The Federal Trade Commission this week announced a settlement with an independent sales organization that processed $80 million in payments for “My Online Business Education,” or MOBE, a business-coaching and investment opportunity the FTC deemed fraudulent and shut down in 2018. Under an order and permanent injunction in U.S. District Court …

Amid stay-at-home and social-distancing orders, 40% of consumers say they will shop online more in the future than in-store, while 45% are using a mobile wallet and 16% are using paper currency less, according to a survey of 1,030 consumers by Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS). Some 31% will use …

Processor Fiserv Inc. is testing online acceptance of SNAP electronic benefits transfer payment as part of a U.S. Department of Agriculture program. Consumers using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program EBT cards can pay online via a digital PIN pad in tests at 33 ShopRite grocery stores in New York, Brookfield, Wis.-based …

Visa Inc. divulged both grim and hopeful payment data Thursday that largely reflects what its rivals have been seeing after the early weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic. “After strong growth in January and February, payments volumes dropped precipitously in the second half of March as lockdowns went into effect across …

Payments fraud was already rising, and now experts predict increased online usage brought on by stay-at-home orders will only exacerbate the trend. While losses haven’t shown up yet, e-commerce activity taking place now is sowing the seeds of a dramatic jump in coming months. “Fraud is always a trailing activity,” …

Enabling account access and payments between different platforms is the task of application program interfaces, a bit of software code that thousands of payments companies rely on. Dubbed APIs, the technology is vital to the connected payments experience consumers desire and companies want to provide. Criminals, too, desire access to …

Digital solutions for very small payments were a hot topic a decade ago, but now the subject is making a comeback in the publishing business, where a slide in print advertising and other revenue sources is pushing publishers to seek new business in digital access. This week, Piano Software Inc., …

A new set of security protocols to better safeguard online connections within the financial-services industry is in the offing. Securing and trusting these connections is a critical piece of the payments infrastructure. Experts say the underlying standards they are built on—called public key infrastructure—need updating. That’s why the Accredited Standards …

Formerly distinct holiday spending patterns are blurring, according to new data. The National Retail Federation reported Tuesday that Black Friday, traditionally known for swarms of consumers in stores, for the first time topped Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, for online shopping. And Adobe Inc.’s research unit reported that consumers …

Top management at PayPal Holdings Inc. made it clear Wednesday the company will continue to hunt for acquisitions and intends to leverage its recently won clearance to acquire a 70% stake in China’s Guofubao Information Technology Co. Ltd., better known as GoPay. The Chinese venture, in which PayPal will become …