Scammers always are taking advantage of whatever current events are going on. Today is the deadline for retailers and credit card issuing companies to switch over to using the new EMV credit cards containing a computer chip that creates and encrypts a new number every time the card is used. Unlike credit cards in other parts of the world, American credit cards still mostly use magnetic strip technology that has been around since the 1960s in which personal information is contained on a magnetic strip on the back of the card. When the information on this strip is stolen as through a hacking, the identity thief has access to the credit of the victim. However in more than 80 other countries around the world, the magnetic strip card technology has been replaced with cards embedded with a microchip. This technology is often referred to as EMV which stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa, the originators of the card. With EMV cards, the chip creates and encrypts a new number every time the card is used. Thus hacking into the credit and debit card processing terminals used by the cardholder is a worthless exercise in trying to access the credit card or debit card. For cost reasons, credit card companies and retailers have resisted updating the credit card system in the United States although changes in regulations in regard to liability for fraudulent credit card use will prompt credit card companies and retailers to switch to this technology. Under these new rules, after October 1st if a retailer does not switch its card processing machines over to EMV card processing of sales, in the event of a data breach, the retailer will be held financially responsible for any losses incurred. Previously, in the event of data breaches, it has generally been the credit card issuing banks that have been held responsible for such credit card fraud.
The October 1st deadline, however, has not been met by many credit card issuers and retailers. More than a billion credit and debit cards will have to be switched to the new EMV cards and only 120 million people have already received a new EMV card. That number is expected to reach 600 million by the end of 2015. Meanwhile, many retailers have not yet converted their card processing devices to accept the new EMV cards. Since under the new regulation regarding liability in the event of credit card fraud, the liability passes to the party that is the least EMV compliant, there is much incentive for the credit card companies to issue new EMV cards and for retailers to convert their credit card processing equipment as soon as possible.
Ingenious scam artists, the only criminals we refer to as artists are taking advantage of the situation by contacting people by email posing as your credit card company and prompting you to either provide personal information in response to the email or click on a link in the email in order to update your account to get a new smart EMV chip card. If you provide personal information to the scammer, you will end up becoming a victim of identity theft. If you click on the link, you may also download keystroke logging malware that will steal your information from your computer or smartphone and use it to make you a victim of identity theft.
TIPS
So how do you know if you receive an email purporting to be from your credit card company if it is legitimate?
First check the address of the email sender. If it appears to come from someone or some company wholly unrelated to your credit card issuer, it is a scam. Many scammers use hijacked email accounts that become a part of a network of controlled computers referred to as a botnet to send out their emails so that it is difficult to trace the scams back to the scammer.
Merely because the email appears legitimate, is written in proper English and even carries the logo of your credit card company does not mean that it is legitimate. It is easy to copy the logo of a company on to an email. If you get an email from your real credit card company it will generally be addressed to you specifically by name rather than a generic greeting of “Dear Cardholder.” In addition, the email to you will generally reference your account by including the last four digits of your account. However, even paranoids have enemies so if you do get an email that appears legitimate, but you still have concerns, merely call the company at the number found on the back of your credit card to confirm that the email is legitimate.