Is this the message you greet your paying customers with at your dealership? You may occasionally encounter this line during your own retail experiences, though since 2015, the number of retailers not protecting themselves and their customers with EMV chip card compliant technology is on the decline.
An eye-opener for U.S. retailers and consumers
Forty million credit and debit card numbers1. Seventy million records including shopper names and addresses. These numbers represent the magnitude of Target’s 2013 security breach.
Proven technology to combat credit card fraud
Well before the Target breach in the U.S., the EU was already in the process of combatting credit card fraud through the development of smart cards referred to as EMV chip cards (EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa). By 2005, EMV cards and readers were being widely used across Europe. By 2012, Canada was using the technology 2.
How it works
EMV chip cards and the technology used to read them were developed to help combat credit card fraud. In addition to the traditional magnetic stripe on the back of the card, the front of the card contains a small integrated circuit, the chip, from which the payment data is read. The information on the chip is encrypted, making the data more difficult to access and counterfeit. The way the data is transmitted varies with each transaction, making it more difficult to access.
A shift in liability
The U.S. is finally making the move toward stronger data security to combat credit card fraud. As of October 2015, businesses and their processing companies may now be liable for any fraudulent chip card transactions. This means that unlike in the past when your bank absorbed the costs of any fraudulent credit card charges you processed, the liability for any fraudulent chip card transactions processed without an EMV processing device will fall on you.
Positive results
Europe’s adoption rate of the EMV chip card terminals is now at about 90 percent, with a 70 percent average decline in counterfeit transactions. Canada has seen a 54 percent decrease in counterfeit, lost and stolen cards from $245 million in 2008 to $112 million in 2013.3
As a part of the customer experience, buyers expect businesses to protect the security of their data. The longer you wait to convert your POS credit card terminals to EMV chip card compliant devices, you’re putting both your customers and your dealership at risk. Learn more about how to get EMV chip card compliant technology to protect your dealership.
1 Fortune.com
2 Merchantmaverick.com
3 Squareup.com