Originally Posted by WhatWhatTech

EMV does not hide card numbers. The Target hack would have still would have occurred and card numbers (and all other normal card data) would have been stolen. Though the cloned cards would be magnetic stripe only, and therefore useless in stores, the card data could be used to shop online. This is why European countries that implemented EMV saw increases in online card fraud. When EMV is implemented, skimmers will still skim cards, but they won't be able to use the numbers in stores, only online.