Since the EMV chip migration went into effect in October 2015, the level of progress that has been made towards eliminating card present fraud has been significant and impactful.
Today, the latest portrait of the
Over 2.9 million merchant locations now accept chip cards, spanning the gamut from mom and pop pizza shops to high-end retailers. For merchants who completed the chip terminal upgrade, counterfeit fraud dollars have dropped by 76% since the EMV migration. That decline shows the measurable benefits of the technology and the importance of the investment for all parties involved.
While nearly three million merchant locations or 63% of U.S. storefronts now accept chip cards, the implementation of chip is just one piece of a broader effort by the industry to improve payment security.
Cybercriminals are constantly evolving their techniques and leveraging technology. So we must do the same and embrace new technologies to combat fraud, and we must do this together as an industry. It is only through the collective efforts of everyone – cardholders, issuers, merchants and acquirers – that we will be able to significantly impact payment fraud.
As technology evolves and cybercriminals look for new opportunities to commit fraud, it is reassuring to know that our collective efforts in introducing EMV chip has had a measurable and significant impact in reducing counterfeit fraud.
I believe the adoption of contactless technology will add to this since it utilizes the same underlying technology as EMV chips. It also improves the cardholder experience by expanding secure payments into transit,new acceptance environments and increases the speed of merchant throughput.
Strengthening the payment ecosystem is a collective effort we must work tirelessly together towards to stay ahead of fraud – whether consumers decide to dip, tap, touch or selfie.
