Businesses need to help keep PIN pads secure: Moneris

There is a lot of help available to ensure business keep their debit and credit card PIN pads on their premises secure.

That is according to Brian Prentice, the chief risk officer for Moneris. On its website, Moneris says it processes more than three billion credit and debit card transactions a year for over 350,000 merchant locations across North America.

He is reacting to recent fraud impacting at least 50 people in Regina who say their bank accounts were accessed after using debit cars at a couple of Regina businesses back in spring.

Prentice says preparation ahead of time keeps the PIN pads safe.

“With either stands or cables, that allows the device to be not tampered with at all.”

He also says businesses need to be sure staff are screened and trained properly, and the pads themselves should be inspected regularly – a number of times each day – to ensure there is no tampering. They should never be left accessible to the public when no one is nearby.

Prentice admits that “there are no solutions that are 100 per cent”.

“(However) chip and pin (terminals) has been very effective in reducing counterfeit card fraud.”

Prentice says he supports the decision by Regina police not to name the businesses where the debit cards were compromised back in March and April.  

“The businesses are a victim as well,” he said, adding it is very rare for any business once compromised to not immediately take security steps to make sure it does not happen again.