Swiping a credit card just seems so much more efficient than sticking the card into a terminal and waiting. And waiting.
But the chip cards are actually more secure, credit companies say. The chip cards attempt to prevent fraud by generating a unique code for every transaction that can only be used once. So the cards are supposed to slow down criminals who steal a bunch of card data and then manufacture physical cards. Chips make the data much less useful. The cards also reduce the value of card skimming, where a device is placed on the card reader to steal data.
Chips do nothing for e-commerce fraud or a variety of other types of criminal activity.
In addition, if you use a chip card, but sign for the transaction instead of using a pin number, the transaction is less secure.
Rick Good spent ten years in the newspaper business, including with The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Greenville News (Greenville, SC). He co-wrote, with Melinda Coleman, Rutledge to Riley: Governors of South Carolina, 1776–Present (Published by The Greenville News), and is the author of Mind Games Trivia #1 (Amazon). He has recently spent 15 years creating original trivia content through Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment and continues that with his new company, SGME Software. He edits The Smart Reader’s money, real estate, and business coverage.