Intercard Inc. is encouraging current and prospective clients to update their credit card devices in order to comply with new EMV standards put into effect in October 2015. According to the company, businesses that are using devices that aren’t EMV compliant are exposed to potential fraud risks.

The 2015 compliance rule shifted the responsibility for fraudulent card use to merchants not using EMV-compatible machines. In the worst-case scenarios, this means a business without these updates is stuck to foot the bill if a customer swipes several charges then disputes it as fraud.

“We’ve already heard of such scenarios,” says Scott Sherrod, CEO of Intercard.  “In some cases the merchant is forced to write off hundreds of dollars. It is important for every merchant to get this upgrade. 

With an increasing portion of “coin-op” companies’ revenues coming from credit cards, Intercard says it is well-positioned to provide these necessary upgrades, claiming they are the first debit card technology provider in the FEC and bowling center world to have EMV-compliant units live in locations.

EMV cards — colloquially “chip-cards” — offer improved security/fraud measures and a possibility for finer control of “offline” credit-card transaction approvals. These cards have been prevalent for some time in the rest of the world, and are widely regarded as safer than swipe cards.

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