Reason code · Visa
Visa reason code 10.3: keyed-in card fraud at the counter
Visa 10.3 is a fraud dispute over an in-person sale where the card number was typed in rather than read by the terminal. The cardholder says they didn’t make it. The bank has 120 days to file.
Key takeaways
- Keyed in, in person. 10.3 covers sales where the card was supposedly there but the number was typed.
- 120 days. That’s how long the cardholder’s bank has to file.
- An imprint is the classic answer. Visa’s rules give a card imprint real weight here.
What Visa 10.3 means
Visa calls this “Other Fraud – Card-Present Environment.” The rule is short: the cardholder denies authorizing or taking part in a key-entered transaction made in a card-present setting. The sale was recorded as in person, but nobody dipped, tapped or swiped the card.
This is common at front desks that type card numbers into a virtual terminal while the customer stands there. It’s fast. It also leaves you with the fraud risk of a phone order and none of the protection of a chip read.
What the customer told their bank
“I didn’t make this purchase” or “I don’t recognize this charge.” The bank must report the fraud to Visa before it files. Sometimes it’s real fraud. Sometimes the customer forgot the visit, or a family member used the card.
The time limit
The cardholder’s bank has 120 calendar days from the date the transaction was processed.
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
Proof the physical card was there. Visa’s rules make a 10.3 invalid when the transaction carries an electronic imprint, and they accept evidence of an imprint at the next stage. Careful: a pencil rubbing or photocopy of the card doesn’t count as an imprint. For US sales keyed in where there was no chip reader, Visa also accepts proof that the same card was used in another undisputed purchase, or a copy of the cardholder’s ID tied to the receipt.
One common mistake
Keying in a card that’s sitting right there on the counter because the reader is in another room or the line is long. Every one of those sales is a 10.3 waiting to happen. Put a chip reader where the card is.
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.
