If you are like many Americans, you may have recently received a new credit card with a silver square peering at you from the front. And if you are like most people who received such cards, you probably have no idea why you received the odd-looking new card.
The latest in credit card security, chip and pin embedded cards are making their way to millions of Americans. But a recent survey found that 75% of recipients of the new cards don’t know about the new security features, according to a story from NBC News.
Traditional credit cards are easier to hack because the magnetic strip uses the same code for every transaction. The new cards’ embedded computer chip allows the card to produce a new for every transaction, making it easier to block counterfeiters.
Upgrading pay systems will cost retailers between $200 to $1,000 per payment register, but they have an incentive to make the change: beginning October 1, merchants become responsible for fraudulent transactions on terminals that have not been upgraded.
Countries that have adopted the technology have seen fraud from credit cards go down by as much as 70% within two years, according to a security expert from Visa.