Simson Garfinkel points to an article by Jonathan Westhues on how to build a reader that can clone proximity cards.

Visa Internatiional has announced a strategic partnership with Serverside Graphics Ltd. (PDF) to allow Visa members banks to offer payment cards designed by the cardholder.

Jonathan Tuliani writes on Vnunet.com about an SMS-based approach to countering phishing attacks.

Agam Shah reporting for IDG reports on Visa International's experimentation with a small display screen added to its credit cards.

Terry Savage reports on MSN Money on the boom in online bill payment.

Innovations Report from Germany reports on Euclid, a technique that allows cardholders to remotely enable/disable their credit card accounts to help prevent fraud.

Diners Club and MasterCard have announced an alliance that allow Diners Club to issue new cards as MasterCards to enabled expanded merchant acceptance for Diners Club cardholders.

Kathy Chu reports in the Wall St. Journal on card upgrades (subscription reqd.) that some consumers are receiving from their credit card issuers.

Upgrades, while they can provide more favorable terms and benefits, can also backfire for consumers because higher credit lines can push them more into debt. And companies may market changes in contract terms as upgrades, even if they result in higher fees or other costs for consumers. The practice is legal under federal truth-in-lending laws if cards are sent to existing customers rather than to new ones.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has issued an Advisory Letter to banks regarding secured credit cards.   » Continue Reading

Nova announced this morning that it is acquiring the remaining 50 per cent interest in euroConex from the Bank of Ireland.   » Continue Reading

Union Bank of California announced today the sale of its merchant card portfolio to US Bank's NOVA Information Systems subsidiary. Union Bank has also formed a long-term marketing alliance with Nova to continue to market merchant bank card services to its customers.

Fiserv has announced the introduction of a combined debit and credit processing solution that will allow financial institutions to consolidate all of their debit, credit and ATM card offerings on Fiserv's platform.

Visa Asia Pacific has announced Visa Wave, the first ever Visa contactless smart card.   » Continue Reading

Lilly Rockwell reports in the The Daily Texan on the University of Texas' decisions regarding surcharging credit card transactions and the responses of Visa and MasterCard.

Steve Dinnen writes in the Christian Science Monitor about PayByTouch and the trend away from using cash and checks for payments at retail.

Suzanne Choney reports on phishing in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

New Scientist reports on Beepcard, a credit card that will not work unless it hears its owner's voice.

More about Beepcard in Bruce Schneier's latest Crypto-gram newsletter.

The BBC reports on phishing attacks in the UK including estimates of financial losses suffered to date as reported by APACS.

FCW.com reports on a recent NIST study (PDF) that found a need for additional technical and policy standards as agency officials discover more uses for smart cards spanning organizations.

The FDIC has issued a warning about phishing emails.

Verifone's Rob Regan writes in The Green Sheet about contactless/proximity payments.

The benefits of contactless payment for consumers and the retailers have been proven in numerous implementations. Increased convenience for the consumer has resulted in increased sales and faster transaction times for the retailer. Retailers also enjoy lower costs due to fewer requirements to handle cash, improved operational efficiencies, and lower maintenance costs due to the reliability of contactless readers.

Chase and Universal Studios today announced a new instant credit card issuance program for the Universal Entertainment MasterCard from Chase.   » Continue Reading

eBay reported earnings yesterday - including results from PayPal. At the end of the quarter, PayPal reported 45.6 million user accounts, a growth of 67% over last year. PayPal's total purchase volume for the quarter was $4.3 billion, a growth of 64% over last year, and generated revenues of $158.2 million, a growth of 66% over last year. PayPal's loss rate came down to 27 basis points vs. 31 basis points in the December quarter.

Based on this report, PayPal now has more users than AOL (AOL has 40.2M users according to a recent comScore Media Metrix analysis). Given PayPal's currrent user account growth rates, they'll likely pass up HotMail this month, and Yahoo in June.

First Data Corp. announced its first quarter 2004 financial results this morning.

