APACS has released its latest summary of card fraud statistics showing that total card fraud losses increased by 14 per cent in the six months to June 2008 compared with the first half of 2007. Total card fraud losses for this period were £301.7m, of which more than 40 per cent was the result of fraud outside the UK - which typically involves criminals using stolen UK card details at cash machines and retailers in countries that have yet to upgrade to chip and PIN.   » Continue Reading

Dave Birch posts on the Digital Money Forum blog about whether the window of opportunity has already passed for EMV-based chip cards in the US - to be replaced by a contactless (and mobile) future instead?

In an article today titled "US travelers face credit snafu", Eric Lucas writes for the Boston Globe about how the migration of countries around the world away from magnetic stripe cards to chip cards requiring PINs for acceptance is impacting some American travelers. While merchants in Chip and PIN markets are supposed to accept foreign mag stripe cards, Lucas personally found he couldn't use his US Visa card while traveling in Scandinavia this summer. His solution: "Cash usually works."

In an article titled "Could this chip have prevented the TJX breach?", Ross Kerber reports for the Boston Globe on an interview with TJX vice chairman Donald G. Campbell who is "urging banks and other retailers to embrace a multibillion-dollar technology that uses a tiny computer chip to stop criminals from using stolen debit and credit cards." He's also proposing that retailers, banks and the card companies share the costs of upgrading the US to a Chip and PIN card payments infrastructure. On his StorefrontBacktalk blog, Evan Schuman writes: "There's little question that both moves [Chip and PIN plus encrypted card data transmission] would improve security, but the cost and change required will also make them almost impossible to deploy."

APACS issued a press release today responding to an earlier CPP release titled "Forecast is hot for fraud this Bank Holiday". APACS says that in the release "PP offers incorrect information when claiming that Spain and France are “… the top spots where Brits fall victim to card theft”. APACS says that its latest statistics "show that fraud in France on UK issued cards has decreased by £4.3million in two years, and France has dropped to fourth place for where fraud on our cards is committed. This is a direct result of the French introducing the same global chip and PIN system that we are using in the UK. Equally, fraud in Spain has fallen by £3.9 million since their rollout." In fact, based upon APACS 2007 fraud figures for UK-issued cards, the card fraud abroad is highest in USA (£24.6m) followed by Italy (£9.6m), Australia (£8.2m), France (£7.3m) and Spain (£5.7m).   » Continue Reading

Rafael Ruffolo of ComputerWorld Canada writes about the migration now underway in Canada to the Chip and PIN environment of chip cards and consumers using PINs on POS terminals instead of signatures on sales receipts.

In an article titled "Plastic gets smart", Ian Harvey writes for the Globe and Mail about the smart card deployment underway in Canada.

APACS, the UK payments association, and ABTA, the UK travel association, have announced they've "published a consumer advice guide – Using your plastic overseas – which provides tips and useful information for holidaymakers and business travellers who will be using their cards abroad this summer."   » Continue Reading

Unified Network Payment Solutions® (UNPS), a subsidiary of First Data Corp., has announced that it has been certified by MasterCard and Visa to provide chip technology solutions to Canadian merchants. With this certification, UNPS merchants will be able to accept chip cards at the point of sale.   » Continue Reading

CTST 2008, the largest payment, security and identification conference in the Americas, is being held this year May 12th through 15th at the Orange County Convention Center West, in Orlando, Fla. International industry leaders presenting during the Mobile and NFC Track include: 3G Americas, Aite Group, Authentec, Bay Area Rapid Transit District, Booz Allen Hamilton, Cassis International, Cellular South, Citibank, FireThorn, First Annapolis Consulting, First Data, Gemalto, Giesecke & Devrient, Infineon Technologies, Inside Contactless, Motorola, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, NXP Semiconductors, Sprint Nextel, StoLPaN, Venyon, ViVOtech and Vodafone.   » Continue Reading

Members of the payment card industry in Canada - Interac Association, MasterCard Canada, Visa Canada and many of their respective card issuers and payment processors - have reported positive preliminary results from an industry trial of chip technology in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.   » Continue Reading

Saar Drimer, Steven J. Murdoch and Ross Anderson, researchers at the Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge in the UK, have announced a demonstration showing that "Chip & PIN machines are not as secure as the banking industry claims. Two widely deployed models of PIN Entry Devices (PEDs), the Ingenico i3300 and Dione Xtreme, fail to protect customers' card details and PINs adequately." The BBC also reports on this story.   » Continue Reading

Helsinki-based Valimo Wireless has introduced mobile signature technology that use mobile phones as a separate channel to add security to ATM transactions. For each transaction that relies on a magnetic stripe at the ATM, the cardholder would get a signing request to the mobile phone stating the amount and location of the ATM. The cardholder then returns a mobile signature via the mobile phone network.   » Continue Reading

In an article titled 'Has chip-and-pin failed to foil fraudsters?', Danny Bradbury writes for The Guardian about the UK's experience with Chip and PIN equipped payment cards. In addition to the technology change, the UK also changed how consumers report fraud. Bradbury notes that 'legal changes last April forced customers to report card fraud to banks, and not the police.'

