August 23rd, 2006 by Jamie Estep
How to spot a fake credit card
Filed in: Guides, Merchant Accounts | 5 comments
I recently stumbled upon a great pdf guide on the features of each type of credit card from the four major credit card companies. Each cart type has a very clear diagram outlining the card identification features of that particular card.
(Mastercard, Amex and Discover are available in the guide)
From what I have been reading, card counterfeiters are getting so good at reproducing cards that it is virtually impossible to distinguish the difference between a well made fake, and a real credit card. Most businesses wont check each card to ensure that it is real. It would take too much time, and it simply isn’t that big of a problem. But, if you ever do have a question, this guide should give you what you need to verify a card is real.
The file is rather large (~1Mb), so you may want to download it instead of opening it in your browser window. Right Click and select “Save Target As” to download the guide.
Credit Card Identifying Features .pdf
This guide is also available in the download area.
I have been searching for such information for quite a while. Thank you for this post. May it help me!
I’m Reseller for Merchant Accounts – this post and the PDF Doc comes handy to educate my Merchants…
-Leonard J. Mills
This diagramwould have been a big help if it would have been big enough t see.
A larger version for all cards is in the PDF file.
Great article! This is a very helpful site……. Thanks!