CSO Magazine has a feature article on retail loss prevention.

We're definitely seeing more and more organized theft, as opposed to opportunists and amateurs. Part of the reason for this could be the ease of getting rid of the merchandise. In the past you would find stolen products showing up in flea markets across the country. But today with Internet auctions like eBay, there's a whole new outlet for stolen products.

eFunds has announced two acquisitions in the fraud and risk management arena.

"We are pleased to welcome both Penley and LCS to the eFunds group of companies," said Paul Walsh, chairman and chief executive officer, eFunds Corporation. "These acquisitions will allow eFunds to offer an integrated platform for risk management, fraud prevention and revenue optimization through our industry leading ChexSystems(SM) product suite. In addition, these acquisitions provide us with an entry point to extend our solutions into the Credit Card, Insurance and Broker Dealer markets.

The Bank for International Settlements has published a survey of developments in electronic money and Internet and mobile payments.

The Smart Card Alliance has issued a new report on the benefits of contactless payments to merchants, consumers and issues.

CyberSource has announced that it has enhanced its small business offering by bundling in additional risk management tools.

Visa International has announced that, for the first time, its global debit card volume has surpassed its global credit card volume.

The company reported that global Visa debit card volume reached US$1.48 trillion at the end of 2003, an increase of 17 percent over the previous year. At the same time global Visa credit volume increased five percent from the previous year to US$1.45 trillion.

ZDNet reports on plans by Cryptography Research to license patented technology that can protect devices from differential power analysis attacks. More in a press release.

The Herald reports from Scotland on the rollout of chip and PIN.

Vital has announced an agreement with Planet Payment to offer dynamic currency conversion services.

Hypercom has announced that it will be adding support for Lightbridge's Authorize.net payment gateway to its Optimum T4100 POS terminals.

Hillary Wasch reports in the Miami Herald on some gas stations requiring customers to enter their ZIP codes when using credit cards to pay at the pump.

Pete Barlas reports in Monday's edition of Investors Business Daily on EarthLink's anti-phishing strategies.

Owen Bowcott reports in Saturday's Guardian (UK) on a sharp rise in phishing frauds as a result of the activities of gangs of fraudsters operating from Russia and eastern Europe.   » Continue Reading

Janet Roberts writes in Marketing Sherpa on how best to protect brands from phishing attacks.

NPC reported its financial results this morning reporting revenue up 15% and earnings per share up 37% over the same period last year.

Hypercom has introduced two new POS terminals.

Bank of America has introduced new capabilities for its corporate purchasing card customers.

A substantial breakthrough, Bank of America can now connect an enterprise's pre-approval workflows straight through to the card network, enabling purchasing cards to become the payment vehicle of choice in business- to-business transactions.

The new capability is enabled by technology from Works, Inc.

Charter One has introduced the Make-A-Difference MasterCard, a debit card affinity program, supporting charitable giving to eight of the nation's leading child-related philanthropies.

"Charter One's commitment is to provide value for its customers and the communities it serves. The Make-A-Difference debit card does both by providing a free way for our customers to support some wonderful charities just by doing what they already do," said Mark Grossi, Charter One's executive vice president and head of retail banking. "Everyone has a bank account, but this is one that people can actually feel good about."

Frantisek Bouc reports in the Prague Post on ATM machine card skimming in the Czech Republic.

KCBD in Lubbock, TX, reports on credit card skimming.

The BBC reports on the growth in consumer credit card debt in the UK.

TSYS announced its first quarter financial results this afternoon along with a conference call to discuss them. TSYS also will be webcasting its annual shareholders' meeting tomorrow.

Todd Datz discusses the US Department of Homeland Security's cybersecurity initiatives in the current issue of CSO Magazine.

Jennifer Barrett reports in Newsweek Online about industry concerns that phishing attacks may cause consumers to lose confidence in doing business online.

