Centralized QR Trust Repository (CQTR) with Merchant Name Uniqueness for Fraud Prevention in QR Code Payments

Abstract

The disclosed systems and methods use a Centralized QR Trust Repository (CQTR) for securing and streamlining merchant onboarding and transaction validation, and to address critical challenges in QR-based payments such as cross-acquirer fraud and counterfeit QR codes system performs transaction validation. At the time of onboarding, merchant details such as merchant or business name, account information, and KYC are collected by client servers and CQTR conducts uniqueness validation to ensure name uniqueness across all acquirers. CQTR performs similarity checks, including fuzzy matching and phonetic analysis and prevents duplicate registrations. After successful validation, CQTR generates and registers unique QR codes static or dynamic linked to the merchant’s identity. For transaction processing, the system verifies QR authenticity by matching QR hashes or templates against CQTR’s secure database before payment authorization. Merchant identity is confirmed to the customers in real-time thus the risks of fraudulent or counterfeit QR codes are mitigated