Chip technology helped reduce counterfeit fraud by 80 percent
The number of EMV chip cards and chip-enabled merchants continues to grow
Visa set the path for the U.S. payments industry to begin the shift to EMV® (which stands for Europay, Mastercard and Visa) chip cards in 2011. One of the leading factors of encouraging the adoption of chip technology in 2015 was its effectiveness in reducing counterfeit fraud, which was the primary type of fraud in the United States at the time. Since the EMV shift, the adoption of chip technology has reduced card present (CP) counterfeit payment fraud by 80 percent at chip-enabled merchants.
During the most recent period ending in December 2018, Visa saw continued growth across the number of chip cards and chip-enabled merchants, payment and transaction volume since before the shift to EMV chip launched in October 2015. Counterfeit fraud also declined sharply.
The same security technology used in chip cards that fight counterfeit fraud is also available in contactless payment cards, which allow users to simply “tap” on the terminal to make a payment. Learn about contactless and recent progress towards adoption.