"There’s real concern about financial losses, but what these companies are really concerned about is the erosion of their brand name and trust, and that people won’t use the Internet as a channel for commerce or customer service—especially if you’re an e-commerce vendor, and all your business is done online,” says the APWG’s Jevans.

Matt Wickenheiser writes in MaineToday.com about a talk that white collar crime expert and former scammer Frank Abignale gave recently on how easy identity theft fraud is to pull off.

It's even easier today than when he was a globe-trotting flimflam man 40 years ago, Abagnale said. "The fact is that what I did 40 years ago is 2,000 times easier to do today," he said.

Ina Steiner reports on AuctionBytes about a new coupon program eBay is launching to incent payments using PayPal. eBay has provided an FAQ on the program.

Nicky Burridge writes in The Scotsman about the migration to chip and PIN in the UK and the potential effect it might have on spending based upon MasterCard research.

Payments with debit cards look set to rise by more than a third following the introduction of new-style, more secure “plastic”, according to research today. Four out of 10 people said they would use their debit card more often once chip and PIN cards were launched, while nearly a third thought they would carry less cash, according to MasterCard.

The Times of London also covers the MasterCard report.

Dan Tynan reports in PC World on EarthLink's plans to introduce ScamBlocker, a free application designed to highlight whenever a user visits a known phishing site.   » Continue Reading

John Dvorak writes in PC Magazine about phishing attacks.   » Continue Reading

Sara Schaefer Munoz reports in this morning's Wall St. Journal on Internet phishing attacks (subscription required).

We've seen it explode from last year because it works," said David Jevans, chairman of the Anti-Phishing Working Group, a coalition of financial-services, software and Internet companies based in Redwood City, Calif., that works to alert consumers about e-mail scams.

Jonathan Epstein reports in the Buffalo News about the battle between signature and PIN-based debit cards.

So, the bigger banks are using a carrot-and-stick approach to get consumers to see it their way. Many are imposing fees of 25 cents or 50 cents locally if you use your card with the PIN. You only get the airline miles and other rewards points now available with some cards at Citibank, KeyBank, and Charter One if you sign for purchases.

Citibank has announced the Home Rebate MasterCard, a new credit card that provides rebates that can be applied against mortgage principal payments.

The Citi Home Rebate Card provides an effortless way to help homeowners pay off what is often their biggest financial commitment -- their mortgage -- simply by charging their regular, everyday purchases. But the reward is significant, as they build equity in their home faster, while shortening the length of their mortgage," said Gina Doynow, Senior Director, Citi.

HyperCom has announced a new POS communications service called HBNet. Sharon Cline has been announced as the general manager of the new business unit formed by HyperCom to pursue this opportunity.

"The acquiring market has long demanded an alternative to the services that are out there today, and we are responding to that demand with a reliable, powerful and effective solution that offers processors a fresh and highly competitive alternative for their dial POS merchant portfolios," said Sharon Cline. "This is a great step forward for the acquiring industry and Hypercom."

Stratus Rewards, an ultra-premium card based reward program, launched today in partnership with US Bank.

Jonathan Epstein reports on phishing in today's Buffalo News.

Consumers have long been victimized by Internet scams and fraud. But the newest scams are more dangerous because the perpetrators are getting more experienced at deception and marketing, experts say. Where early "phishing" e-mails were often poorly written and inconsistent, now they are carefully crafted and include logos, links and Web sites that mimic the real thing.

John Eby reports on a talk given last week by Lee Goehring, loss prevention manager for 1st Source Bank, South Bend, Ind., at the Dowagiac Rotary Club.

If inhabiting the shadowy side streets and shady cul-de-sacs of the information superhighway teach Lee Goehring anything, it's this:

Think like a thief.

When Goehring thinks like a thief it's to thwart bad guys who favor phishing, skimmers and spyware -- not to commit crimes, because he's vice president and loss prevention manager for 1st Source Bank in South Bend, Ind.

George Boardman writes in the Nevada County (CA) Union about a local resident's experience with identity theft.

