Bergeron issued Wednesday an open letter and video to the industry and consumers calling for a recall of Square's credit card readers.
"The issue is that Square’s hardware is poorly constructed and lacks all ability to encrypt consumers’ data, creating a window for criminals to turn the device into a skimming machine in a matter of minutes," Bergeron says in the letter.
VeriFone has also created a sample skimming application it claims can grab a consumer's credit card information after each swipe. The skimming application is available for download on a site set up by VeriFone and has been sent to Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express and JP Morgan Chase, Square's credit card processor.
The statement and video purport to advocate for the consumer, but VeriFone has a decided interest in the mobile payments space and the company's alarmist, anti-Square tone give away said bias. VeriFone accuses Square of "cutting corners," and "freely distributing devices that anyone can use to steal your credit card information," among other things.
In January, Square closed $27.5 million in funding at a valuation of $240 million, and has seen thousands of businesses sign up to use the service since its public release a few months ago. The startup has, however, faced security mishaps in its short history and went through a retooling period last year before making its hardware available to the public.
Square has yet to publicly address the security hole exposed by VeriFone. Mashable has reached out to Square for comment on the matter.