What is magnetic-stripe activity?¶

Magnetic-stripe activity records use of card data through a stripe-related terminal route. It may be normal, fallback or compromised and does not alone prove physical-card presence.

Entry mode explains the route¶

Stripe use can reflect terminal capability, regional practice, damaged chip or fallback. Copied data may also be encoded onto another card. Provider fields can distinguish physical swipe, fallback and manual entry.

Preserve terminal, merchant and country, entry and fallback indicators, time, authorisation and card reference.

Test whether the route was expected¶

Ask issuer or processor whether stripe use was normal for that card, merchant and country. Compare possession, travel, compromise reports, other payment methods and CCTV.

Unusual stripe activity warrants enquiry but is not proof of cloning. Report the recorded entry mode and supported circumstances rather than speculating how data was obtained.