We all know that our credit cards have long account numbers that, along with the expiration date, are pretty much all a thief needs to spend our money. Consequently, it is now required that the customer copy of the credit card receipt have the account number truncated to only show the last 4 digits and it may not show the card expiration date. Please note this is the CUSTOMER’s copy not your copy.
So, if it isn’t required to truncate the merchant copy, why do it?
Let me first turn this around and ask, “why not do it?” Once the transaction has been processed and approved through your credit card terminal, why do you need the entire account number and expiration date? The answer is you don’t. But, by not doing it you have now created a potential data exposure that can cost your company hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, audit costs, and lawsuits.
Call your credit card processor TODAY and ask them to update your terminal to “truncate both copies” of the receipt. If they won’t do it FOR FREE, call me at 617-650-2552; we need to talk!
Michael
