A data security breach at Denver-based Chipotle Mexican Grill recently roiled the quick service restaurant chain. Intruders reportedly gained access to the company's POS systems, capturing data from payment card transactions between March 24 and April 18, 2017. Chipotle has enhanced POS security and is working with its payment processor, law enforcement and forensic security experts in an ongoing investigation, company representatives stated. "Because our investigation is continuing, complete findings are not available, and it is too early to provide further details on the investigation," read the company's April 25, 2017, statement. "We anticipate providing notification to any affected customers as we get further clarity about the specific timeframes and restaurant locations that may have been affected."

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The controversy over the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's proposal to create a new charter for nonbanks is drawing heat from bank regulators. On April 26, 2017, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against the OCC. The CSBS wants to stop the OCC from moving forward with what it believes is an unlawful attempt to create a national nonbank charter that will harm markets, innovation and consumers.

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The April 21, 2017, sentencing of a Russian hacker to 27 years in prison reflects an escalating global fight against cybercrime. The U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force initially investigated the case, receiving assistance from the CCIPS Cyber Crime Lab and the Office of International Affairs and U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Guam. Combined efforts of government agencies and law enforcement led to the arrest and trial of 32-year-old Roman Valeryevich Seleznev, authorities stated.

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What’s old is new again, even in payments. A pair of indictments handed down this month by the Brooklyn District Attorney, in New York City, shows fraudsters are still attracted to check scams. The two indictments allege fraud involving money order transactions totaling close to a half million dollars over the course of several years. The alleged fraudsters, nine in all, are accused of taking advantage of recent innovations, like mobile check deposit, and availability schedules that can, at times, provide customers with access to funds from deposits before deposited items are deemed fraudulent.

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A new study by Experian Information Solutions Inc. found a 33 percent increase in ecommerce fraud in 2016, compared with the previous year. The findings were consistent with Experian's forecasts and not surprising to security analysts. Analyzing millions of ecommerce transactions, researchers concluded certain geographical regions were hot spots for cybercriminals. Miami, Houston, and South El Monte, Calif., earned the dubious distinction of being top-ranked cities for fraud. The states with the highest concentration of billing and shipping fraud were Delaware, Oregon and Florida, company representatives stated. They also attributed a record number of data breaches in 2016 to vulnerabilities in security infrastructures.

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A year after launching the Messenger Platform, Facebook unveiled version 2.0 at the mid-April F8 Facebook Developer Conference held in San Jose, Calif. One notable difference at this year's conference was heightened activity within the financial community to integrate Messenger customer engagement and commerce initiatives. Over 1.2 billion people globally use the Messenger app each month, according to Facebook. When the instant messaging and chat platform initially rolled out, developers gained access to Facebook's Wit.ai Bot Engine, which converts natural language into structured data for automating conversations using artificial intelligence (AI).

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Wells Fargo & Co. debit and credit cardholders will soon be able to use PayPal to make purchases with Android phones at the POS. Participating merchants' payment terminals must be enabled to accept near field communication payments. The potential reach is wide; currently, millions of merchants can accept payments via PayPal. "We're looking to enable payments for our customers' mobile-driven lives, and this upcoming capability allows us to further engage the millions of Wells Fargo customers who use their debit and credit cards on PayPal to seamlessly make mobile and online, and now in-store, purchases," said Jim Smith, Head of Virtual Channels at Wells Fargo.

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Recent events at iPayment Inc. reflect a fresh start for the payment processing brand, which was established in 1999. In addition to closing a comprehensive refinancing package April 11, 2017, senior management introduced a series of initiatives designed to reinvigorate the Westlake Village, Calif.-based company following recent setbacks. As they prepare for the upcoming partner conference in May 2017, employees and partners say they are looking ahead to a bright future. "For the past four years, iPayment has dealt with too much debt, internal turmoil and external news as former managers were indicted for securities fraud," said O.B. Rawls IV, Chief Executive Officer and President of iPayment Inc. "With that history behind us, we're looking forward again, with a strong management team, decreased debt and a leverage ratio on par with other Super ISOs."

