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Fraud-Fighting Receipts?

Written by Evan Schuman
November 2nd, 2006

An ink defense to the growing fake receipt scam has been rolled out by UK paper supplier Vanguard. The introduction is not coincidentally timed for the holiday shopping return season, with a National Retail Federation survey published Wednesday showing some 52.4 percent of retailers complaining of counterfeit receipt scams.

The Vanguard tactic uses two layers of ink, somewhat similar to the scratch lottery cards. According to a story in The Retail Bulletin, “a cashier simply strikes a fingernail over the ink. If a new layer or color is revealed, the receipt is genuine. Discreet and simple, the inspection can be carried out unknown to the fraudster, giving the cashier valuable time to alert security.”

Vanguard isn’t the only outfit to try and get clever with retail receipt printing this week. NCR on Halloween introduced a new two-sided thermal printing package, allowing retailers to post highly-customized messages on the back of customer receipts. NCR was trying to position the printer as a logical CRM companion. Tracy Flynn, an NCR VP, was quoted in a statement saying: “With two-sided printing, the need for preprinted rolls is eliminated, which removes outdated messaging in exchange for customizable, targeted advertising and marketing initiatives on the back of each receipt.”

Posted in CRM, Payment Systems, Security/Fraud
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