Deceptive customers

It's a part of life - some people just don't play by the rules. Protect your business from common scams:
 

• Unauthorized refunds. We talk about this at length here, but it's the practice of refunding money to someone's card without permission, effectively paying them.
   

• Stolen cards/data. This speaks for itself. Use chip technology when in person, and when you're not in front of the card, make sure to check AVS, CVV, and trust your gut. Only you know your business best - if something feels "off" it probably is, and we highly recommend not fulfilling the order or taking payment.
   

• The liability shift con. The liability shift means that merchants who don't accept chip cards are subject to the costs of any fraud. Some customers actively take advantage of this, purchasing expensive goods with retailers whom they know only accept swipe cards. Then, they go home with their goods, and initiate a chargeback knowing that they'll win. All they have to do is claim their card was stolen, and their bank will likely side with them. If the merchant didn't use the chip on the card, well... they just lost the subsequent chargeback and they're out the goods, too. Always use chip cards, and in high-ticket transactions, get additional data like signatures, driver's licenses, etc. 
   

• The fast talker. You know them. They talk down to the employees, making many demands, simultaneously overwhelming and stressing the employee. Then during the payment, they claim some sort of mistake/error, and begin to demean the employee. This often centers around a refund not processing, or a refund being "promised". Ultimately, these customers can be challenging to deal with regardless of your policies; however, we highly recommend always  password-protecting refunds for managers only. This will force nefarious customers to interact with a savvy manager instead of an overwhelmed front-line employee.