Fraud & Security

The Western Union Co. said it will enable Visa Inc.’s Visa Direct real-time push-payment service. The move follows the remittance-processing company’s announcement in late 2017 that it would adopt Mastercard Inc.’s rival service, Mastercard Send. Merchant processor VizyPay launched a program called Cash Discount 2.0, which calls for merchants to …

Most economic activity with Bitcoin remains on trading exchanges, but lately there is some evidence volume at merchants may be picking up. Bitcoin’s total merchant volume, in dollar terms, was $42.8 million in the week ended May 19, according to the latest figures from Chainalysis Inc., a New York City-based …

PayFi, which provides a banking platform, said it will offer real-time payments services from The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC to community banks. Most U.S. consumers—38%—are likely to use a credit card for online subscription payments, finds a report from GoCardless, a recurring-payments company. Thirty-four percent choose a debit card, …

For decades, PIN entry has been restricted to specialized hardware devices, such as PIN pads on ATMs and at the point of sale. On Monday, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based software company headed by a former Visa Inc. executive said it will start offering to retailers in Japan its technology for …

i3 Verticals Inc. completed its $52.7 million acquisition of Pace Payment Systems Inc. Pace specializes in selling payments services in the public and education sectors. Avis Car Rental, a unit of Avis Budget Group Inc., launched a split-payment feature in its mobile app. Called Split My Bill, the feature enables …

As New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority inaugurates contactless payment for fares Friday, major card brands are intensely marketing the tap-and-pay service. Mastercard Inc. announced its Fareback Friday program to reward cardholders for paying for their New York subway rides with a contactless Mastercard product. Consumers may be able to get …

EMV chip cards continued to gain share of U.S. card payments in early 2019, although their conquest is not yet complete more than three years after the payment card networks’ EMV liability shifts. But Visa Inc. says counterfeit fraud is dropping sharply, as intended. Visa reported Thursday that 3.5 million …

Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Inc. said malware was discovered and removed from its point-of-sale system at some Checkers and Rally’s locations. Checkers said 15% of its nearly 900 locations were affected. The timing of the malware exposure varies, with one Los Angeles location infected from Dec. 17, 2015 to March 26, …

Payments provider Electronic Merchant Systems announced its affiliation with the National Football League’s Cleveland Browns Proud Partner program. Paysafe Group said Philip McHugh will become its chief executive beginning June 24. He replaces Joel Leonoff, who will become vice chairman of the Paysafe board of directors. McHugh comes to Paysafe …

Fraud attacks involving rogue mobile applications jumped nearly 300% in the first quarter from the preceding quarter, and fraudulent card-not-present transactions rose 17%, fraud-control services provider RSA Security says in a new report. Bedford, Mass.-based RSA says it flagged 41,313 attacks from rogue apps compared with 10,390 in 2018’s fourth …