Originally Posted by
Sewnoma
Credit cards are changing though; I think by the end of next year most US credit cards are going to have EMV chips in them. These chips were adopted overseas a long time ago but the US has been slow to join in. These chips are MUCH harder to forge and should cut back on in-person card fraud immensely.... (Sometimes also called "Chip and PIN" cards or "Chip and Signature" cards)
The EMV chips will NOT help with internet fraud, though. But any improvement at this point is a good thing if you ask me! I've had my main card reissued THREE TIMES this year due to data compromises!
Canadian financial institutions have had EMV cards a number of years now, and there have not been incidents of the cards being physically compromised (cloned ). One of the interesting results we saw was the movement of much of the fraud attempts on cards, move to the US because you're still using the mag stripe cards. We also saw a surge in low-tech fraud attempts - like the scam emails and phone calls in this thread.
Sewnoma is exactly right - EMV does not prevent fraud where you provide the scammers with your card information (card number, expiry, security code) so they can conduct transactions online.