By Yoon Ja-young



People using credit cards with the conventional magnetic stripes without integrated circuit (IC) chips will be denied cash advance service or card loans at the ATMs from this Thursday, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said. It aims to prevent credit card frauds using counterfeit cards.



The financial regulator said Sunday that people holding the outdated magnetic stripe credit cards should contact their card company and ask to switch to cards with IC chips. The credit cards in question have only a stripe of magnetic information affixed to the back, without the golden or silver color IC chip at the front.



The measure was taken as magnetic stripe cards are considered vulnerable to fraud. Fraudsters can copy the information in the magnetic stripe to make a counterfeit card. The IC chips are more secure against fraud or hacking. Many countries have been switching to IC chip cards.



The FSS said that the old cards with only magnetic stripes would still be valid for shopping. But holders will be denied cash advance services or card loans through ATMs.



The financial regulator has been promoting the IC chip cards since last September, informing those seeking a cash advance or credit card loans at ATMs that they should switch to IC chip cards.



The regulator estimates there will be little inconvenience among credit card users as most have switched to IC chip cards already. "As there haven't been any notable problems during the promotion period, we determined that IC chip cards can be stably used at ATMs," an FSS spokesperson said. According to the regulator, 98.8 percent of credit cards used here now contain the IC chips.



While the regulator and credit card users are switching to credit cards that contain both magnetic stripe and IC chips, many shops are still using terminals that can read only magnetic stripes. They find the IC chip terminals, which cost between 200,000 and 300,000 won, expensive.



