A recent study by ACI Worldwide and the Aite Group has found that upwards of 30% of global consumers have been victims of some type card fraud in the past five years. Statistically then, this has happened to almost a third of the people reading this very article.
InformationWeek’s “Dark Reading” website, which focuses on digital security issues, reports that of countries likeliest to be victimized by such fraud, the U.S. is near the top of the list: “Similar research in 2014 put UAE, China, India, and the US on top of the list for card fraud, but this year, Mexico tops the list at 56%, followed by Brazil (49%,) and the US (47%). A global increase in smartphone and tablet usage is cited as the reason behind this rise. The US continues to be in the top three because of slow EMV chip adoption, while Europe’s early implementation of such measures better secures them.”
The Bankrate website, reporting on the same study, goes over other key issues making U.S. consumers so vulnerable to fraud:
- 20% of U.S. cardholders say they’ve left their smartphone unlocked when they weren’t using it at least once during the last 5 years.
- 18% have thrown documents with account numbers in the trash instead of shredding them.
- 14% have engaged in online banking or internet shopping over a public computer or without using security software.
- 9% have written down and carried with them their bank PIN number.
- 8% have responded to emails or calls asking for bank details.
“Security software,” by the way, could include something as simple as a VPN — Virtual Private Network — which can make your computer less vulnerable to “hack-ins” in public places. Often you can easily install VPNs as a “plug in” to most browsers, so consider search out such extensions now. We mention this because we’re using one, as we type this, in a similar publicly “wi-fi’d” space.
Of course, the article also mentions that same slow EMV adoption as another reason. We will continue to patiently remind you here to upgrade, if you haven’t done so, already.
On that note, ComputerWorld is reporting that “June stats from what Visa says are the ‘top states for chip-ready merchants’ show that 66% of merchants are not yet able to handle EMV. Nationally, that ‘do not accept’ number jumps to 72%. This is nine months after October’s EMV liability shift, which was supposed to have been when most merchants were supposed to be accepting EMV transactions.”
Part of the reason they say is that “the challenge for many merchants has been getting their EMV-capable POS terminals certified and turned on by their merchant acquirers.. the certification process has proven to be more complex and time consuming than many had expected and thus there is a big backlog of merchants waiting to have their terminals certified.”
You, of course, don’t have that problem with AVPS at the ready to help you upgrade and get EMV-Ready.
That way, none of your customers will have to find themselves as part of that unwanted “one third” demographic when next year’s fraud studies are released.
Meanwhile, steer clear of the smoke, and we’ll see you in August!
