organization’s website, customers are redirected to a secure checkout page managed by a third-party gateway or service provider. On that page, sensitive data—such as account and routing numbers, PANs, CVVs, and expiration dates—is collected and transmitted by the provider’s secure servers. Because the organization’s systems never touch or store this data, PCI scope is significantly reduced.
  • Reducing Access to Sensitive Data: Some platforms go even further by offering solutions that limit direct access to sensitive data. For example, having customers pay through secure, unique microsites rather than sharing payment information over the phone reduces both the number of people who handle sensitive details and the risk of fraudsters posing as customer service representatives.

 

Advanced Fraud Detection

Even with strong security controls and compliance in place, fraud is an ever-present threat. Fraudsters constantly adapt their methods, meaning businesses can’t rely solely on static defenses. Instead, payment systems must incorporate tools that can learn, evolve, and recognize the signs of suspicious activity before losses occur. Modern fraud detection is about continuous adaptation and proactive monitoring.

Today’s platforms use advanced tools like machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), and behavioral analytics to spot subtle, complex patterns of fraudulent activity that would slip past basic rule-based systems.

These tools analyze transaction data and user behavior, monitoring elements such as transaction timing, frequency, device fingerprints, and even typing speed. Anomalies are flagged for further investigation, giving businesses the ability to react before fraudulent activity escalates. The key is adaptability—fraud detection systems must continuously learn and evolve in order to keep pace with increasingly sophisticated threats.

When You Don’t Want to DIY: Secure, Compliant Payment Processing Builds Trust

Even with a strong payment system, risk management is a heavy lift. Cyber threats, fraud schemes, and regulatory requirements are rapidly evolving. The good news? You don’t have to shoulder fraud detection and prevention on your own.

Knowing that their payment data is handled securely gives customers peace of mind and builds trust. By using secure, compliant payment solutions and prioritizing risk management, your organization demonstrates a commitment to safeguarding customers’ personal data and financial transactions. This proactive approach to cybersecurity and compliance not only helps prevent fraud but also reassures residents that your business is trustworthy, responsible and transparent. When customers know your business is taking the right steps to secure their personal information, they are more likely to pay online—and on time—and continue doing business with you.

Ready to strengthen your payment security? Discover how CSG Forte’s secure, compliant payment solutions can help you protect customer data, reduce risk, and earn lasting trust. Contact us today to learn more.

What Is End-to-End Encryption?

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Security is a must for software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies handling sensitive consumer data. However, the rise of cyber attacks makes traditional safety measures obsolete. That’s where end-to-end encryption (E2EE) comes in. Encrypting data from the moment you send it until it reaches its intended recipient prevents bad actors from altering or accessing confidential information. This allows you to comply with regulations and reduces the risk of breaches.

What Is End-to-End Encryption?

E2EE is a method of encrypting data so that only the sender and recipient can read it. The security method locks the information when it leaves the sender’s device until it reaches its destination. Even if someone intercepts the message mid-transit, all they’ll see is an unreadable string of characters. This approach all but eliminates third-party access.

Encryption falls into two cryptographic techniques—symmetric encryption and asymmetric encryption. In symmetric encryption, the same key is used for encryption and decryption. This method is swift and efficient. However, the challenge lies in securely sharing the encryption key between both parties. If a hacker were to access the key during transit, they could decipher the message.

Asymmetric encryption uses a public key and a private key. The public key is shared openly and is used to encrypt data. The private key is kept secret and is used to decrypt messages. If an attacker were to get the public key, they cannot use it to decrypt the message. E2EE systems use both symmetric and asymmetric encryption. The public-private key pair is used to securely exchange a session key—a temporary symmetric key—which then encrypts the actual data.

How Does End-to-End Encryption Work?

E2EE relies on asymmetric cryptography to scramble information before it leaves the communicator’s device and keeps it encoded until it reaches the receiver. The process involves the following steps:

  1. Data encryption: The sender’s device receives the original content and uses an encryption algorithm to convert it into an unreadable format called ciphertext.
  2. Transmission: The data then travels across the internet through various networks. Because it is encrypted, unauthorized parties can’t read or alter it.
  3. Decryption: When the encrypted data reaches its destination, the recipient’s device uses the private key to decrypt it, which converts ciphertext back into readable text.
  4. Authentication: This step verifies that unauthorized users did not tamper with the message during transmission. Digital signatures, hash functions and certificates are commonly used to validate the message’s integrity.