Oberthur Card Systems is predicting that "the smart card will become a mainstay of American wallets in 2008. Smart cards are equipped with embedded integrated circuits that enable the processing of information. Oberthur is the largest producer of contactless cards in the U.S. and currently 17 of its top 20 customers, as well as the federal government, have embraced microprocessor chip cards. This will put pressure on the last adopters of the technology who may risk the loss of market share unless they migrate to smart cards in 2008."   » Continue Reading

Kevin Bullis writes for Technology Review about Kovio's new technology for printing transistors - and forecasts its use in making disposable smart cards.

Scotiabank has announced it will be participating in a Canadian payment industry trial of EMV chip technology in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.   » Continue Reading

Members of the Canadian payments industry - Interac Association, MasterCard Canada Inc., Visa Canada and many of their respective card issuers, payment processors and merchants -- have announced "the beginning of Canada's migration to chip-enabled debit and credit cards, Automated Banking Machines (ABMs) and merchant terminals starting with a trial in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario."   » Continue Reading

An article by Alan O'Sullivan on the UK's This Is Money web site expresses consumer frustration's with the lack of complete security against fraudulent use of cards in the Chip and PIN system. He writes "large numbers of cash withdrawals are being made using cards without a security chip and it is the banks themselves that are allowing it to happen."

Last week Canada's Interac Association announced "the completion of Canada's first INTERAC debit card transaction at the point-of-sale terminal using chip technology. The transaction was processed today by TD Merchant Services using a BMO Bank of Montreal chip debit card at Mercato Giovanni's Fresh Food located in downtown Toronto. The chip debit card transaction was conducted in preparation for the Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario market trial of chip technology which will begin in fall 2007."   » Continue Reading

APACS has published a new retailer advice guide – Transactions with your chip and PIN terminal (PDF) – that it says is designed to "remind card-accepting businesses of some of the necessary security measures to help keep their chip and PIN equipment safe and secure."   » Continue Reading

Saying that its research shows that "20 per cent of cardholders ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ shield their PIN when entering it at a cash machine", APACS, the UK payments association, has published a new consumer advice guide - Protect your PIN (PDF) - to remind cardholders of the need to keep their PIN safe and secure at all times.   » Continue Reading

Mercator Advisory Group has published a new report titled "Global EMV Migration Update: Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America" that discusses the shift from relatively vulnerable magnetic stripe payment cards to more secure microprocessor-based smart cards in Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America regions. The report provides an overview of the state of the payment card market for each region, an analysis of the business case for EMV migration projects, and the progress of these projects.   » Continue Reading

TD Canada Trust has announced the completion of "Canada's first transaction with a chip debit card. The transaction was made at a Green Machine automated banking machine (ABM) located in TD's Creekside Corporate Office in Mississauga, Ontario. TD becomes the first organization in Canada to be able to conduct a transaction using a chip debit card at a chip-enabled ABM that adheres to EMV standards."   » Continue Reading

McDonald's Restaurants of Canada has announced that it will begin installing "MasterCard's PayPass readers and chip card terminals in some of its 1,400 restaurants across Canada as early as 2008."   » Continue Reading

Mercator Advisory Group has published a new report on the plans for the Canadian payment card market to migrate to EMV chip cards over the next few years.   » Continue Reading

Canadian Tire and MasterCard Canada have announced that all of Canadian Tire Retail's 468 stores will be ready to accept MasterCard chip cards by the end of 2008. Canadian Tire is setting up its software, point-of-sale systems, and retail processes to be chip-ready as MasterCard issuers gear up to introduce chip cards across the Canadian market.   » Continue Reading

Telsecure Group has announced securePay, calling it "a new transaction security system to foil internet, mail and telephone card fraud." Telsecure says it is partnering with Sybase365 and Ingenico.   » Continue Reading

Andrea-Marie Vassou writes for Computeract!ve about a decision by HSBC to not deploy to customers chip card readers that other major banks in the UK are deploying to help deal with online banking and ecommerce fraud.

Gemalto has announced it is the "first company to achieve the MasterCard and Visa Chip Authentication Program (CAP) 2007 certification of its Pocket reader, designed to secure authentication of cardholders for remote banking and e-commerce."   » Continue Reading

Tash Shifrin reports for Computerworld UK that "Barclays bank is sending out handheld chip and PIN card readers to more than half a million online banking customers in a bid to prevent fraud."

A couple of articles this Sunday advising consumers to be careful using debit cards. The first article, by Salt Lake Tribune reporter Lesley Mitchell, is titled "Debit Cards Hold Hidden Dangers". Mitchell advises using a credit card for regular purchases - not a debit card - because if your debit card is compromised, it can result in bounced checks, etc. in your checking account.

The second article, by Leslie Pappas of the Gannett News Service, is titled "Card Sharks" - and asks why the industry hasn't moved to chip cards in the US as has already happened in many other countries.

