What is the difference between card-present and card-not-present activity?¶

Card-present describes use of a card or token at a physical terminal; card-not-present describes a route without physical presentation to the merchant. Neither identifies the user.

Classification directs the evidence search¶

Card-present routes include chip, contactless, stripe, manual terminal entry and mobile wallet, producing terminal, location, method, CCTV and receipt records. Card-not-present routes include websites, applications, telephone orders, stored credentials and recurring charges, producing merchant accounts, endpoints, IP-related data, authentication and delivery records.

A wallet may be card-present without the physical card, while a merchant-initiated transaction may be card-not-present without fresh customer action.

Verify the recorded route¶

Preserve classification, card or token, terminal or merchant IDs, method, authentication, time and reference. Ask which field and rules produced it. Use the category to find supporting records, not to infer presence, legitimacy or offender use.