How to Prevent Card Testing Fraud

You can help prevent card testing fraud by implementing security measures such as Address Verification System (AVS) checks and Card Verification Value (CVV) checks.

Many fraudsters don’t have valid CVV data, so requiring validation will block these attempts. Stolen credit card numbers are also often missing complete address and other information. The fraudsters will try to transact with random or partial address data resulting in an AVS mismatch.

It’s also a good idea to check for suspicious patterns of small transactions. You could use fraud detection software with built-in machine learning that can detect and automatically flag potentially fraudulent transactions. Alternatively, you can use rules, in particular velocity-based rules. Velocity rules check for unusually high instances of an action within a certain timeframe – e.g. a large number of attempted transactions for a particular Bank Identification Number or card in one hour – or for a high number of cards used per device, which are typical signs of bot activity. These customers can then be flagged as risky or blocked from making a transaction.