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Visa pledges to tackle ATM fraud in Nigeria

By on July 30, 2015

One of the leading payment system company, Visa International, has stressed its desire to tackle ATM card fraud in Nigeria in order to promote convenience and facilitate efficiency in banking activities in the country.

The company disclosed this on Tuesday in Lagos during a media briefing to commence the security week event.

Speaking at the briefing, the Director of Risk Service Sub-Sahara Africa, Nita Omanga, said the plastic payment card is loaded with security features that keeps customers protected and minimise their chance of falling victim to fraud, noting that the security features are present in all visa cards and complemented by anti-fraud measures run in the background on both visa and bank systems.

Omanga also noted that the square microchip embedded in the chip-enabled type is one of the most powerful weapons against fraud, stating that the microchip is impossible to duplicate and its powerful encryption prevents unauthorised access to information stored on it which she noted makes the information safer.

She further explained that: “As opposed to magnetic stripe technology, a chip is difficult to crack. An important aspect of EMV is its use of dynamic data. Each transaction carries unique stamp which prevents the transaction data from being fraudulently reused, even if the data or the card is stolen. Therefore this saves bank and consumers from losing money through fraud.

“Other security features found in the EMV chip card include the Card Verification Value (CVV) which is a set of three numbers printed on the back of the card either alone or as the final three numbers in a long string of digits. The CVV is never stored in the chip or magnetic stripe and assists in authenticating card-not-present payments, such as those performed online. Entering the CVV number manually proves that you are physically in possession of the card inhibiting fraudsters who have obtained your account information.

“Also, the signature panel at the back of the visa card has a tamper-proof design. This means that if someone tries to erase the existing signature, the word ‘VOID’ will appear. The visa dove holograms found at the back of the card also protect consumers from fraud. Many counterfeit cards contain a one-dimensional image printed on a foil sticker. Visa is also performing real time fraud monitoring. This means that every time a consumer uses his or her card, the transaction is checked for unusual activity on the visanet system.”

She further explained that the company would also have an interactive session with the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to help officers of the Force in investigating cases of ATM card fraud in the country.

 

[ThisDay]