 

Applications of E2E Encryption

E2EE is often associated with messaging apps, but it safeguards various confidential data. Below are its common use cases.

Secure Communication

The most well-known use case of E2EE is securing communication channels, such as messaging apps, emails and voice and video calls. Popular messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Signal and iMessage use the method to protect messages between users. E2EE email services protect emails by encrypting them until they reach the recipient.

With the rise of remote work, businesses rely on video conferencing tools for collaboration. However, if your calls are unprotected, attackers can intercept, record or monitor them. Platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams have introduced E2EE options to prevent eavesdropping on private meetings.

Password Management and File Sharing

Without E2EE, passwords stored in a database could be exposed to a breach, which puts users at risk of identity theft and financial fraud. Encrypted password vaults prevent this by protecting users from bad actors.

Cloud-based file-sharing services make it easy to store and collaborate on documents, but they also pose security risks if data is not protected. End-to-end cloud storage platforms provide encryption so that only the user can access their files. Even the service provider cannot read the stored data.

Without E2EE, passwords stored in a database could be exposed to a breach, which puts users at risk of identity theft and financial fraud.

Data Storage

E2EE databases keep data encrypted before it is stored and can only be accessed by authorized users. This is helpful in industries handling sensitive information. If you’re a Saas company providing database solutions, integrating E2EE can set you apart from competitors. Customers dealing with regulatory compliance, intellectual property and personal data protection will find value in encrypted solutions.

Is End-to-End Encryption Good?

E2EE is one of the most effective ways to secure digital communications and sensitive data. But, like any security measure, it comes with advantages and challenges.

Benefits of End-to-End Encryption

Here’s why businesses should integrate E2EE:

  • Protects data: Cybercriminals target sensitive financial and personal data. However, cloud-based platforms are not immune to insider threats or external attacks. Using an end-to-end encrypted database means your client’s information remains secure. For example, payment processing systems that incorporate E2EE can protect credit card details by encrypting the data when a customer enters it.
  • Maintains confidentiality and privacy: End-to-end encryption and your privacy go hand in hand. Governments, corporations and other online entities often seek access to sensitive data, sometimes without the knowledge or consent of the user. Industries that rely on confidentiality can store electronic records and share proprietary information safely.
  • Provides data integrity: With E2EE, encrypted data cannot be altered in transit without detection. This is useful for securing financial transactions, contracts and other important business operations.
  • Builds user trust and compliance: Consumers are aware of modern digital privacy issues. When a SaaS provider implements E2EE, it shows that their security is a priority. Many industries also have strict compliance requirements that demand high standards of data protection. The method helps businesses meet these legal requirements.

 

Limitations of End-to-End Encryption

Here are the challenges organizations need to be aware of when using E2EE:

  • Visible metadata: Even if the content of a message or file is encrypted, metadata—such as who is communicating with whom, when and how often—can still be visible to service providers or attackers. Governments can use metadata to track interactions, even if they can’t see what’s being said.
  • Law enforcement concerns: One of the controversial aspects of E2EE is that it prevents law enforcement agencies from accessing data. Governments have raised concerns that this level of security could be exploited without oversight. Some authorities have even proposed requiring backdoors to allow access under specific circumstances, but hackers can also exploit these points.
  • Man-in-the-middle attacks: E2EE is only effective if encryption keys are exchanged securely. If an attacker steps in and manipulates the key exchange process, they could decrypt messages without either party knowing. This is why extra security measures may be necessary to maintain the integrity of communications.
  • No defined endpoints: For E2EE to work as intended, the endpoints or the devices where encryption and decryption occur must themselves be secure. If a device is compromised by malware or spyware, an attacker could steal the data from the user’s system. This means that strong antivirus software and secure hardware are still important.

 

Partner With CSG for End-to-End Encrypted Solutions

At CSG, we protect your data from unauthorized access. Our Forte platform keeps information secure from the moment it’s created to the moment it reaches its intended recipient. It’s a fast and scalable solution that allows you to customize payments for your customers. Our dedicated team also provides support to keep your system resilient against evolving threats. Plus, it’s built to meet strict regulatory requirements.

Talk to a payments expert to learn more.