News

December, 2016

• 30 December

  Counterfeiting’s Reign As the King of U.S. Payment Fraud Is Coming to an End

  The Federal Reserve’s recently released 2016 Payments Study shows that counterfeiting was the biggest type of U.S. card fraud last year. But other types of fraud, especially card-not-present fraud, are rising quickly, thanks in part to the coming of EMV chip cards and the aftereffects of data breaches. The Fed study says counterfeit fraudaccounted …
• 28 December

  PayByPhone Acquired by Volkswagen and other Digital Transactions News briefs

  • Automaker Volkswagen AG has acquired PayByPhone Technologies Inc., according to press reports. A unit of U.K.-based payments processor PayPoint plc, Vancouver-based PayByPhone offers a platform for mobile payments for parking and claims 12.5 million users in North America, Europe, and Australia. The company handles more than $300 million in parking payments annually, according …
• 28 December

  A Robot Debuts To Find Items in Stores, Take Payment, And Cart Goods to the Car

  

  With online sales soaring, physical retailers are faced with the challenge of how to recreate the convenience of e-commerce in a traditional store. On Tuesday, a 4-year-old startup called Five Elements Robotics unveiled a device that promises to help with that challenge by putting robots at the service of consumers. Once in …
• 27 December

  A Robotic Shopping Cart and other Digital Transactions News briefs

  • A 4-year-old startup called Five Elements Robotics has introduced a robotic shopping cart called Dash that allows customers to download a shopping list and then guides them through the store to find the items. The cart is also equipped with a scanner to let customers scan and pay for the items at …
• 27 December

  Phishing Recedes in the Third Quarter, But Payment Services Attract 10% of Attacks

  

  The Anti-Phishing Working Group reported that the total number of phishing Web sites detected in the third quarter was 364,424, a 21.8% decrease from 466,065 in the second quarter. The APWG said the second-quarter figures were an “all-time-high” for phishing attacks and the third-quarter data is a return to more historical norms. …
• 23 December

  Visa Reports More Than 800 Million U.S. EMV Transactions in November

  

  Visa Inc. says its U.S. EMV credit and debit card volume surpassed 800 million transactions in November, more than quadruple the chip volume from a year earlier. November’s transactions on EMV chip cards hit 805.9 million versus 175.6 million in November 2015, a month after the general-purpose card networks’ EMV point-of-sale liability …
• 23 December

  Google Gets Set to Unveil Android Wear 2.0, With Support for Android Pay

  

  Alphabet Inc.’s Google unit will launch two new smart watches in the first quarter of 2017 that will run on the new Android Wear 2.0 platform and will support Android Pay, Google’s mobile-payments service. Jeff Chang, product manager for Android Wear, announced the news in an interview with The Verge, a tech Web …
• 23 December

  PayPal in Law Firms’ Sights and other Digital Transactions News briefs

  • The law firm Pomerantz LLP, which specializes in securities class actions, said it is “investigating claims on behalf of investors of PayPal Holdings Inc.” The firm says it is looking into whether PayPal executives or directors violated the Securities Exchange Act with respect to the timing of a disclosure of …
• 22 December

  Debit and Credit Cards Lead the Way in Non-Cash Payment Growth, New Fed Study Says

  

  The Federal Reserve released its latest triennial payments study Thursday morning, and it reports that the number of U.S. non-cash payments totaled 144 billion in 2015, up 5.3% annually from 2012. Debit and credit cards led in growth, while the automated clearing house network “grew modestly,” the Fed said. The …
• 22 December

  As Bitcoin’s Value Soars, Experts Trace the Cause to a Tumultuous Year of Changes

  

  It’s still far from a mainstream currency, but Bitcoin is closing out a tumultuous year with a raging run-up in value. The digital currency breached the $800 level on Tuesday, and as of Wednesday afternoon was trading just shy of $822. These are heights Bitcoin hasn’t seen in nearly three …