Information: Fraud Prevention: Your Liability

As an online merchant, you are responsible for ensuring that CNP transactions are not fraudulent. If a transaction is fraudulent, you may be held liable for the loss.

Cardholder Not Present (CNP) transactions are transactions where the card and cardholder are not present at the point-of-sale. This applies to: Internet, mail, telephone and fax orders.

In a CNP transaction, Protx captures the credit card details and securely sends them to your acquiring bank. Your acquiring bank then sends the details to your customer's card issuer, to check that the details are valid. The transaction is then authorised and the results are passed back from the card issuer, to your acquiring bank and to Protx. We display the results of the transaction to you and your customer. To see this process in more detail please click here.

However, it is important to note that this authorisation process does not guarantee against fraud.

Because the card and cardholder are not present, you are unable to physically check the card or the identity of the cardholder. You need to be particularly careful about CNP transactions, because it is much easier for the fraudster to disguise their true identity.

If you do receive a fraudulent order on your website, you may be held liable for the loss by your acquiring bank, in the form of a chargeback. Chargebacks are designed to protect the consumer from misuse of their card details and from misuse by merchants who do not provide the goods or service that they advertise.

Chargebacks can occur in two circumstances:

• If you receive a fraudulent order on your website: in this case, the cardholder will report to their bank that there is a transaction on their statement that they do not recognise. It is up to you as the merchant to prove that the transaction is genuine and was made by the cardholder. If you cannot, the funds will be "charged back" to the cardholder. If the goods have already been shipped and cannot be recovered, you will bear the cost of this too.
• If you do not provide good customer service: You may receive a chargeback if you do not provide good customer service. For example, if you fail to deliver goods within the specified delivery time, deliver faulty goods, or fail to provide a refund for returned goods you may receive a chargeback.

Please contact your acquiring bank for further information about the possible causes of chargebacks and the procedures you should follow in the event that you receive one.

To prevent fraud and chargebacks from damaging your business, it is important to carry out fraud prevention. Protx provide a range of tools to help you to protect your business against fraud and chargebacks.