In the digital age, with the advancement of many convenient payment options, one of the most-used – yet highly-controversial – includes tap payments (aka “contactless”). Contactless payment technology allows customers to pay with just a “tap” of their card or device.
Tap, or contactless payments, have many myths associated with fraudulent behaviour, activity and overall lack of security. We’re here to tell you that these statements are untrue and contactless payments have been vetted to be extremely secure (in addition to being exceptionally efficient!)
Myth 1:
Frauds can use a transmitter to electronically steal financial information from a wallet or purse.
Why it’s False:
Tap payments leverage EMV chip security standards, which is the most advanced and widely cryptographic security, as opposed to magnetic stripe data type processing. Just like the “chip and PIN” method, each transaction using EMV security standards is accompanied by a unique, one-time code that securely encrypts your payment information.
Myth 2:
I might pay for something accidentally – or even worse – pay twice.
Why it’s False:
It is not possible to pay accidentally as your credit or debit card needs to be within 4 centimetres of the terminal for the transaction to occur. Plus, you need to select “debit” or “credit” on the terminal before the transaction can even be initiated. Lastly, due to the advancement of the contactless payment technology, even if you tap twice, you still won’t be billed twice. Contactless terminals can only communicate with one card at a time, so there’s also no chance of being charged twice on separate cards (even if they are in close proximity of each other.)
Myth 3:
If my card is lost or stolen, my entire bank account could be emptied.
Why it’s False:
Single transaction limits for contactless payments are restricted to $100 – this means that no single payment can exceed $100 when using the tap feature. For an individual to spend more than $100 on a single transaction, he/she would need to know the unique PIN associated with the card. If a card is lost or stolen, most credit card companies offer liability insurance, and the account will not be charged immediately for suspicious activity.
Whether or not you choose to use contactless payments in your future purchases, we hope that you will be able to make informed and educated decisions. At Inclera, we fully support tap payments as they are convenient, easy-to-use and most importantly – secure.
To stay up to date on all the latest developments in the payment processing industry, subscribe to our newsletter!