Putting Business Owner and Consumer on the Upside of Technology

Technology is putting business owners and consumers on the same team when it comes to security.

Companies that rely on financial security are increasingly utilizing technology to ensure that merchants and their customers are as protected as possible during financial transactions.bn h

The move toward technology-driven solutions has been motivated by the exponential growth of increasingly sophisticated hackers and fraudsters.

While consumers still demand to be able to pull out a credit card to pay for purchasers; two security measures have quietly been put into place.

Chip Technology

As of Oct. 1, 2015, liability for swiped credit card fraud will no longer automatically be placed on the shoulders of credit card issuers.

The transition to EMV, or Europay, Mastercard, Visa, is an attempt to reduce theft in the credit card industry. Merchants who are slow to implement the necessary hardware changes will pay the price, literally.

On the bright side, merchants who choose to get on board with chipped credit cards will be able to offer their customers increased point-of-sale security on a scale that wasn't possible before chip technology.

This has the potential to increase profits for merchants and limit fraud losses for both merchants and credit card issuers.

What is Chip Technology?

Chip technology on the user end consists of a tiny microchip embedded into the credit card itself. If credit card users haven't already received their new chip enabled credit cards, they will soon.

The chip makes it harder for fraudsters to duplicate credit cards, and nearly impossible for them to use them at checkout stations.

As the article, “Chip-enabled credit cards are coming: What you need to know” points out, it is important for both consumer and business owner to be up to speed on new technology.

What are Email Receipts?

Email receipts are a service that some credit card companies, like PayPal, offer customers as a value-added service.

However, in addition to the convenience, email receipts offer a way for consumers to be instantly notified when a transaction has occurred on their credit card account.

Within minutes of the electronic transaction, an email notification is sent to the account holder, along with a thank you and a copy of the receipt. If anything about the transaction is amiss, the consumer has the opportunity to call the card issuer immediately and report the card stolen.

The best part about email receipts is that it is automatic. Unless a consumer opts out, the service is provided free and automatically.

These two security measures are likely just the beginning of the technology-fought war on hackers and fraudsters.

As fraud catches up, technology will be forced to stay one step ahead of the game.

For now, there is a vast distance between first and second place in the war on fraud.

About the author

Kate Supino writes about best business practices for small to medium sized businesses.

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