Chip and PIN Terminals - Fraud Prevention for your Debit Card

We are going to talk about the ways by which Chip and PIN machines at point of sale is usually somewhat more effective at combating fraud in your place of company. When you are considering installing Chip and PIN devices in your business then you will have to know just how safe they really are.

How they work

At the point of sale, instead of the customer giving you cash, or you taking their debit or credit card from them and swiping it in a debit card terminal on your cash till, you do not cope with the card at all. This alone helps to make the customer feel far more secure, even though the dangers from you the retailer is minimal; its essential to make the customer feel pleased about their chosen method of payment.

Customers put their PIN number (of four digits that only they can know) into the Chip and PIN terminal when they enter their card and then press the enter button to pay for their products. The only way fraud can occur here is if another person witnesses the PIN number being entered into the debit card terminal. This is highly unlikely, and even if they did get the number, they would then require the card. So Chip and PIN devices are pretty flawless when it concerns protecting against fraud, since the Chip is no good without the PIN, and it's equally as useless the other way around too.

How about debit card payments via the phone and internet?

Well when it involves debit card transactions over the telephone or web transactions there is often not any Chip and PIN machines of course, instead there is what is commonly referred to as a virtual card machine.

Your credit or debit card number is given, together with the expiry date and the number on the signature strip at the back; in fact almost everything a fraudster preferences to buy goods over the phone or internet. Yet, there are other systems in place to defend this. Nowadays merchants can not just take the numbers and leave it at that, they are obligated to take numeric information about the cardholder's address. This forbids a thief or fraudster from making use of the card because they are very improbable to know the card owner's address.

Positive reasons to accept debit cards

As a retailer or online merchant these points are positive reasons to take debit cards and install Chip and PIN technology where you are able to. Once you can reduce the amount of fraud risk in an exchange then the less likely you are to be affected a chargeback as a result of a fraudulent exchange. Always make certain you double check almost everything whether you accept cards, cash or cheques. The Chip and PIN appliance is only one way to combat fraud; these thieves will try anything to be able to get what they want.


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