Don’t become a victim of EMV merchant account slamming or provider switching.

With their EMV Liability Shift deadline in October 2015, major card associations pushed for the adoption of EMV chip technology by merchants in the United States.

Although the EMV Liability Shift stated that merchants that failed to implement the technology after the deadline may be held liable in the event of a security breach, there were no specific penalties for not being in compliance. Still, some merchants continue to slowly to shift to EMV.

Starting before the deadline, merchants had begun to be hounded by processing providers attempting to win business away from the merchant’s existing provider. By warning them of the impending liability shift and promising to help get them in compliance immediately, they were sometimes successful.

Some unsuccessful scammers developed a new tactic. Ironically, the EMV shift that was intended to reduce fraud in the credit card processing industry actually brought about a new type of fraud known as slamming.

Slamming is a deceptive sales tactic in which a merchant account provider or processor contacts a merchant and pretends to be the existing merchant services provider. After informing the merchant that the business and equipment are not in compliance with EMV, they offer to reprogram the merchant’s terminal at no cost.

A merchant that complies with this request and allows their equipment to be reprogrammed unknowingly switches their merchant account provider and redirects payments to this new card processing company.

Often this results in double billing and added fees for the merchant as well as added confusion and frustration.

While it seems like it would be common sense for a merchant to know they are being slammed or scammed, these salespeople can be quite convincing. And with many more important aspects of the business to be focused on, it’s understandable for a merchant not to remember the name of their merchant account provider.

At The Transaction Group, we know how frustrating it can be to be slammed. We’ve been assisting businesses with their merchant account services needs since 2004 and have heard similar scamming techniques over the years. With us, you’re in good hands.

Whether you are just starting your business and have no credit card processing history or already have a merchant account provider and are EMV compliant, we’d love to hear from you.

We have an array of credit card processing options for businesses of all types and sizes and help businesses become EMV compliant by providing equipment as well as training.

Together with our banking partners, we are able to offer the best merchant account rates available. We regularly save businesses up to 20% over their existing rates and fees. Take advantage of our FREE rate analysis and find out how much we can save your business. Send recent statements to sales@thetransactiongroup.net or fax to 312-896-5628.

Get started today by clicking ‘Apply Now’ and completing our pre-application. Or call us today at 888-383-8056. We look forward to hearing from you.