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We all frequently read about various types of scams to look out for, warnings of Packet Sniffing, and stolen card numbers. The real scams to look for are the ones that are directly on your merchant account application. Fees seem to suddenly pop up after you have signed your agreement.

One of the most interesting scams that has come up frequently is related to hidden merchant fees. This scam entices merchants to apply for accounts at low rates with a brief quote. They conceal fees, rates, and many various extra charges. When applying for a merchant account, is important to stay away from advertisements that claim to have the lowest rates around. Some key fees to ask for are: discount rates, mid qualified rates (keyed rates), non qualified rates (rewards card and purchase card rates), transaction fees, setup fees, annual fees, statement fees, services fees, PCI Compliance fees, merchant club fees, and early termination fees.

Continue reading "What Hidden Merchant Account Fees Should You Watch Out For?"

Back in 2005, many of us in the merchant services industry were in the thick of the CardSystems security breach. The Federal Trade commission claims "this is the largest known compromise to financial data to date". Millions of dollars in fraudulent purchases were made with the stolen data. Processors, like the one I was working for at the time, had only a short window to move all their merchants to a new platform. This incident made it clear that card holder data must be protected and more precautions should be taken to ensure that card holder data is not compromised on this large of a scale again.

Now merchants are in for a new type of threat. The very software that business owners use on their computer networks may cause card holder data to be compromised. Packet sniffers are software or hardware that monitors data on a network, and they have been around for a long time. This software is typically used to troubleshoot a network issue or to test firewalls . Conversely, we have malware that is designed to damage a network. It appears that attempted fraud is on the rise again. Packet sniffers are being used as malware on systems to snag or intercept card holder data.

Continue reading "Is Your Online Payment Gateway Secure?"