Prepaid Scratch Card Fraud and Security Testing

Testing to protect the integrity and users of Prepaid Mobile Vouchers, Scratch Cards, and other Prepaid Tokens against fraud and forgery

Why undertake voucher and scratch card tests?

In short, if you don't do this product health-check, it can prove very costly. Vouchers and scratch cards are subject to fraud and counterfeiting risks and, if compromised, can lead to extreme customer and business impact:

Customer Experience - customers affected will have to waste a lot of time complaining and recovering the situation
Lost Revenue - prepaid vouchers/scratch cards used fraudulently will often be replaced free of charge
Increased Cost - fraud incidents come with additional customer and service management costs to investigate and resolve, often requiring a full product re-design and re-issue
Brand Protection - compromised vouchers or scratch cards will reduce trust in your brand and affect business growth
Regulatory Penalties - service operators risk sanctions where a duty of care has not been diligently applied.

Many prepaid telecoms services use vouchers, scratch cards or other physical tokens to enable customers to recharge accounts. Although an aging method perpetually being replaced by electronic recharge mechanisms, physical vouchers remain a significant cash-based revenue stream in many communications service providers. However, with certain design and production weaknesses finding their way into the finished product, fraud and forgery are made quite straightforward. AssuringBusiness helps to assess these vulnerabilities and steer on how to correct them...

When to do tests?

When considering a new prepaid voucher or scratch card supplier, prior to order (maybe as part of the final selection process).
Periodically (we recommend quarterly on regular production schedules, or prior to any new major design or production release) with existing suppliers to ensure that they maintain production and material standards.
Ad-hoc when needed to determine the cause of a reported problem, e.g. forged cards or compromised PIN data.

Note that you may also wish to ensure that the supplier manages your data and designs securely with a Voucher and Scratch Card Supplier Security Audit.

Fraud and forgery can be explosive issues

Common Symptoms

Customer complaints that the recharge value has already been used
Customers can't recharge - recharge code not accepted
Open packaging on wholesale or retail purchase
Smudged or damaged PIN/recharge code
Over-scratching; can't read the data
Forged vouchers/scratch cards being sold on the streets

Our Test Packages

Two levels of testing and pricing are available:

Standard - Applying typical street fraud attacks along with standard forgery, usability, and quality checks (a total of approximately 39 tests and checks).

Pro - All Standard tests plus tests of a more sophisticated nature that would require in-depth knowledge and/or specialist equipment to carry out (approximately 19 additional tests).

Our straightforward, cost-effective fixed prices (per voucher type tested), combined with a guarantee of world-leading expertise, ensures confidence in the voucher/scratch cards sold/in use or makes visible the risks and issues that should be considered to avoid a costly incident.

What we do

AssuringBusiness provides a complete fraud and security assessment of the physical vouchers / scratch cards / tokens for manufacturers/vendors and service providers. Our experience derives from our methods developed in the mid-90's and kept up to date with the common fraud attacks we see globally, plus new attack methods we devise and experiment with from time to time.

Our findings are summarized in a comprehensive report detailing observations; fraud, security and usability vulnerabilities, quality of design and production, and compliance to any specification used. Where problems are found, recommendations are made to enable corrective action. Each test section is supported by photographs to illustrate issues or observations where appropriate. And each test project includes a wrap-up call to ensure that the findings are fully understood and actionable.

AssuringBusiness partnering in profitability

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