Visa Intensifies Efforts to Curb Electronic Fraud

One of the leading electronic payments solutions, Visa International is to intensify efforts to curb fraud in the electronic payment system.

The company stated that the electronic industry has developed new methods involving cloud-based Near Field Communication (NFC) mobile technology, e-commerce and in-application systems, which would help make payments easier and more accessible.

Addressing journalists at the Card Security in Lagos, the General Manager, West Africa, for Visa, Ade Ashaye, said the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCIDSS) has set risk management policies and programmes in order to define the technical and operation requirements for cardholder data protection.

He explained that beyond these standards and compliances, the electronic payments networks have taken steps to prevent fraud, while ensuring that risk management assets are oriented to new threats and systems geared to resist any attacks.

Ashaye noted that the adoption of EMV chip enabled cards, tokenisation and point-to-point, encryption are technologies that would positively shape the card industry in the coming years.

“The global shift towards chip-based EMV cards is the solid foundation for fraud protection. The chip serves as a micprocessor embedded in the plastic payment cards or mobile phones. Unlike magnetic stripe cards, the data on the chip is dynamic and changes with every transaction, making it complex for criminals to create counterfeit chip cards or fraudulent transactions,” he noted.

He further stated that one of the most important initiatives for strengthening security in payments was the collective responsibility of all units in the payment ecosystem. This, he said, is made up of financial institutions, merchants, and card networks, adding that “every stakeholder should take measures to protect consumers from fraud.”

He added: “Merchants and issuers who comply with EMV standards benefit from the reduction of potential losses from fraudulent transactions. By upgrading their payment terminals, business owners can significantly reduce the threat of card fraud. The aim of the payment industry is to accelerate this evolution and government regulation has helped speed the process.

“At Visa, our global fraud rate is less than 6 cents per $100 transacted. Undoubtedly, the industry has made great strides towards a safer payments system along with the cooperation of merchants and government. However, it is a continuous process, as innovations keep the momentum towards more cashless transactions, so security must keep up with the pace and combat fraud proactively.

“Today’s complex global payment systems are immersed in vast amount of data, which is being used to develop an additional layer of defence that detects fraudulent transactions before they take place. Data is one of the strongest resources that card payment network can leverage and additional layers of defence can be built by creating a profile of potential risks and a general risk assessment.”

Ugo Aliogo and Joan Madubugwu/Thisday