Jeff Gelles reports in the Philadelphia Inquirer that Sam's Club, a division of Wal-Mart, has told its customers that it will stop accepting Visa and MasterCard credit cards effective April 21. It will continue to accept Visa debit cards.   » Continue Reading

The BBC reports on a new phishing attack that spoofs a web browser's address bar to collect personal information.

Harold Lee reports in UCLA's Daily Bruin on Thumbpod, a device that would use fingerprint biometrics to approve financial transactions.

BitPass has announced Michael O'Donnell as CEO. O'Donnell was formerly CEO and President of Salon Media Group. Founding BitPass CEO Kurt Huang is becoming Chief Product Officer.

ING recently held an Investor Relations Symposium that included a very interesting presentation by Bruno Bartkiewicz on ING Direct's risk management (PDF).

Jennifer Kingson takes a look at "credit push" payments in Wednesday's American Banker.

Jeremy Wagstaff comments on the actions that banks should be taking in the context of the wave of phishing attacks on their online customers.

Banks should, for example, immediately abandon all marketing campaigns that use email: They are an invitation for creative phishers to exploit.

Ron Lieber reports in the Wall St. Journal on the launch of the new Stratus Rewards Visa card (subscription required).

First Data Corp. announced this morning that Key Bank has renewed its agreement with Star System.

Under the terms of the long-term agreement, the STAR Network will continue to provide PIN-secured debit access at retailers and ATMs, and ATM and signature debit card processing for KeyBank's 2,200 ATMs and 4.6 million credit and debit cards.

Jonathan Tuliani writes about stronger authentication techniques to thwart phishing attacks including the use of "out of band" SMS communication.

IslamOnline.net reports from Jakarta on credit card fraud in southeast Asia.

Brian Walker reports in the Hardin, Kentucky News-Enterprise on phishing attacks.

Al Tompkins also reports on phishing in his column for journalists in Poynter Online.

Visa International has announced that its global sales volume reached US$2.9 trillion for the twelve months ending 31 December 2003, a 10% increase over the same period a year earlier. Sales volume for the quarter ending 31 December 2003 was US$810 billion.

Ellen Kelleher and David Wighton report in the Financial Times about American Express' efforts to strike partnership deals with banks.

Encorus, majority owned by First Data Corp., announced today that it has been selected by SimPay to be its transaction processor for mobile payments. Commercial launch of SimPay's service is scheduled for the first quarter of 2005.   » Continue Reading

David Ryan reports in the Napa Valley Register on over the phone bank fraud.

Donna Howells reports in Investors Business Daily on retailer co-branded card strategies.

Late tonight, First Data Corp. issued a press release reporting that on Thursday, April 1, a hardware problem at FDC resulted in some Wal-Mart Visa and MasterCard transactions being erroneously posted three times.

Boston Globe columnist Steve Bailey laments life in a branch town now that Bank of America has merged with Fleet and Boston's no longer the corporate headquarters of a major bank.

In the end, Bank of America will be judged not by what it says, but by what it does. Shuttering a tiny Fleet unit that made a difference is a chilling beginning.

David Breitkopf reports in the American Banker on recent organizational shifts by Visa USA.

Visa U.S.A., which until last year considered MasterCard International its main rival in debit cards, is making internal adjustments in what is being viewed as a response to a now-bigger threat, First Data Corp.

MSNBC reporter Bob Sullivan writes about ecommerce fraud.

Ann All reports in ATM Marketplace on the industry migration to triple DES encryption.

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) has issued revised guidance for examiners, financial institutions, and technology service providers on the risks associated with retail payment systems. The new Retail Payment Systems booklet is available for download.

The BBC reports on RFID-based credit cards including a novel personal identification technique suggested by MIT Professor Ted Selker.

Sasha Talcott profiles Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis in this morning's Boston Globe. A separate column discusses the changes Bank of America is making in the early days following its merger with Fleet.

Anick Jesdanun of the AP reports in the Detroit News on phishing.