BCD survey: Every sixth business traveler falls victim to credit card fraud

According to a Payment and Expense survey we conducted among travelers this spring, 17% of business travelers have fallen victim to credit card fraud on a business trip, despite taking measures to stay safe. Fraud can’t always be avoided, but virtual payment solutions might help reduce the sting.

Fraud experienced by business travelers

Most of the reported cases were attributed to either fraudulent charges by vendors (e.g., adding extras on a credit card), or card-not-present fraud (e.g., when credit card information is stolen and used to pay for goods online). Travelers also reported experiencing credit card skimming, stolen or lost credit cards and phishing attacks.

Credit card fraud happens despite safety measures taken by business travelers. More than half use only corporate cards while traveling, never store PINs with cards and immediately report suspicious activity to the bank. Meanwhile, only 15% use cash at suspicious shops, 11% have a dedicated card for online shopping and 10% pay via a mobile wallet that requires biometric authentication.

See the full survey results below.

Virtual cards can help fight fraudulent hotel bookings

While no payment method is 100% immune to attack, Virtual Payment Automation can buffer users against criminals out to steal from them. Hotels make an excellent case study. Hotels are an ideal target for fraudsters because they deal with high volume transactions. Hotels store card information for the duration of trip. Hotel staff may lack proper safety training due to high turnover.

By automatically generating a new virtual card number for each transaction, the risk of fraud is greatly reduced. Virtual cards protect identities and can be set with credit limits, merchant category controls, and date range restrictions. When it’s time to reconcile, all charges on the virtual card account are automatically matched to bookings, saving travel managers and travelers time and resources. Plus, the enriched data collection makes it easy to flag charges that might need further investigation.

To learn how virtual payments may help reduce fraud risk for your program, contact [email protected].

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