silverphoenix - 11:15 am on Feb 9, 2003 (gmt 0)

Do you think that because of the shift of liability to issuing banks starting April 2003, some (crooked) merchants will take advantage of this loophole that as long as the payment is through VISA - the merchant is no longer liable?

I say this because effective April 2003, whether or nor the cardholder is registered with Verified by VISA, the merchant is no longer liable as long as the payment instrument is a VISA card.

In otherwords, it is not the merchant's fault that the cardholder has not registered his/her card with VBV. Therefore, any visa payment is fraud free as far as a merchant (with VBV) is concerned.