Fact Check: Is EMV Pushing Fraud Online?

The Ripple effect of EMV

Yep, it’s real. According to Rurik Bradbury, VP, Identity Solutions at TransUnion, as more stores start accepting chip-enabled cards, the spike in online fraud has been remarkable – as in remarkably bad. 

It shouldn’t come as any big surprise.

As our lives become more digital by the day, our digital footprints grow, as does the possibility for compromised identities and security hacks. Meanwhile, the traditional “username/password” method of online authentication grows increasingly antiquated as users tire of their weaknesses and the struggle to remember them. In an effort to refine the digital identification process, a growing number of providers are turning toward new and innovative authentication solutions.

The March edition of the PYMNTS.com Digital Identity Tracker^TM, powered by Socure, brings you the latest industry news in and around secure convenience through biometrics and other sustainable alternatives to passwords, along with the addition of 9 new player profiles — now totaling 110 companies. 

And, an interview with someone on the ground trying to help stem the tide, TransUnion’s Bradbury, describes the changes he’s seen as a result of the shift to EMV and the ripple effect it is having on the industry.  

Here’s a sneak peek: 

The ripple effect of EMV, Bradbury said, is what he’s focused on this year. As more stores start enforcing the use of chip-enabled cards, he said, the spike in online fraud has been remarkable. “That’s the seismic aftershock effect of that October (2015) rule change,” he said. The same happened in countries preceding the U.S. with EMV. “With the EMV adoption, what has happened in other countries – Australia, Canada, the U.K. – has been a big rise in online fraud.” Fraudsters, he said, are professionals, and they readily adapt to the changing marketplace. By making it more difficult to commit fraud in-store with EMV, the shift to online (“the next easiest place”) has accelerated. “So what happened after EMV came in countries? Online fraud increased by 80-to-100 percent in the three-year period following.”

On top of that, he said, the switch to EMV has been costly to monthly subscriber services, like Spotify and Netflix, as well as other companies and services that have consumers’ card information on file for automatic payments. Bradbury referred to this type of recurring auto payment setup as “the holy grail” for businesses. But, with all the card turnover recently, he said, “that kind of business model of billing a credit card on file is less of a sure thing.”

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To download the March edition of the Digital Identity Tracker^TM, powered by Socure, click the button below.