Why are EMV Credit Cards More Secure?
If you are still stuck on magnetic strip credit cards, it’s time to move on. Not because you are out of date (although you are), but because fraudsters and identity thieves just love magnetic strip credit cards and magnetic strip debit. They have learned how to skim magnetic strip cards in seconds without anyone seeing or knowing.
EMV is a joint effort by international leaders in the credit card payment industry, and it is all about increased security to outsmart would-be fraudsters. EMV is an acronym for “EuroPay, MasterCard, and Visa,” and it features a global standard of technology that has credit cards embedded with microprocessor chips that store and protect cardholder data.
What makes EMV cards better?
Simply put, microprocessor chips increase security and reduce fraud. Technology embedded in these chips protect the sensitive payment data that is transmitted with every card transaction. The reality is that chip-enabled credit cards and debit cards secure data much more safely than what magnetic strip cards do.
Microprocessors in each credit card support dynamic authentication and verification at the point of sale, while magnetic strip credit cards have static data that can easily be copied by skimming the information with a simple card-reading device. Once that data has been skimmed, it can be reproduced and transferred to counterfeit credit cards that will not necessarily raise any red-flags with merchants.
Most credit card brands are rolling out changes to issue chip-enabled credit cards, and an initiative by American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa has been to issue upcoming rules and guidelines strongly encouraging processors and merchants to implement EMV chip technology. These rules include some negatives, including liability shifts for fraudulent credit card transactions for any merchant that refuses to support EMV chip technology, which means that a merchant can be liable for the full cost of a fraud.
How do I switch to EMV?
Switching from accepting only magnetic strip credit card payments to also accepting EMV chip credit cards is easy and painless if you select the right merchant service provider. EMV credit card machines have a built-in credit card reader that communicates with the chip embedded in your customer’s credit card to determine whether or not the credit card or debit card is authentic, and from there the transaction will either continue or be declined. The micro-chipped credit card is inserted into the credit card reader in the front of the machine instead of being swiped, and other than that there’s no real learning curve for merchants or customers.
If you have customers who still have magnetic strip credit cards, then it will just be business as usual, because EMV chip credit card machines can still process them, too. EMV technology makes massive inroads into fraud prevention, so that means less fraud. Accepting EMV can result in serious cost savings.
Online businesses are not affected by EMV technology, so if a business sells only online, there is nothing that the business needs to change because of the introduction of EMV cards.
For more information on how EMV credit cards are more secure than traditional cards, or to sign up for a merchant account, please call (888) 924-2743 or go to Charge.com.