Fraud & Security

With the Covid-19 pandemic accelerating consumers’ use of contactless cards and mobile wallets, merchants can expect hackers to target contactless transaction data at the point-of-sale, says Ruston Miles, founder and advisor at Atlanta-based Bluefin Payment Systems LLC. The main point of vulnerability in a contactless environment at the physical point-of-sale …

Payments provider Blackhawk Network Inc. said it is working with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to distribute a total of $25 million in aid on 50,000 prepaid cards to health-care professionals battling Covid-19. The money was donated by Facebook Inc.Payroll-services provider PayActiv Inc. said its study of usage data from a sample …

Walmart Inc. reported its U.S. e-commerce sales increased 97% year-over-year in the June quarter.Card-issuing platform Marqeta Inc. has released Marqeta 3D Secure to help issuers combat online fraud and meet regulatory requirements in certain markets. 3D Secure is an authentication protocol developed by the major card networks.Cardknox Development Inc. announced its payments gateway is …

American Express Co. announced it has agreed to acquire digital lender Kabbage Inc. in a deal expected to close later this year. Kabbage’s existing loan portfolio is not included in the transaction, for which terms were not announced. Eleven-year-old Kabbage entered the payment processing business in 2018.Restaurants and other businesses in Pasadena, Calif., …

There’s been a lot of buzz around recent reports—notably one in The New York Times—that Square has been withholding money from merchants. Apparently, with little to no warning, the company has been holding back up to 30% of merchant sales in some cases. The merchants affected, obviously, aren’t pleased. With …

Kallpod LLC announced its Kontactless Quick Response code-based payment service is now available at select Hyatt, Courtyard Marriott, and Hilton locations. Consumers can place orders for food, beverages, and merchandise to be delivered where the user is sitting. They scan a QR code at a table or seat, which opens a …

Standard Cognition Corp., a San Francisco-based provider of autonomous checkout systems based on artificial intelligence, expects to have the first of Alimentation Couche-Tard’s Circle K convenience stores retrofitted and up and running in early 2021, with potentially dozens more to follow. The first store to adopt the technology will be in …

The Covid-19 pandemic in July fueled a sharp rise in e-commerce but also in fraud, according to the latest figures from ACI Worldwide Inc.  Global e-commerce transactions rose 19% in July over the same period a year earlier. Fraudulent transactions by value rose 4.4%, up from a 3.7% increase in …

Payments providers Fortis Payment Systems LLC and Blue Dog Business Services LLC announced they have merged. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.ATM portfolio manager Payment Alliance International Inc. said it has acquired the Cash-N-Go ATM portfolio of Cash N Go ATM Network Inc. The deal adds almost 400 machines to Payment Alliance’s portfolio, …

Sound Payments Inc., a multichannel technology provider that offers point-of-sale solutions for the petroleum industry, expects its partnership with National Retail Solutions, a subsidiary of IDT Corp., to accelerate adoption of EMV at in-pump card readers among independent gas stations and convenience stores. Sounds Payments argues its EMV in-pump card …