I'm still being bothered by fraud - I thought EMV cards were supposed to put a stop to all that. What gives?

EMV technology makes it much, much more difficult for would-be criminals to commit credit card fraud. Most importantly, it is nearly impossible to skim the data from the EMV chip compared to a magnetic stripe. This type of fraud, which often plagues gas stations and other businesses with unattended card readers, has been dramatically reduced with the arrival of EMV technology.

However, fraud is still possible with EMV-enabled cards. Fraudsters can still steal the physical cards and use them at businesses that do not have EMV-enabled terminals and who do not check identification. This is why it is so important to upgrade to an EMV-enabled machine. Criminals can also still steal the card number and create a magnetic stripe card with it. They can then use these cards by swiping them at businesses where security protocols are lax. Finally, fraudsters can trick an EMV-enabled terminal into triggering a fallback transaction by purposefully inserting the card upside down into the terminal. The terminal will not be able to read the card, and unless the cashier is paying close attention, the criminal will be permitted to swipe the card and complete the transaction.

If you have any questions about this, please call us at 408-295-8360.