Online Card Fraud Flourishes, Thanks to the Magnetic Stripe

Dec 25, 2023

Card Not Present Fraud , Fraud Management & Cybercrime , Video

EMV chip technology has taken a major bite out of credit card fraud at the point of sale, but card-not-present fraud continues to flourish, thanks to an age-old technology - the magnetic stripe, says Mark Solomon, international president of the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators.

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"We are seeing fraudsters move from going into stores and using stolen cards to now where they are just using the card data on the internet - like, online stores and darknet marketplaces," Solomon says.

The magnetic stripe on the back of cards is supposed to provide a backup payment method if the EMV chip can't be read. Fraudsters are still skimming card data and activating the magnetic stripes on fake cards.

"Criminals are stealing that magnetic stripe data and using them on gas pumps, ATM machines and POS machines. We need to get rid of this fallback procedure."

In this video interview with Information Security Media Group, Solomon discusses:

Solomon, a member of IAFCI since 2008, also serves as vice president of Synchrony Bank, where he leads a special investigation team that handles large-scale probes into fraud and cybercrime.