Chip Credit Cards Offer Increased Security

Have you received a new chip credit card in the mail?

Have you recently received a new credit card in the mail and the card is fitted with a small chip on its face, which looks different than older credit cards? Credit card companies across the country are busy replacing old credit cards with new chip cards for increased security.

This month, the U.S. is shifting to chip-enabled credit cards used at chip readers because chip technology has proven successful in reducing fraud in over 130 countries around the world. It is already the standard in Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe and Asia. To assist with this transition, financial institutions all over the country have been replacing old credit cards with newer, safer chip cards embedded with EMV (Europay, MasterCard, and Visa) chip technology that should make it more difficult for crooks to access your financial data.

The new EMV chip technology will:

1. Decrease Risk of ID Theft

Unlike magnetic strips, which are easy for hackers to crack, the EMV chips come with fairly sophisticated built-in security defenses. Among other things, they prevent magnetic strip skimming devices from stealing your valuable credit card info.

2. Provide more secure in-person transactions

As a result of the new technology, the EMV chip creates a one-time code to the credit card processing machine that is useless to criminals. Thieves can’t use the code to create a duplicate chip card or use the code to transact. The new technology will now produce a single-use code to validate the transaction. If by chance a thief tried to steal the one-time code, they won’t be able to use that code to shop or create a counterfeit card.

3. May increase risk for on-line transactions

One thing you should keep in mind, however is that the credit card industry expects that closing this door on in-person credit card fraud will increase online credit card fraud in the US, similar to when the U.K. made the EMV transition in 2006. According to online fraud expert Brian Krebs. “Fraud doesn’t go away, it just goes somewhere else, and that somewhere else is always online,” So it is very important that you keep an eye on your credit card statements for online fraud activity!

As you replace your old credit cards with the new chip credit cards, remember that shredding your documents and your old cards offers an increased security to you, your family and/or your business. Contact Abraham Shredding today for more information.