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Fraudsters sent out fewer phishing e-mail campaigns in September, but they operated from more Web sites, launched several opportunistic campaigns?including ones designed to steal donations intended for Hurricane Katrina victims?and became even more inventive in their use of keyloggers and other malware. The number of unique phishing reports received by …
Read More »PayPal’s Off-eBay Merchant Efforts Hit Paydirt with Dell Signing
EBay Inc.'s PayPal payment service continued its diversification effort beyond the eBay online auction community this week by adding computer giant Dell Inc. to its growing fold of mainstream merchants. PayPal also unveiled an online gift-certificate program for merchants that expands upon an eBay gift-certificate plan launched two years ago. …
Read More »Study: PIN Debit Cheaper, Less Fraud-Prone Than Signature
PIN debit transactions are cheaper than debit card transactions secured by signature, incur lower fraud losses, and generate slightly higher average tickets, according to a survey of issuing banks. Taking into account processing costs as well as the cost of back-office fraud-management, chargebacks, settlement, customer service, and accounting functions, the …
Read More »Credit Union 24 Moves to a New Switch As It Looks to New Services
Credit Union 24, an electronic funds transfer network based in Tallahassee, Fla. and the country's largest controlled by credit unions, is planning to move its switching service to a new processor in a conversion it says will start next March and will take about nine months. The move will bring …
Read More »First Data Ponders Options for Its Shrinking Card-Issuing Business
In a move that could lead First Data Corp. to sell its shrinking card-issuing operation, the Denver-based processor announced today it has hired investment banker Morgan Stanley to investigate options for the unit. The card-issuing business, one of three principal processing operations at First Data, has been rocked in recent …
Read More »David Slays Another Goliath in Check-Imaging Infringement Cases
DataTreasury Corp. has scored another victory in its ongoing litigation against major banks, networks, and vendors over alleged infringement of DataTreasury patents covering processes involved in check-image exchange, and now says it is preparing to fight cases it has filed against nine other outstanding defendants. With the decision by France's …
Read More »iPayment CEO Sweetens His Offer, But Cautions Company’s Board
The latest offer from the top executive of Nashville, Tenn.-based merchant processor iPayment Inc. to buy the company and take it private is higher than the one he presented this spring, but contains what appears to be a blunt statement to iPayment board members that they should accept the offer …
Read More »NACHA Sets Rules to Tell Business Checks from Consumer Checks
NACHA, the Herndon, Va.-based organization that sets rules for the automated clearing house network, has released rules to allow banks and check-accepting businesses to distinguish checks written by companies from those written by consumers. The former are not supposed to be submitted to the network for settlement under NACHA rules, …
Read More »Survey: Retailers Still Falling Short in Consumer Data Security
Merchants have a long road ahead of them in securing the consumer transaction data they house in their databases, if a survey released this week is any indication. Fewer than half of retailers surveyed have a formal plan in place to handle database intrusions, and of those that do, only …
Read More »First American Buys Govolution, Enters Booming Bill-Pay Market
Consolidation in the rapidly growing electronic bill payment business continued today with the acquisition of Govolution Inc. by Fort Worth, Texas-based processor First American Payment Systems LP. The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, hands First American an immediate stake in the business of processing taxes, fines, permit fees, …
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