By Kim Jae-won
Credit cards without integrated circuits (IC) will not work at automated teller machines (ATMs) across the country from Tuesday in order to prevent fraud, the financial regulator said Monday.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said that credit cards with magnetic stripes cannot be used at ATMs because they are easily counterfeited by criminals. The FSS said that most credit cardholders do not need to worry about this because more than 99 percent of credit cards have IC inside them.
“With the new regulations, we expect customers to make safer financial transactions based on a more secure IC infrastructure,” said the FSS in a statement.
The regulator urged customers with credit cards without IC to change them through their credit card agencies. The FSS said that credit card companies do not charge fees for such exchanges.
The regulator said that people can check whether their credit cards have an IC or not because ICs are installed on the front side of credit cards as gold or silver square chips. If they only have a magnetic strip at the back side of them, such cards should be changed to IC-type ones, according to the FSS.
The government has gradually limited the use cards without IC chips. In December, the FSS cut the ratio of ATMs which accept no-IC cards to 50 percent, and slashed that ratio further to 20 percent in February. Finally, they banned all ATMs from accepting such cards from Tuesday.
However, cards with magnetic strips can still be used at bank counters and other shops as before, the regulator said.