How much information should be printed on receipts?
Since 2005 all new printer terminals have had to ensure that they truncate card details on the cardholder copy of the receipt. Retailers changing their hardware because of chip and PIN took the opportunity to change their printer terminal to ensure it truncated the number. Specific pre-2005 terminals that are not truncating the account number have to do so by the end of 2008. (The volume of these types of machine being used is minimal.)
APACS recommends, as best practice, that all point-of-sale terminals capable of truncating this number should do so as soon as is practical. These guidelines strongly recommend that truncation mean suppression of all the account number, except the last four digits. In the meantime the banking industry has introduced systems for merchants accepting phone or online transactions which make it much more difficult for a fraudster to use card details no matter how they have been obtained.
