MFA Oil has been busy installing new credit card readers to protect customer payment information in all areas of the company’s business. For the past three years, U.S. banks have been replacing traditional magnetic stripe credit cards with new EMV cards – short for Europay MasterCard Visa – that store data on an embedded computer microchip to make the cards harder to counterfeit. The chip reader technology MFA Oil is installing at its retail stores helps prevent fraudulent purchases.
“For consumers, EMV helps to ensure greater security for their transactions,” says Lorie Klippel, retail systems administrator. “The customer is in control of their card during the transaction. Also, depending on their card issuer’s standards, they will be required to either use chip-and-PIN, or chip-and-signature, which makes it more difficult for someone to commit a fraudulent transaction.”
EMV technology reduces the risk of theft by assigning individual transactions with unique encryption tokens, making it much tougher for hackers to use stolen cardholder information to make duplicate credit cards. Most Break Time locations now have the technology to accept EMV cards inside the store, and all stores are expected to have the capability by the end of April.
Klippel says the next step will be to convert the credit card readers on fuel pumps to accept EMV once the software becomes available.
The retail automotive division has also been upgrading its card readers to enhance security. Jiffy Lube began installing EMV technology in 2017 and Big O Tires will soon begin the process.
“We want to keep our customers’ credit card information safe,” says Ed Harper, vice president of retail automotive. “Once Break Time has completed its EMV installations, we will be rolling out the technology at our Big O Tires stores.”