User:Danielchat/Sandbox

This page is a first attempt to explain what the SmartStripe technology is all about. I am new to editing pages on Wikipedia so if by any chance you read this, bear with me.

This SmartStripe project started a few years ago already based on the fact that it was easier and easier to get access to credit card information to create fraudulent transactions. If you look back, many technologies have been created or implemented to prevent fraud to happen on payment cards. Unfortunately, things evolve over time and a solution that was working before doesn't necessarily anymore today.

I won't go back here to the very beginning of the credit cards as you can find more information on Wikipedia about this topic but if you look today at a debit or credit card, it doesn't seems much but there are of lot of security features on a small piece of plastic.

Beside the magnetic stripe on the back of the card, the name, the account number and the expiration date on the front, you have also security codes that are created specifically for particular transactions. For Visa, it is called a CVV, MasterCard a CVC, American Express a 4DBC and Discover a CID. These codes can be on the magnetic stripe itself and used for what is called card present transactions (when you swipe your card in a payment terminal or insert it in an ATM for example) or they can be given over the phone or on the Internet and in this case (called card not present transactions), they must be readable by a human being.

Some cards require the use of a PIN to be authorized by the bank (like PIN debit card) and some require only a signature.