Executive Interview Series: Microblink CEO Hartley Thompson on Eliminating Card-Not-Present Fraud

Introduction

At BAMS, payments are what we live and breathe. As such, we are keenly aware of the increase in payments fraud taking place across industries. First-party or “friendly” fraud, where legitimate customers dispute legitimate charges or exploit refund policies, has become one of the fastest-growing pain points in eCommerce. Add to that the surge in card-not-present (CNP) fraud, and the line between a trusted customer and a bad actor has never been blurrier.

That’s why we sat down with Hartley Thompson, CEO of Microblink, to discuss how technology can tip the scales back toward trust. Microblink is a global leader in AI-powered identity verification, trusted by top financial services, payments, and eCommerce brands. Its platform enables end-to-end identity verification for businesses from onboarding through continuous monitoring. With BlinkCard – a component of the platform which combines payment card scanning with liveness – merchants can instantly verify card authenticity and stop CNP fraud before it happens.

Q&A with Hartley Thompson, CEO of Microblink

BAMS: Let’s start with the big picture. Why has first-party and card-not-present fraud become such a critical issue for merchants in 2025?

Hartley Thompson: Fraud is evolving faster than the defenses against it. Traditional card-present security, such as chip and PIN and tap-to-pay, pushed fraudsters online, where verifying identity is harder and liability often falls on the merchant. What’s new is the explosion of first-party fraud: real customers misusing the system, often with little guilt. Many of them don’t even think of it as fraud, they think of it as “getting a refund.” When 42% of Gen Z say it’s acceptable to dispute a charge if they’re unhappy, even if the product arrived, you realize this isn’t a fringe issue anymore.

BAMS: How is Microblink approaching this differently from traditional fraud-prevention vendors?

Hartley: We start from the principle that business as usual isn’t enough. Fraudsters, and now even ordinary consumers, are leveraging AI, automation, and social media to outsmart static rules-based systems. So we asked ourselves: what would it take to make a digital transaction as trustworthy as an in-person one? That’s where BlinkCard comes in. It’s a technology that brings “card-present” confidence into “card-not-present” environments.

BAMS: Tell us more about BlinkCard. How does it work, and why is it a game-changer for CNP fraud?

Hartley: BlinkCard started as a simple convenience tool, a way for customers to scan their credit or debit card with their phone camera instead of typing numbers. But we realized that the same camera feed could prove something powerful: that a real, physical card was present at the time of purchase.

So we combined our market-leading card-capture engine with liveness detection; technology that verifies the card is authentic and live, not a static image or stolen credential. The result is a patent-pending process that can verify a transaction is genuine in a fraction of a second. It’s as easy for customers as snapping a photo, but for merchants, it creates proof of card presence that can help prevent disputes or even serve as compelling evidence in chargeback cases.

BAMS: That’s interesting. It’s not just prevention but also evidence. How are merchants using that in practice?

Hartley: Exactly. One of the biggest merchant frustrations with first-party fraud is how hard it is to prove intent. With BlinkCard, a merchant can now show the customer that they presented a real card at checkout and not just typed digits. That evidence alone can deflect up to 50% of chargebacks, because it resolves confusion and dissuades friendly fraud before it escalates. It’s a small step that delivers major savings and confidence.

BAMS: Fraud prevention is often at odds with customer experience. How do you keep the balance?

Hartley: There is a real balance and art to it. We believe the best fraud prevention doesn’t feel like prevention at all, rather it feels like a seamless checkout experience. BlinkCard requires zero extra hardware and adds only a moment to the transaction. But that moment creates an enormous trust signal for both sides. The customer knows the experience is secure, and the merchant gets protection without friction.

BAMS: Looking ahead, what’s next for Microblink and the future of fraud prevention?

Hartley: Fraud is never static, so neither can innovation in fraud prevention be. More broadly, we’re focused on building AI that adapts as fast as fraud does. The mission is simple: make digital trust scalable. The more data and context we can capture safely and ethically, the more we can turn risky transactions into reliable ones.

BAMS: Any advice for merchants who feel overwhelmed by the pace of fraud today?

Hartley: Start small, but start smart. Look at the moments in your checkout flow where fraud slips through and where good customers drop off. That’s your opportunity zone. Don’t wait for regulation or industry consensus; innovation moves faster than policy. If you can add even one tool that shifts your fraud defenses from reactive to proactive, you’ll already be ahead of most of the market.