What's New in Payments

Visa reports 80% drop in card-present fraud at US chip-enabled merchants

Chip technology helped reduce counterfeit fraud by 80% — Visa — “Since the EMV shift, the adoption of chip technology has reduced card present (CP) counterfeit payment fraud by 80% at chip-enabled merchants… Over 3.1m merchant locations are now accepting chip cards… 98% of overall US payment volume in December was on EMV cards.”



What's New in Payments

US Secret Service issues ‘chip switch’ card scam warning

Secret Service warns of chip card scheme — Krebs On Security — “The US Secret Service is warning financial institutions about a new scam involving the temporary theft of chip-based debit cards issued to large corporations. In this scheme, the fraudsters intercept new debit cards in the mail and replace the chips on the cards with chips from old cards. When the unsuspecting business receives and activates the modified card, thieves can start draining funds from the account.”


What's New in Payments

AmEx drops signature requirement for transactions in US stores

AmEx joins Mastercard and Discover in dumping signature requirement — Bloomberg — “AmEx will no longer require customers to sign at checkout for credit- or debit-card purchases beginning in April 2018… Mastercard and Discover dropped the requirement this year, leaving Visa Inc as the only large US payments network that hasn’t rescinded its policy.”



What's New in Payments

Mastercard to eliminate signature verification at the point of sale

No more signing on the dotted line — Mastercard — “More than 80% of Mastercard in store transactions in North America today do not require a cardholder signature at checkout… That number could now reach 100% after April 2018, when we will no longer require signatures at checkout for any credit or debit purchases in Canada and the US.”


What's New in Payments

Half of US stores are now equipped to process chip cards

Chip-enabled merchants up; Counterfeit fraud down — Visa — “As of the end of June 2017, 2.3m US merchant locations, 50% of storefronts, are chip enabled. And with more than 449m Visa chip cards in the country, representing 62% of Visa cards, counterfeit fraud has continued to decline — 58% at chip-enabled merchants in March 2017 when compared to March 2016.”