Fraud exploitation within Canada drops 62 per cent year-over-year to $7.3 million<\/strong><\/p>\n TORONTO, March 26, 2014<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Interac Association reported today that\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0debit card fraud losses as a result of skimming are at a record low \u2013 decreasing to $29.5 million in 2013 from a high of $142 million in 2009. Only 25 per cent of losses in 2013, or $7.3 million, are the result of fraud exploitation within Canada. Total losses in 2013 represent 0.0093 per cent of domestic\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0debit card volume (0.93 basis points) and the lowest volume of recorded fraud losses. As a result of this significant decline in fraud exploitation, the number of cardholders reimbursed by financial institutions fell to 72,200 in 2013 from 238,000 in 2009. Cardholders are protected from losses under the\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0Zero Liability Policy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe combination of sound policies, investments in technology – such as chip and fraud detection – and outstanding collaboration with financial institutions, acquirers, merchants and law enforcement makes the\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0system a world-class payment network,\u201d said Caroline Hubberstey, Head of External Affairs for Interac Association and Acxsys Corporation. \u201cDebit products are about accessing people\u2019s money in their bank accounts and need to offer stronger protections. Debit is our expertise, and when we have control over the payments environment, our leadership in fraud prevention is evident.\u201d<\/p>\n Criminals are increasingly migrating their payment card fraud activity to international exploitation in non-chip environments and card-not-present (i.e., over the Internet and telephone) exploitation on credit cards and other networks\u2019 debit products. Unlike these products,\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0rules offer account holders the added protections of not allowing card-not-present, offline and signature transactions. For example, for\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0transactions, the number on the front of the bank card is an identifier only, not an account number, and cannot be used to conduct card-not-present transactions. Instead,\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0e-commerce transactions are conducted through\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0Online, which leverages the security of web banking. No personal financial information is ever provided to merchants. These rules also protect cardholders from fraud resulting from payment card data security breaches, such as those recently reported in the media.<\/p>\n \u201cThe statistics clearly show that we are having solid success locking down the Canadian payments space to stop criminals committing\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0debit card fraud,\u201d emphasized Hubberstey. \u201cWe\u2019re delivering a strong message \u2013 the\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0system is not a place for criminals to do business.\u201d<\/p>\n Chip technology is another key part of the\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0fraud prevention strategy. This smart technology also enables advancements like\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0Flash, which is currently being rolled out across the country.<\/p>\n While not all contactless technologies are created equally, the\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0Flash solution is secure because it leverages secure chip processing, not magnetic stripe data type processing. This, along with the policies outlined above, protects\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0Flash against counterfeiting and transaction replay types of fraud, including electronic pick-pocketing.<\/p>\n \u201cAs an enhancement of\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0Debit,\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0Flash has all the security benefits plus added features to protect cardholders,\u201d said Hubberstey. \u201cWith\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0Debit and\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0Flash, consumers are using one of the safest ways to pay with a payment card.\u201d<\/p>\n At the end of January 2014, 95 per cent of point-of-sale (POS) terminals had been converted to chip technology. Over 95 per cent of\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0transactions at POS terminals are chip-on-chip transactions. All POS terminals are to be converted by the end of 2015.<\/p>\n In support of Fraud Prevention Month, Interac Association, a member of the Competition Bureau\u2019s Fraud Prevention Forum, has created an infograph that provides further insight to consumers around the security of\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0Flash.<\/p>\n A recognized world leader in debit card services, Interac Association is responsible for the development and operations of the\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0network, a national payment network that allows Canadians to access their money through\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0Cash at 60,000 Automated Banking Machines and\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0Debit at 766,000 point-of-sale terminals across Canada.\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0Flash, a secure contactless enhancement of\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0Debit, allows Canadians to pay for items instantly with their\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0chip debit card at a reader that supports\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0Flash.<\/p>\n Interac<\/em>\u00a0Association was founded in 1984 and is comprised of a diverse membership that includes banks, trust companies, credit unions, caisses populaires, merchants, and technology and payment related companies.<\/p>\n Other related services offered by Acxsys Corporation, whose shareholders are the architects of the\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0network, include:\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0Online, for secure online payments made directly from a bank account;\u00a0Interac<\/em>\u00a0e-Transfer, for the transfer of money from one person’s bank account to another person’s bank account using an email address or mobile phone number; and international services, which provide Canadian cardholders with point-of-sale access at nearly 2 million U.S. retailers, and PULSE, Discover, Diners Club International and UnionPay cardholders access to ABMs in Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" TORONTO, March 26, 2014\u00a0\u2013 Interac Association reported today that\u00a0Interac<\/i>\u00a0debit card fraud losses as a result of skimming are at a record low \u2013 decreasing to $29.5 million in 2013 from a high of $142 million in 2009. Only 25 per cent of losses in 2013, or $7.3 million, are the result of fraud exploitation within Canada. [Read more]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74168,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"content-tags":[945,279],"content-category":[193],"spokespeople":[],"in_the_know_post_format":[173],"class_list":["post-74277","content","type-content","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","content-tags-fraud-security","content-tags-interac-debit","content-category-news","in_the_know_post_format-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAbout Interac Association and Acxsys Corporation<\/strong><\/h4>\n