Handling payment cards at the counter: PCI DSS awareness for retail staff
For cashiers, shop-floor and customer service staff, and supervisors who open and close tills, in any shop that takes card payments. No prerequisites. You'll learn which card data must be protected and which must never be kept, how to inspect a payment terminal for tampering, what to do when someone turns up to 'swap' a terminal, how to handle card details given by phone, email or on paper, and how to report suspected skimming. It draws on public resources from the PCI Security Standards Council. PCI DSS is an industry standard, not a law. Your payment brands and merchant bank decide what your business must do to comply. This is awareness training only. It isn't a PCI DSS compliance assessment, it doesn't validate your store's compliance, and it does not grant any PCI qualification. It isn't legal advice.
- Level
- Beginner
- Length
- About 68 minutes
- Contents
- 5 lessons · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 10 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Identify which card data must be protected and which must never be kept after a payment is authorised
- Inspect a payment terminal for signs of tampering against the store's inventory at the start of a shift
- Choose the safe response when someone asks to service, swap or remove a payment terminal
- Handle card details given by phone, email or on paper without creating stored card data
- Report a suspected skimming device or card-data exposure to the right people without disturbing the evidence
Course outline
- 1.Identifying the card data you must protect, and what must never be keptLesson · 12 min
- 2.Inspecting a payment terminal for tamperingLesson · 14 min
- 3.Responding when someone asks to service, swap or remove a terminalLesson · 10 min
- 4.Handling card details given by phone, email or on paperLesson · 10 min
- 5.Reporting a suspected skimmer or card-data exposureLesson · 8 min
- 6.Handling payment cards at the counter: PCI DSS awareness for retail staff: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 14 questions
- 7.Handling payment cards at the counter: PCI DSS awareness for retail staff: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 8.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- PCI Security Standards Council: PCI DSS overview page (who it applies to; who requires compliance)
- PCI SSC: Data Security Essentials for Small Merchants: Guide to Safe Payments (version 3.0, April 2024)
- PCI SSC: Data Security Essentials for Small Merchants: Glossary of Payment and Information Security Terms (version 2.0, August 2018)
- PCI SSC: At a Glance: Skimming Prevention: Overview of Best Practices for Merchants (September 2014)
- PCI SSC FAQ 1280: Can card verification codes/values be stored for card-on-file or recurring transactions?
- U.S. Secret Service: ATM and point-of-sale terminal skimming
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