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Apple appears to have the lead in mobile contactless payments, for now. But the race for tap-and-go payment dominance has only just begun, and as a bevy of recent reports suggest this may be a long race. New data from Juniper Research, a U.K.-based financial technology analyst house, shows consumers using the Apple Pay mobile app now top 86 million, in a show of dominance over other leading contactless apps, including Samsung Pay and Android Pay. Juniper expects that by the end of this year, the total of OEM contactless payment app users will surpass 150 million worldwide.

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The National ATM Council issued an alert Thurs., April 13, 2017, asking stakeholders in the ATM industry to help the council respond to proposed ATM fee caps in Illinois. "House Bill 1274 was recently amended in the Illinois State Legislature to cap ATM fees at $1 per transaction (not clear whether this is $1 for the ATM provider and $1 for the financial institution – or just $1 total)," NAC stated.

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NACHA ‒ The Electronic Payments Association has something new in store for attendees at the upcoming Payments 2017 conference: launch of the Mutual of Omaha Bank Corporate Learning Center. NACHA said the center will provide specialized education for payments professionals from business, state and local government, higher education, and charitable and religious organizations.

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According to the Trustwave Holdings Inc. annual 2017 Security Pressures Report, the task of securing organizations has become even more complex as internal and external forces exert pressure to close cybersecurity vulnerability gaps. For the report, Trustwave surveyed 1,600 full-time IT professionals from organizations averaging 4,267 employees based in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore and Japan.

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An ongoing investigation of questionable sales practices at Wells Fargo Merchant Services LLC, which initially exposed fraudulent activities in the consumer banking division, raised additional questions in the company's merchant services division. In an April 6, 2017, statement, consumer class action law firm Keller Rohrback LLP challenged the company's fee structures and retroactive billing of non-qualified transactions in monthly merchant statements.

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It's true. Amazon Marketplace was hacked. According to several media reports, fraudsters broke into the accounts of both active and inactive sellers and changed sellers' bank account information to divert sales proceeds into hackers' accounts. Fraudsters apparently accessed the accounts using email addresses and passwords purchased on the "dark web."

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The National ATM Council Inc. asked Fair Isaac and Company (FICO) to substantiate its recent claims of escalating debit card fraud at nonbank ATMs. In a statement issued March 27, 2017, FICO asserted that debit card fraud rose 546 percent in 2016, with 60 percent of on-site fraud occurring at nonbank ATMs. The data contradicts NAC's 2016 survey, which found few skimming devices installed in retail ATMs, NAC representatives stated.

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In January 2017, when Ant Financial Service Group, a subsidiary of China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., entered into an $800 million agreement to acquire Dallas-based MoneyGram, neither company envisioned a bidding war would ensue. However, in March, Leawood, Kan.-based Euronet Worldwide Inc. offered 15 percent more –$1 billion – for the money transfer business, throwing the agreement between Ant and MoneyGram into question.

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St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Minor League Baseball (MiLB) recently endorsed FIS as the "Business-Driving Solutions Provider of Minor League Baseball." On March 27, 2017, MiLB disclosed it will collaborate with FIS, a global technology provider based in Jacksonville, Fla., to create a futuristic ballpark experience for fans, employees and baseball aficionados. The first phase of the planned transformation will target three strategic areas: operations, payment processing and loyalty and rewards, representatives stated.

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Harbortouch Payments LLC entered a strategic alliance with Jon Taffer, the host and executive producer of Spike TV's hit show Bar Rescue, whereby Taffer will endorse the company's touchscreen POS systems and collaborate on developing the industry's first "smart" POS system, being dubbed as sPOS. Starting with the April 9 episode of Bar Rescue, Harbortouch's system will be the show's exclusive POS provider.

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