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Visa wants to make sure that small businesses are ready, willing and able to get on board with the upcoming EMV conversion, and to bring the point home they are launching a 20-city tour designed to educate business owners on the technology. Visa has partnered with business groups, financial institutions, consumer advocacy groups, and media organizations to create events in cities throughout the U.S.
The tour kicked off earlier this week with the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Small Business and Entrepreneurial Showcase in Austin, Texas. At this event and the others, attendees have the chance find out what the experts have to say about the chip-based technology. They can also find out what other merchants who are already using the new technology have to say about it.
With cyber security on merchants’ minds, the tour will also include demos on how EMV protects account information from fraud at the register.
The second event will be held in Orlando, Florida, where they have partnered with the Orlando Chamber of Commerce on April 3, 2015. The Small Business Chip Education Tour will also be holding webinars which can be accessed through their dedicated website.
EMV Education Critical
Merchants and retailers are facing an EMV deadline on October 1, 2015, when they will be liable for any fraudulent charges that occur if they do not adopt the new chip activated terminals. In the past the chip card issuer has been responsible for the charges.
Some merchants are unprepared for the changeover. According to a recent study by Aite Group, one-third of small- and medium-sized merchants are still in the dark about the new technology.
“In cities across the country, we will set up educational sessions to explain how chip technology can protect consumers from fraud, and how businesses can offer it in their stores.” said Ramon Martin, head of global merchant sales and solutions at Visa Inc.
Using Chip Cards
With new chip-enabled credit cards being rolled out, consumers will no longer swipe their cards. They will be inserting them into a terminal that will create a one-time, one-of-a-kind code, which signals the system to approve the transaction.
Every time consumers use their card, a new code is generated, thereby helping prevent cyber thieves from counterfeiting the cards because the code expires once the sale is over. This aspect of EMV technology makes these cards less attractive to hackers and thieves.
The Aite Group study also indicated that counterfeit fraud in countries where merchants and issuers have adopted EMV based technology has gone down by 50 to 75 percent.
