They couldn't have done better promoting internet bearer transactions if they asked us, I think... :-). Cheers, RAH --- begin forwarded text From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 16:10:42 -0400 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: e-gold: Re: Credit cards in fraud crackdown/ Source: Financial Times, 22 August 2000 Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Credit cards in fraud crackdown >By James Mackintosh and Robert Budden in London >Published: August 21 2000 19:04GMT | Last Updated: August 22 2000 07:24GMT > > > >Consumers will have to give far more information to retailers when using >credit cards on the telephone, internet or by post under a joint initiative >from Mastercard and Visa to crack down on fraud. >>From next April, all worldwide users of cards from Mastercard and UK users >of Visa cards will need to give the three-digit identifier printed on the >signature strip on the back of the card whenever they do not sign a receipt. >Robert Littas, head of fraud for Visa Europe, said he expected its non-UK >users would soon follow suit. >>From April, all Mastercard and Visa users in the UK will also be asked for >details of their address as is already standard practice in the US. >The crackdown follows a rapid increase in card fraud. Last year Mastercard >recorded global card fraud of $703m, up a third on the previous year, while >Visa suffered worldwide debit and credit card fraud of $1.2bn, an increase >of almost 28 per cent on 1998. In the UK, card fraud hit �189m ($280m) last >year. >The rise in fraud has been worsened by software distributed by Russian >hackers on the internet that generates seemingly valid credit card numbers. >In the UK, Mastercard and Visa holders will have to give retailers not only >the three-digit card identifier but also their house number and the numbers >in their postcode, which will be checked against their details. The card >expiry date, already requested, will continue to be used. If the information >does not match, the purchase will be refused. >"It is designed to make it even more certain that the card is for the person >who is involved in the transaction," said Paul Lucraft, UK deputy general >manager of Europay, the European arm of Mastercard. "It will remove a lot of >the fraud." >Mr Lucraft said the new system would make it even harder for hackers using >the so-called "Creditmaster" software, which creates card numbers that fit >the formula used by Mastercard. But he said: "Ninety nine per cent of these >Creditmaster type attacks should fail anyway because they won't have a >correct expiry date." >Globally, almost 20 per cent of Visa fraud comes via these means. Mr Littas >said this figure was "rising quite strongly". >The move is part of a general crackdown on fraud by the card companies, >which have been installing artificial intelligence-based computers to search >for unusual transactions. >The big card issuers may also scrap the use of signatures - which are easy >to fake - in favour of four-digit PIN numbers. >France already operates a PIN-based system although signatures are also >required for high value transactions. >This plan has raised worries among retailers that slow systems could cause >long queues at the till, although both Mastercard and Visa insist that it >will be quicker and easier than using signatures. > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Interesting Software Ltd. BWI http://interestingsoftware.com "If it is now believed that my fellow men may sacrifice me in any manner they please for the sake of whatever they deem to be their own good, if they believe that they may seize my property simply because they need it -- well, so does any burglar. There is only this difference: the burglar does not ask me to sanction his act." Ayn Rand 1957 ____________ e-gold-list Information ____________ For rules, subscribe/unsubscribe directions, and archive locations, please visit: http://www.e-gold.com/unsecure/lists.html --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
