Already, 2024 is starting off with an unrelenting wave of ransomware attacks. The number of attacks last month, as registered by cybersecurity firm BlackFog, increased 130% from January 2023. Cheyenne, Wyo.-based BlackFog says the 76 attacks noted this January are the second-highest it has ever recorded. The highest number came …

In testing now, the Abrigo Fraud Detection platform is incorporating artificial intelligence into check inspection and image analysis to help banks manage check fraud. Though checks written fell from 15.5 billion in 2018 to 12 billion in 2021, according to the 2022 Federal Reserve Payments Study, they remain a significant …

Point-of-sale specialist CardFlight Inc. extended the ability to create invoices to its SwipeSimple app, a feature that was previously only available via the Web version. Meanwhile, Fiserv Inc. says the Prudential Center, where the National Hockey League New Jersey Devils play, will adopt Clover Sport point-of-sale hardware and software. New …

Most U.S. consumers—53%—concerned about a possible fraudulent transaction on their credit card statements make the first inquiry with the issuing bank, not with the merchant. That’s according to the newly released 2024 Cardholder Dispute Index released by Chargebacks911, a Clearwater, Fla.-based dispute-management company. Conducted in partnership with TSG, an Omaha, …

PayPal Holdings Inc. has put its new stablecoin to work as an investment tool with a PayPal USD investment in Mesh Connect Inc., an embedded-finance platform. Announced Monday, the stake from PayPal Ventures, the digital wallet’s investment arm, was made almost entirely in PayPal USD, a stablecoin PayPal introduced in …

A new way of shopping using the PayPal app and related services is in the offing. Announced Thursday, the update includes a one-click guest checkout experience, digital receipts PayPal calls Smart Receipts, a revised offers platform, and improvements to business profiles for Venmo, its social peer-to-peer payments service. The moves …

Mastercard Inc. is taking on the problematic use of passwords with its new Biometric Authentication Service. Announced Wednesday, the new global service is meant to help resolve friction and vulnerability issues that arise from ceaseless passwords and multi-factor authentication prompts, Mastercard says. The service relies on standards from the Fast …

Klarna AB, a buy now, pay later provider, is entering the subscription arena with the U.S. launch of Klarna Plus. For $7.99 a month, Klarna Plus enables eligible consumers to earn double rewards points on their purchases, pay no service fee when using Klarna at merchants outside of the Klarna …

Sound Payments issued a slate of updates for its point-of-sale system, including a way for retailers to categorize returns. Jacksonville, Fla.-based Sound Payments says the new return-categories feature enables merchants to catalog returns by size, reason for return, defective, and other custom variables. It also has a reporting component for …

Apple Inc. will let developers enable purchases outside of its App Store, marking a change that previously prohibited such action. The move comes in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court this week declining to hear appeals from either Apple or Epic Games in their court saga. Epic sued Apple …