Golden Advocates for New Law to Curb Bank Card Fraud

Brooklyn – State Senator Martin J. Golden (R-C-I, 22nd District), a member of the Senate Banks Committee, this afternoon was joined by merchant leaders, including Robert Howe, President of the Third Avenue Merchants, at a press conference announcing legislation he has sponsored (S. 6551-A) which would require credit cards issued to New York State residents to be equipped with smart chip technology.

Senator Golden also spoke about the recent rash of credit card and debit card fraud which has impacted a significant number of local residents. Golden was joined by Dimitri Akhrin, the President of the Bank Associates Merchant Services, who spoke about the effects that such fraud has on retail profit, and preventive measures.

“This legislation would require smart chip technology to be incorporated in our debit and credit cards to help protect against identity theft. Over the past few weeks, my district has been targeted by hackers who have been able to break through the security walls of some local stores. The false charges reported to my office have been made in Brooklyn, Long Island, Connecticut and event Puerto Rico,” said Senator Golden.

“Believe it or not, most New Yorkers have credit cards that still rely on the magnetic stripe, a technology developed in the 1960’s, which lags far behind the chip in terms of security. As the criminals work to out-smart us, we must create new laws to protect our shoppers and our stores,” said Senator Golden.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, an estimated 16.6 million people experienced at least one incident of identity theft in 2012-2013, 15.3 million of whom experienced fraud with their debit or credit card. Canada has adopted this chip technology in 2009 and since that time, debit card fraud has dropped 45%.