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EMV Technology In Credit and Debit Cards Reducing Counterfeit Fraud, Says Visa (usatoday.com)
An anonymous reader cites an article on USA Today: The new chip-enabled cards flowing into the U.S. marketplace have already made a dent in fraud, with some of the biggest merchants seeing a dip of more than 18% in counterfeit transactions, according to Visa. Among the 25 merchants who were suffering the most instances of counterfeit fraud at the end of 2014, five that began processing credit and debit cards equipped with the new EMV technology saw those infractions fall 18.3% as of the final quarter of 2015, says Stephanie Ericksen, vice president of risk products at Visa. Meanwhile, five of those merchants who were not yet equipped to handle chip-enabled cards saw an increase in fraudulent transactions of 11.4%. "We're seeing EMV is having a positive impact on counterfeit fraud," Ericksen says. "Merchants who implement chip, their counterfeit fraud is going down, while those still finalizing plans, their counterfeit fraud is going up."Also from the report, "Visa on Tuesday also announced a software upgrade that will shave the amount of time spent on chip card transactions. With 'Quick Chip,' consumers can dip their chip cards into the terminal and withdraw it in two seconds or less, instead of waiting until their purchase is authorized. The consumer can 'put the card in the terminal and put it right back in your wallet and . . . move to get their coffee, or hamburger or start bagging their groceries,' Ericksen says. Ars Technica has more details.
What utter ignorant total bullshit. Most countries all over the world have had this as standard in everything from your local coffee shop to huge retailers for the last few years. It saves time and money for retailers, making checkouts faster, the hardware is cheap and reliable.
IMHO this is why we see articles like TFA which intentionally omit the largest section of fraud. Sure, retailers see some credit card fraud but the majority of fraud is wire based fraud, not card in hand at merchants. Smart chips do nothing to prevent wire fraud.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
Well unfortunately the US took the half-assed approach of moving to chip, but still requiring signature. Everywhere else it's chip + PIN. By the time you've typed the 4-6 digits of your PIN, the chip reading part of it is generally done and the whole transaction is generally quicker than the whole 'cashier hands you annoying piece of paper and a pen and you sign' rigmarole.
Even better, most places outside the US these days have contactless payments available at most merchants. For smaller amounts ($100, $50, varies by country), tap your card on the reader and you're done. Takes literally 1 second.
I would suggest getting a chip card from a local bank wherever you are. The technology works great in most places I've been (Canada, Europe and yes even the US), but then, my home bank is in Australia where chip + PIN has been established standard for well over 10 years. The US cards are kinda 'frankenstein' because they have the chip but generally no PIN (i.e. the US went with the weird hybrid approach of having a chip but still requiring signature).
But that is also a difference that US and Canadian ATM's have as well. US ATM's generally make you swipe the card and then put it back in your wallet, while you complete the transaction. Canadian ATM's hold onto the card until you tell the ATM that you're done.
Curious. Now, I admit I never use third-party ATMs so maybe those are different, but among first-party bank ATMs, I haven't encountered a swipe one in a good 25 years. Ever since the early 90s, and having been a customer of several different U.S. banks, all I've encountered are insert-and-hold-card ATMs.