In an article in Point of Sale News, Robert Carr Heartland Payment Systems Chairman and CEO, provided a perspective on the shift in counterfeit card fraud that small merchants could expect as large merchants begin to install and program their terminals to accept EMV cards:
“Credit card fraud migrates to the weakest points, and since the larger retailers and restaurants have (by and large) already installed the needed equipment for the October 1st shift of liability to merchants, those who are unprepared are mainly the small merchants. This is not a theory – this is exactly what has been seen in countries that already use chip-and-pin. Crooks don’t go away – they simply choose easier targets.”
Although many in the industry believe that small merchants are, as a category, well on their way to migrating their POS terminals due to the simplicity of their systems, Carr is not as convinced and concerned overall about the impact of the liability shift to this population of merchants. He suggests that to help mitigate counterfeit fraud, merchants who are unprepared to turn on EMV capabilities on October 1st require ID with all card transactions:
“If I were a small merchant and not prepared for the EMV shift in October, I’d have a sign in the front window of my business that said ‘Due to new regulations, and for our mutual protection, we may ask for a photo ID with a credit card purchase.’ And then I would stick with that until I had upgraded my equipment to comply with the new laws
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Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
Read the full story here
