The majority of Americans have switched to EMV or chip cards in recent years because banks have shifted to them in order to protect credit card information.
However, 41% of businesses in the U.S. don’t have chip card readers.
Winkie’s Toys and Variety prides themselves in tradition and they haven’t changed a lot since opening their doors decades ago.
“53 years we’ve been here and we really appreciate our customers and we try to work really hard,” Co-owner Beth Stuhlmacher said.
Stuhlmacher says they may be a bit old-fashioned, but not when it comes to one aspect of their business.
“We may be old-fashioned with our computer system, with our cash registers, and those kinds of things, but not with security,” Stuhlmacher said.
Because of Winkie’s high regard towards security, they installed chip card readers back in 2015 when they launched.
The rollout came after a series of hacks on major retailers.
Why is swiping being phased out?
CB58 went to Marquette University cybersecurity expert Thomas Kaczmarek for answers.
He says fraudsters use discreet “skimming devices” to steal your information.
The strips on the back of your card, he says, expose you to criminals trying to steal your information.
Kaczmarek explains why it’s so easy for thieves to steal information off of a traditional credit card.
“Just a magnetic recording of the information on the front of the card,” Kaczmarek said.
CBS58 wanted to know why chip cards are a better safeguard against hackers.
Kaczmarek says it’s all about technology.
“It doesn’t actually transmit your credit card number,” Kaczmarek explained. “It uses some tokens that have been encrypted using algorithms that encrypt information.”
