E-tag style cards payments not more secure, AmEx says
(10 April 2006 – Australia) American Express has responded to Commonwealth Bank’s new contactless credit card payment technology, saying the "e-tag" type technology might offer convenience but it does not lessen the opportunity of fraud.
Although not referring to CBA by name, the bank is the first to trial the technology in Australia through its MasterCard Paypass product. CBA’s new technology works along similar lines to motorway e-tags, with no PIN or signature required for transactions.
American Express said it had recently introduced its own new technology into Harvey Norman stores that had resulted in "a significant drop in counterfeit credit card fraud".
Harvey Norman staff are prompted to enter the four-digit number above the card number when large transactions are made using American Express cards. The company said this protected consumers whose name and credit card number "may have been stolen or copied using a skimming device".
"At its best, we have seen this technology reduce incidences of counterfeit credit card fraud by up to 80 percent. It does this by adding an extra layer of security at point of sale which protects both consumers and merchants," American Express head of Security Services and Investigations for Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, Bruce Cox said.
American Express said it had recently introduced its own new technology into Harvey Norman stores that had resulted in "a significant drop in counterfeit credit card fraud".
Harvey Norman staff are prompted to enter the four-digit number above the card number when large transactions are made using American Express cards. The company said this protected consumers whose name and credit card number "may have been stolen or copied using a skimming device".
"At its best, we have seen this technology reduce incidences of counterfeit credit card fraud by up to 80 percent. It does this by adding an extra layer of security at point of sale which protects both consumers and merchants," American Express head of Security Services and Investigations for Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, Bruce Cox said.
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