Visa USA Launches Advanced Authorization Anti-Fraud Technology

"Fighting fraud and protecting cardholders has always been a high priority for Visa," said Jean Bruesewitz, senior vice president, Processing and Emerging Products, Visa USA.

"Visa is continually investing in the most sophisticated fraud-fighting systems to stay one step ahead of the criminals. Advanced Authorization adds another layer of security and ensures ever increased cardholder confidence with each Visa payment card purchase."

Visa is the first in the industry to introduce technology like Advanced Authorization that instantaneously detects potential fraud occurring not only on individual cardholders' accounts, but throughout the Visa network. This dynamic capability allows Advanced Authorization to pinpoint and address coordinated attacks on multiple accounts in real time. While high-tech fraudsters have devised ever-more sophisticated attacks, Visa is fighting back with new technology to detect these emerging threats and help shut them down on the spot.

When a Visa card is swiped, Advanced Authorization provides an instantaneous rating of that transaction's potential for fraud to the financial institution that issued the card, including whether it was part of a reported data security compromise.

The Issuer is then able to send an immediate response back to the merchant whether to accept or decline the transaction, based in part on the sophisticated evaluation provided by Visa's Advanced Authorization. This new technology is being applied to every Visa credit and check card purchase today. Issuing financial institutions determine how to incorporate the expanded fraud information into their existing risk systems.