Retail surgery: How do we make sure unscrupulous employees don’t steal customers’ credit card information at the tills?

Last month Visa Europe issued updated security guidance to help retailers prevent skimming attacks.

Skimming attacks occur when fraudsters are able to modify point-of-sale terminals to capture card information (and, potentially, PINs, too) while the card is being processed.

Visa Europe senior vice-president of payment system risk Stanley Skoglund warns: “Skimming attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Fraudsters operate in organised groups around the world, and attacks are difficult to detect.”

Visa Europe recommends that retailers follow these guidelines to create a layered security response:

• Examine payment acceptance devices regularly, looking for missing screws or seals, holes in the device, extra wiring or the use of additional labels to mask damage.
• Be aware of any additional items, such as miniature cameras, in the vicinity of the tills and position CCTV cameras so that devices can be monitored without customers’ PIN entry being recorded.
• Secure payment devices to prevent their substitution and protect against tampering.
• Make store employees aware that they should be vigilant against skimming attacks and also ask them to validate the identity of all payment system repair technicians.
• Use PCI Security Standards Council-approved devices.

A download containing the full text of the advice can be found at Visaeurope.com/pdf/skimming.pdf.