Visa USA Launches Breakthrough Anti-Fraud Technology

SAN FRANCISCO – Visa USA announced yesterday the rollout of new patent-pending technology that can help stop card fraud before it occurs, right at the checkout line. Called Advanced Authorization, the new technology will give all Visa cardholders, merchants and financial institutions powerful, new fraud protection, and prevent an estimated $164 million in fraud losses over the next five years.

Visa is the first in the industry to introduce technology like Advanced Authorization that instantaneously detects potential fraud occurring not only on individual cardholders’ accounts, but throughout the Visa network. This dynamic capability allows Advanced Authorization to pinpoint and address coordinated attacks on multiple accounts in real time. While high-tech fraudsters have devised ever-more sophisticated attacks, Visa is fighting back with new technology to detect these emerging threats and help shut them down on the spot.

When a Visa card is swiped, Advanced Authorization provides an instantaneous rating of that transaction’s potential for fraud to the financial institution that issued the card, including whether it was part of a reported data security compromise.

The Issuer is then able to send an immediate response back to the merchant whether to accept or decline the transaction, based in part on the sophisticated evaluation provided by Visa’s Advanced Authorization. This new technology is being applied to every Visa credit and check card purchase today. Issuing financial institutions determine how to incorporate the expanded fraud information into their existing risk systems.

“Fighting fraud and protecting cardholders has always been a high priority for Visa,” said Jean Bruesewitz, senior vice president, Processing and Emerging Products, Visa USA. “Visa is continually investing in the most sophisticated fraud-fighting systems to stay one step ahead of the criminals. Advanced Authorization adds another layer of security and ensures ever increased cardholder confidence with each Visa payment card purchase.”

During the pilot phase, Visa Advanced Authorization was subjected to rigorous evaluation by a number of U.S. card issuers. This testing confirmed the product’s effectiveness in helping to thwart new fraud threats while improving bank operations.

“Advanced Authorization gives us an accurate risk score for every transaction, which has successfully helped us refer more fraudulent transactions and approve transactions that otherwise may have been referred or declined,” said Steve O’Connell, Risk Manager, Merrill Lynch. “In addition, Advanced Authorization has created operational efficiencies for our team because our fraud analysts do not have to investigate every case and can concentrate their efforts on the riskier transactions which are more likely to be fraudulent.”

Advanced Authorization builds on Visa’s state-of-the-art neural networks that have proved effective in detecting unusual spending patterns and monitoring for fraud in individual accounts.

Visa has been a leader in the industry in combating fraud and identity theft for more than a decade. Visa led the payments industry with a series of initiatives to combat fraud and protect consumers. These include Visa’s zero liability policy, Verified by Visa, state-of-the-art neural networks, and the Cardholder Information Security Program (CISP). Visa was the first payments brand to require the truncation of account information printed on cardholders’ receipts. Through a partnership with the consumer network Call For Action, Visa has also set up a toll-free telephone hotline for identity theft victims. By calling 1-866-ID-HOTLINE, victims can receive free and confidential assistance from trained counselors.

Through significant investments in technology, the incidence of Visa- system fraud is at an all-time low of just 5 cents per $100, even as the volume of Visa card transactions has grown.