On January 7^th, Europol published its “Situation Report: Payment Card Fraud 2012,” which includes certain findings of particular significance to the hospitality industry in the United States, including:

• The Report concludes that the criminal market for payment card fraud within the European Union is dominated by well-structured and globally-active organized crime groups.
• The Report also finds that the majority of illegal face-to-face card transactions (skimming-related) affecting the EU take place overseas, mainly in the United Stated.

 PCI compliance for hoteliers can offset some of the threats posed by the types of global criminal networks that the Report states are active in the United States.  A strong PCI compliance program can help hotels in the United States enhance credit card security and avoid the payment card risks identified in the Europol Report.

 The Report also describes how banking institutions fail to take the necessary steps to reduce criminal threats to payment card security, because banks will incorporate “acceptable levels of fraud” in their business models.  Hoteliers, however, should implement security measures sufficient to offset such security failings by banking institutions in their payment card security.  This includes strong PCI compliance programs PCI training for hotel employees.  One of the better approaches to ensuring PCI compliance for hoteliers is through a reliable PCI compliance program that includes custom learning solutions, such as PCI compliance training modules and similar training on best practices for using hospitality technology.

 Concurrent with the publication of the Report, Europol announced that the new European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), which officially commenced its activities on January 1, 2013 in The Hague, will be focusing on cybercrime committed by organized groups, including those that would seek to compromise hospitality technology with regard to payment card security.

Through PEAK™, the Venza Group also offers off-the-shelf courses on compliance and workforce effectiveness … especially crafted for hoteliers.

Link:  https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/publications/1public_full_20_sept.pdf