GLOSSARY
Card Present
Transactions where the physical card is read at POS (chip, contactless, or magnetic strip).
Card-present (CP) transactions involve a physical card at the terminal—chip/PIN, contactless (NFC), or fallback magnetic strip. Fraud risk is lower than card-not-present because the card and, often, PIN or device authentication are present.
CP rails often have lower fraud and sometimes lower fees than e-commerce, but counterfeit or lost/stolen card risks remain. Adding wallet options like Apple Pay or Google Pay keeps PANs tokenized.
Related
Related terms.
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Acquirer
Bank or payment institution that signs merchants and routes their card transactions into the card networks.
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Apple Pay
Mobile wallet by Apple that tokenizes cards for contactless and in-app payments.
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Card Fraud
Unauthorized card use or theft of credentials to initiate transactions.
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Card Network
Payment network (e.g., Visa/Mastercard) that sets rules and routes card transactions between issuers and acquirers.