[rcooper]

Q: We had 100 cards used at a Kroger in Cincinnati (2 hours from us). We don’t currently
have fraud software to search all the cards for a common denominator. We are in the
process of implementing such software. Do you have any suggestions on other
“forensic” methods we could use to prevent further losses?
A: You should contact your third-party service provider to determine what other financial
institution specific controls they have that integrates with your debit card system. There are
controls such as:
• Debit Card Blocking: debit card blocking that allows you to stop debit card activity based on certain filters (e.g. zip codes, store numbers, etc.).
• Stop Payment Services: Stop payment services that allow the bank to offer its customers to stop future debit card payments when the consumer/business knows this may be an ongoing “unauthorized transaction”.
• Bank-card specific offerings: As provided above, stop payment services, zero liability services, Visa/MC high-risk transaction services for online purchases (e.g. VISAs Verified by VISA product, etc.)
• Customer Initiated Blocking: Contact your third-party to determine if they have the “on/off” switch service to offer your customer/business.
• Third-Party Education: I would schedule a meeting with your third-party provider to also discuss all their offerings and to get involved with their educational offerings (e.g. monthly fraud meetings which most of them have, debit card stats on emerging debit card fraud within their network, etc.).
• Financial Institution Exposure Review: Identify the total exposure of your cards (e.g. consumer vs. business) and then determine if there are exposure limits set that may be “commercially unreasonable (e.g. customer daily usage of $150 with an exposure limit of $5,000).
• Financial Institution Contact(s): Know all the individuals within your financial institution who are receiving notifications from your third-party and your bankcard network. Contact your third-party and determine who has access today to their current controls, who is receiving notifications, etc.
• Financial Institution Education (Internal and Customer focused): Train your teams on debit card fraud trends and educate your customers on fraud identification, prevention and recovery. Let them be a part of the solution.

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