More evidence of the possible damage being done by phishing to e-commerce emerged in survey results released today by technology research firm Gartner Inc., Stamford, Conn. The survey, which was completed last month and canvassed 5,000 adult Web users, indicates that 30 million users think they have definitely been a …

Electronic funds transfer network Star Systems Inc., which last month announced a new product that makes use of its EFT network to verify and settle checks written at the point of sale in the same way Star processes debit cards, says it expects Star Chek Direct to begin processing transactions …

Debit cards linked to personal identification numbers are slowly but surely penetrating more and more merchant locations, and as a result PIN debit transactions will begin to overtake transactions on signature-based debit cards within five years, says an analyst at Speer & Associates Inc., Atlanta, who has studied the issue. …

With at least four separate efforts under way to build national image-exchange networks, some banking officials are starting to ask whether the substantial investment banks and processors are making in these new networks to carry check images between financial institutions is really necessary. The systems required to achieve transfer of …

A transaction processor that targets high-volume online merchants is winning adherents among merchants and consumers alike for its product, which allows consumers to buy on credit without entering sensitive account data. I4Commerce Inc.'s “Bill Me Later” service, which became commercially available two years ago as an alternative to credit cards …

Information Architects Corp., a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based provider of Web-based employee-screening technology, has announced it is entering the market for electronic point-of-sale transactions secured by cardholders' fingerprints. The company says it has acquired a U.S. patent (6,270,011 B1) that covers a fingerprint-scanning methodology for credit cards via scanners deployed at …

With chargeback rates running well in excess of 1% on Internet transactions, Visa International and MasterCard International have for some time been pushing a form of online cardholder authentication, called 3D Secure, that is intended to make cardholders, issuers, acquirers, and merchants feel confident that Web payments are legitimate. But …

With its new real-time check-verification and settlement product announced yesterday, Star Systems Inc. will be offering merchants and transaction processors a service that converts paper checks to electronic transactions just as retailers and financial institutions are preparing for the advent of check-imaging technology. Though Maitland, Fla.-based Star, the nation's largest …

Visa USA reported today that its cards produced 16.1 billion transactions last year, an increase of 11.7% over its transaction volume in 2002. Although credit cards accounted for $650 billion in volume in 2003, or 59% of Visa's total dollar volume, signature-secured debit cards made up 59% of the bank …

Tumbleweed Communications Corp. hopes to move forward with eBay Inc. and its PayPal person-to-person transaction unit on solutions for online transaction and e-mail security issues now that the companies have settled patent-infringement lawsuits Tumbleweed initiated in May and September 2002. In the suits, filed originally against PayPal and then against …