Patent ID: 8600881

Claim:
An apparatus for reducing fraud in payment transactions, comprising: at least one processor configured to execute a set of instructions; a memory coupled to the at least one processor for storing the set of instructions; and the set of instructions stored in the memory, wherein when the instructions are executed by the at least one processor the apparatus operates to, at least: receive, from a point of sale terminal manufacturer of a plurality of point of sale terminal manufacturers, a request for a point of sale terminal manufacturer identifier; generate, by a payment processor, responsive to the request for a point of sale terminal manufacturer identifier, a point of sale terminal manufacturer identifier that is unique with respect to the plurality of point of sale terminal manufacturers; provide, by the payment processor, the generated point of sale terminal manufacturer identifier; access transaction data corresponding to a plurality of payment transactions; process the transaction data to associate each of the payment transactions with a point of sale terminal used to conduct that payment transaction, wherein associating each of the payment transactions with a point of sale terminal further comprises processing the transaction data for each payment transaction to determine a point of sale terminal identifier for that payment transaction, the point of sale terminal identifier at least (i) uniquely identifying a point of sale terminal used to conduct the payment transaction regardless of a payment processing network used to process the payment transaction, (ii) being based at least in part on the point of sale terminal manufacturer identifier provided by the payment processor responsive to the request for a point of sale terminal manufacturer identifier by the point of sale terminal manufacturer and (iii) being independent of a network interface utilized by the point of sale terminal to access the payment processing network; and process the transaction data to determine whether a specific point of sale terminal was used to conduct one or more fraudulent transactions based at least in part on the point of sale terminal identifier.