Not too long ago, manual credit card imprinters used to be the norm at any cashier’s station. The customer would wait while the cashier pulled out a clunky looking machine and made an imprint on the card used for the purchase. Nowadays, we have contactless payments, and the whole process moves along much smoother. However, it seems that the new tech has also brought about its fair share of controversy. \ In a recent video[1], a man is shown using a card terminal to process a contactless payment from an unsuspecting victim with a cell phone in his pocket. The man put the payment machine close to the victim’s pocket, and the machine detected the card and processed the payment. The video has stirred controversy in the payments industry. \ Contactless payment technologies use radio-frequency identification, which can be implemented on phones, watches, and other wearable devices. For this reason, viewers have expressed concern over the possibility to commit fraud using payment terminals. If a person can use the machine to process a payment from a card tucked away in someone’s back pocket within their wallet, then it could potentially be even easier to get it from phones and watches. Card readers can detect this frequency anywhere from 4 to 10 centimeters[2] away, making it a high possibility that people might start using this tech to steal money from unsuspecting individuals. \ While there have been documented cases[3] of people who have had their money stolen, contactless payment theft is not a threat. All merchants have taken the necessary extra steps to ensure you are secured against contactless payment fraud.
Background checks to onboard merchants
Payment Terminal Providers, also known as
