In a recent post we discussed EMV technology in our article “Why the World Will NOT End When Chargeback Liability Shifts.” The EMV Chargeback Liability Shift in October is a hot topic for credit unions, banks, retailers, and consumers, with a lot of talk about the impact it will have on card security. When it comes to face-to-face (Card Present) transactions, there is great hope that using chip-enabled cards will reduce a significant portion of credit card fraud. But one topic getting little to no attention among the hype is what impact EMV will have on Card Not Present transactions.

Even though EMV’s actual impact from a technology and liability standpoint only deals in the Card Present space, research has shown, and experts are predicting, that its adoption will only make our card security problem in the US worse. According to a report from Payment Source, many believe the United States’ transition to EMV may be too little too late:

EMV will help reduce fraud at point of sale, but that matters less and less as shoppers continue to migrate to online platforms, especially mobile ones. For example, just 29% of shopping events are “in-person only” today, according to the Marketing Research Association.

Where shoppers go, fraudsters follow. Card-not-present (CNP) fraud—typically from purchases made online or via a mobile device—was about $10 billion in 2014, according to Javelin Research and Strategy. Point-of-sale (POS) fraud, by comparison, was $6 billion in 2014.

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