Clement James reports for vnunet.com that "researchers at Cambridge University claimed last week that a flaw in the system could lead to consumers being duped by fake machines" and describes the response by APACS to the news. Jaikumar Vijayan covers the story for Computerworld. Dave Birch shares his opinion about this "threat" on the Digital Money Blog. The basic issues is that chip cards, when they also contain the mag stripe, can be skimmed and, in the right environment, the consumer's PIN can also be captured and then used to perpetrate fraud at a non-chip reading POS or ATM location (for example, in Spain or the US or many other countries).

Chris Dean writes for the UK's Retail Bulletin about the implementation of Chip and PIN in the UK - and what's happening to card fraud as a result - saying "rather than reducing fraud in total, identity fraudsters have simply shifted their activity to areas that Chip and PIN does not protect."

Tom Gordon reports for Scotland's The Herald about the decline in payment card fraud by 40% since the introduction of chip and PIN earlier this year. "The huge drop was revealed in the Scottish Executive's annual survey of recorded crime, with cases of fraud now at their lowest level for a decade."

Nic Cicutti writes for the Scotland's Sunday Herald about steps being taken by banks and major merchants in the Scotland to upgrade ATMs in an effort to fight the use of counterfeit cards. Cicutti quotes a spokeman from the Bank of Scotland who says “what makes skimming possible is the ease with which it is possible to copy the magnetic strips on the back of customers’ cards. ... But cards with magnetic strips are gradually being phased out and we expect that the growing use of chip-only cards will ensure that copying chips is not possible, because they are encrypted.”

Dan Ilett writes for Silicon.com about yesterday's APACS news about the success of the Chip and PIN rollout in the UK, six months in, and asks whether it's really been a success.

The AAA says that recent changes in the United Kingdom and other countries may require Americans traveling there to be better informed when they pay with plastic. "The UK has gone completely 'Chip and PIN' and that's causing a bit of confusion for some travelers as well as merchants overseas," said Scott Denman, managing director, AAA Financial Services.   » Continue Reading

APACS, the UK payment association, has announced that six months after "PIN day" (Valentine’s Day 2006, February 14th), the UK is the world's first chip and PIN success story - with more than 99.8% of all chip and PIN card transactions are now PIN-verified and more than 150 chip and PIN transactions take place every second. (compared with 125 a second six months ago and 85 a second a year ago).   » Continue Reading

Lisa Bachelor writes for the UK's Observer about how "six months on from the mandatory introduction of chip and PIN cards, increasing theft on the Internet is forcing banks and retailers to trial new technology to combat card fraud." Because of the increased difficulty in counterfeiting cards as a result of chip and PIN, fraudsters in the UK are now focusing on both 'card-not-present' as well as non-chip and PIN environments outside of the UK.

James Gilden writes for the Travel section of the Los Angeles Times about how American travelers might experience some difficulty using their mag stripe based credit cards in countries that have recently migrated to "chip and PIN" card technology - like the UK. "If a merchant doesn't want to take a magnetic-strip card, the traveler needs to be persistent," says Brian Triplett, senior vice president of emerging product development for Visa USA said. "Request the merchant to look into it," Triplett said. "Don't take that first 'no' for an answer."

The Sydney Morning Herald reports on a review by the Australian House of Representatives, Standing Committee on Economics, Finance and Public Administration, of the Reserve Bank of Australia and Payments System Board Annual Reports 2005 which includes recommendations that the payments industry in Australia consider implementing "PIN authorisations for credit cards, online functionalities for EFTPOS cards and chip technology for all cards." The committee also reviewed the Reserve Bank of Australia's actions regarding interchange fees and concluded "that the benefits of the reform, at this point, outweigh any alleged disadvantages." The full committee report (PDF) is available online.

Becky Barrow and Ben Quinn report for the UK's Daily Mail on comments by security experts about how overall Chip and PIN system security has been weakened by card issuers in the UK selecting to use cheaper "static data authentication" (SDA) card technology with a more limited ability to detect and prevent counterfeit card use.

David Derbyshire reports for the UK's Telegraph on news of that a £1 million chip and pin fraud was uncovered by police. According to the report, fraudsters were able to create cloned plastic cards containing magnetic stripe (but not chip) data and then pull cash out of non-chip capable ATMs.

Joanna Bale also reports on the story for the Times reporting that "hundreds of customers at three Shell petrol stations have had their credit and debit card details copied and then money withdrawn from their accounts using cloned cards."

In an article titled 'Pick a card, any card or your number is up," Isabel Berwick writes for the Financial Times (UK) about her personal frustration attempting to check out of a swanky hotel last weekend and not being able to pay because she couldn't remember her PIN.   » Continue Reading

The BBC reports that the new chip and Pin bank card system cut UK card fraud by 13% in 2005 according to the Association of Payment Clearing Services (APACS). Losses due to the fraudulent use of credit and debit cards fell last year by £65m to £439m.   » Continue Reading

Hitesh Patel of KPMG Forensic takes a look at the benefits of the recent Chip and PIN implementation in the UK and predicts how fraudsters might evolve to alternative strategies.