Mastercard reason code 4871
Mastercard 4871: Chip Liability Shift: Lost/Stolen/Never Received Issue (NRI) Fraud
What the cardholder is claiming
The real cardholder says their card was lost, stolen, or never arrived, and someone else used it. The issuer is shifting the loss to you because the transaction went through without PIN verification, either on a terminal that could not support chip-and-PIN or by bypassing the PIN on a card that required one.
The evidence that actually wins
Bank analysts skim responses in minutes against a checklist for this exact code. Lead with the strongest fact; never make them dig.
- ✓Cardholder verification data in the authorization record showing a PIN was entered and verified (the CVM results)
- ✓Proof the terminal was a hybrid, PIN-capable device at the time of sale
- ✓Authorization data showing the issuer approved the transaction after the card had already been reported lost or stolen
- ✓Evidence the card was not a hybrid PIN-preferring card, which voids this specific liability shift
- ✓Proof the transaction was card-not-present, which makes 4871 the wrong code
The honest read
Like 4870, this code is built to punish terminals that cannot take chip-and-PIN, so if a stolen card was signature-verified or swiped on your hardware, the shift is against you by design. Pull the CVM data before anything else: if a PIN was actually entered and verified, you have a clean technical rebuttal, and if the issuer approved the auth after the card was reported stolen, the loss is theirs. If your hardware cannot take PINs, this category recurs, and fighting each one individually is a treadmill that hardware replacement ends.
Nobody can promise you a win; the cardholder's bank decides. What you control is submitting the strongest complete case your records support, on time. Our plain-language guarantees say exactly what that means.
Fighting a 4871 right now?
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