Smart card is one of the most popular means of payment worldwide. You can use it to pay for purchases online, at POS terminals, withdraw cash from ATMs, or simply keep your funds safe. If you don’t have enough money to buy something you want, you can use a credit card.
A credit card has the same features as a debit card. But it additionally allows its holder to make unexpected purchases within the credit limit set by the issuing company. Wallester offers white label Visa card solutions for companies that are offering their clients credit cards with favorable terms and conditions. More information can be found at Wallester website.
The rapid growth in the popularity of credit cards is not left without the attention of cyber-fraudsters constantly inventing new methods of deceiving credit card holders. In turn, the developers of cards improve the security of credit cards, introducing various technologies for this purpose.
The highest probability of credit card fraud is observed when making payment transactions without physically using them. A secret code is used during the transaction to verify the authenticity of a credit card. In this article, let’s look at this code and what it is for.
Secret code: what is it?
The secret code is 3-4 digits printed on the back of the plastic card . It is necessary to confirm the withdrawal of funds from the account in case of payment without the actual presence of the card. With its help, financial transactions are confirmed on the Internet, by e-mail, or by phone. It should not be confused with the PIN code needed to withdraw cash and pay for purchases at ordinary merchants. A PIN is used to confirm financial transactions in the presence of a plastic carrier; it consists of 4 digits, issued by a bank employee or generated by the bank.
Each payment system gives the secret code its own name. For example, Visa has CVV2, and most payment systems have a 3-digit code. American Express has a 4-digit one.
Location of the secret code
The secret code is usually placed on the back side of the bank card, on the right side where the cardholder usually has to sign. But there are some payment systems, the cards of which have it on the face above the card number.
The secret code is not printed on the cards not originally designed for remote use. Technically, such a code is assigned to them, but it is not printed on the plastic carrier. This applies mainly to prepaid cards such as Electron and Maestro.
To avoid becoming a victim of fraudsters, the credit card should be protected from prying eyes. Especially the image of the secret code, with which you can pay remotely, without having the plastic carrier in front of strangers, should be carefully covered. For security reasons, it is not recommended to pay by card on dubious Internet resources. Reliable online stores do not keep customers’ secret codes after the payment, so it is impossible to use them again.
Phishing is another method of getting hold of other people’s bank card data. This is a type of social engineering, the essence of which lies in the fact that fraudsters send mass emails disguised as well-known online resources. These emails ask for passwords, logins, and secret credit card codes and use this information to withdraw money or transfer it to their own accounts. This scam is aimed at people with low financial literacy who do not understand the importance of the secret codes on their cards.
Additional security
The development of financial technology also contributes to the development of network technology. New versions of internet browsers will inform users if they visit a suspicious site. The anti-phishing system of such browsers will help credit card holders, even those far from innovative technologies, not fall prey to fraudsters.
Another technology that provides additional security for credit card payments is 3D-Secure. This protection method is called Verified by Visa, and MasterCard is called MasterCard Secure Code. Regardless of the name, the principle of the technology is the same. You should indicate a one-time password besides the secret code to make a remote payment.
The system creates a password before each payment, and it is sent to the cardholder’s cell phone assigned to this bank product. The money will be debited from the card only after the person using the data of the credit card, including its secret code, enters a one-time password into the appropriate fields of the form.
This is the most modern technology, which provides security of payments. According to the rules of international payment systems, 3D-Secure should be used by all issuing banks. Not all banks use this condition, so before opening a credit card, you should make sure that the bank cares about the safety of its clients and their finances.