We’ve covered how effective counterfeiters have made traditional counterfeit-detection obsolete in regard to cash. In this post, I will cover 2 methods employed by fraudsters to use stolen cards / card information in-store.

1. Stolen cards / Stolen information

In this scenario, fraudsters follow the instructions put out by effective fraudsters online, mostly on the dark web, however there are exceptions.

Equipment is $400, resources are free (if you know what you are doing), and the information is ready to copy and paste onto / into the appropriate medium (mag strip, card, etc.)

2. Security Bypasses

This method has 4 or 5 iterations, but all revolve around the same concept; get the cashier to bypass the security features.

This is achieved by intentionally damaging mediums, resulting in the inability to swipe (card or check) or read chips, which then forces the cashier to bypass security features in order to process the purchase.

Due to the weak requirements of certain processors, this method is the key way for fraudsters to employ “Math as a Payment Method” in stores which otherwise would not be vulnerable to such tactics.