General Information
The Terminated Merchants System contains information about merchants whose contracts for accepting credit cards as means of payment have been terminated by the acquiring banks. The termination of these contracts takes place due to reasons related to fraudulent activity (see below). The database does not include sensitive information concerning card usage or their owners’ personal data.
The Terminated Merchants System also serves the purpose of Tiresias SA which is contributing to the protection of credit provided by banks and assuring reliable financial transactions. This purpose is attained through the provision to financial institutions of access to the database previously mentioned, therefore enabling them to evaluate risks undertaken while signing a contract with a specific merchant.
Access to this database is provided for private use to the departments of credit institutions and payment card operators that are authorized for signing contracts concerning card acceptance with merchants.
Data Categories
The reasons of termination of merchants’ contracts related to fraudulent activity are shown below:
| Code |
Reason of Termination of Contract |
| 1 |
Acceptance of cards that have been declared as lost or stolen |
| 2 |
Acceptance of cards that the Card Operator or the Credit Institution has not issued |
| 3 |
Committing or typing valid or fraudulent transactions without the owner’s authorization |
| 4 |
Violation of terms of the Cooperation Contract between Institution-Merchant that are not described by other codes |
| 5 |
Characterization of the merchant as Common Point of Purchase |
| 6 |
Money Laundering |
| 7 |
Merchants that have fillings for bankruptcy, or have been under liquidation or compulsory receivership or do not operate for any reason or have been disengaged |
| 8 |
Misquotation of the prices of the transactions on the receipts |
| 9 |
Self funding |
| 10 |
Braking of Transactions |
| 11 |
Inaccurate or Incomplete petitions for card issue (from merchant to Bank) |
| 12 |
Inaccurate or Incomplete petition for cooperation of the merchant to the Bank |
| 13 |
Completion of transactions appealing mock approval |
| 14 |
Large number of cross-entries/ controversial transactions |
Sources
The data of the Terminated Merchants System are channeled to Tiresias SA via electronic means/channels from the departments of credit institutions and payment card operators that are authorized for signing contracts concerning card acceptance with merchants.
Storage Time
The merchants' data are maintained in Tiresias SA database for 5 (five) years from the date of termination of the contract. After the lapse of 5 years the data of the file are automatically deleted.
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