Reason code · Visa
Visa reason code 10.1: counterfeit card fraud at the counter
Visa 10.1 is a fraud dispute: the cardholder says a counterfeit copy of their chip card was used at your counter, and your terminal didn’t read the chip. The bank has 120 days to file, and the loss sits with whoever skipped the chip.
Key takeaways
- It’s about your terminal, not the customer’s story. If the chip was read, 10.1 doesn’t apply.
- 120 days. The cardholder’s bank has 120 calendar days from processing to file.
- You prevent it at the counter. Dip chip cards. Don’t swipe or key them in.
What Visa 10.1 means
Visa calls this condition “EMV Liability Shift Counterfeit Fraud.” EMV is the chip standard. Under the EMV liability shift, the business that didn’t use the chip carries the cost of counterfeit-card fraud, not the card issuer.
For a 10.1 to stand, Visa’s rules need all of this: the sale happened in person, the card used was counterfeit, the cardholder denies making the purchase, the real card has a chip, and the chip wasn’t used properly. In practice that means the card was swiped or keyed in, or the terminal didn’t pass the full chip data to Visa.
What the customer told their bank
Something like: “I never made this purchase. My card has been with me the whole time.” Before filing, the bank must report the transaction to Visa as counterfeit fraud and certify that the cardholder denies it.
This one is usually real fraud, not a customer changing their mind. Someone copied the magnetic stripe and used the copy at your counter.
The time limit
The cardholder’s bank has 120 calendar days from the date the transaction was processed to file a 10.1.
Your own deadline is shorter. Fraud and authorization codes have no separate “dispute response” step in Visa’s rules. Your bank (the acquirer) answers with a pre-arbitration attempt, and it has 30 calendar days from the dispute to do it. Your processor keeps part of that time, so the due date on your notice is the one that counts.
What kind of proof matters
Transaction data decides this code more than paperwork does. Visa’s rules make a 10.1 invalid if the transaction was chip-initiated, so terminal records showing the chip was read are the strongest answer. A refund you already issued that the bank ignored also counts.
The sharp part: a 10.1 is won or lost at the terminal, months before the dispute arrives.
One common mistake
Swiping or keying in a chip card “because the reader was acting up.” That one shortcut moves the fraud loss from the card issuer to you. Fix or replace the reader instead of working around it, and train staff to dip every chip card.
Dispute Daddy reads your notice, lines up the reason the customer gave against your own records, and builds the response. You review it, approve it and submit it. See how the Dispute Daddy Method works.
