A new study from payment security firm Retail Decisions Inc. (ReD) indicates card-not-present (CNP) fraud levels are rising in the United States but declining in the United Kingdom – trends that might be correlated. Based on fraud data gathered from the first six months of 2010, ReD projects CNP fraud (which includes Internet and MO/TO purchases) will reach $2.83 billion in the United States by the end of 2010.

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Some commuters in New York and Los Angeles now use Visa Inc.'s payWave to pay bus, subway and train fares. In New York, riders use payWave-enabled cards and mobile phones. In Los Angeles, passengers use a special Visa prepaid TAP ReadyCARD, which is available to all riders of the metro system.

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A benchmark report conducted by RSR Research ranked the top 100 online retailer gift cards. The card for The Home Depot U.S.A. Inc. headed the list, followed by CVS Caremark, Amazon.com, American Eagle Outfitters and Sears Holding Corp.

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News of high-profile ventures involving mobile payments at the POS has been breaking with regularity, and recent near field communication (NFC) projects launched by two prominent payment corporations have added to the buzz. On Sept. 21, 2010, VeriFone Inc. stated it was partnering with NFC technology provider Bling Nation Inc. to introduce a 'tap-and-pay' initiative that combines Bling's NFC-enabling chips with VeriFone terminals.

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Fifth Third Processing Solutions LLC, the third largest U.S. acquirer, purchased certain assets of prepaid processor Springbok Services Inc, which filed for bankruptcy in July 2010. Among the assets acquired was Springbok's reloadable prepaid card processing platform.

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Vindicia Inc., a processor of prepaid card payments for online gaming websites, filed a legal brief with the United States Supreme Court that argues against a California statute that imposes fines on companies that sell what are classified as violent video games to people under 18 years of age.

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IDC Financial Insights held a webinar to address the impacts of a possible joint venture between Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile USA, supported by Barclays PLC and Discover Financial Services, to test a smart phone program in the United States that enables near field communication (NFC) payments at the POS (see "Have NFC payments reached tipping point?" The Green Sheet, Aug. 23, 2010, issue 10:08:02).

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The Center for Financial Services Innovation, in collaboration with the Network Branded Prepaid Card Association, NetSpend Corp. and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, issued The Nonprofit's Guide to Prepaid Cards. The 42-page guide is designed to educate nonprofit organizations about the benefits of prepaid cards and provide nonprofits the resources to incorporate prepaid programs into their initiatives, CFSI said.

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VeriFone Systems Inc. recently acquired WAY Systems Inc. and Semtek to augment its long-range mobile payment solutions strategy. To that end, VeriFone will focus on building recurring revenue opportunities through its sales network and offer royalty-free software licenses to enable device manufacturers and payment processors to integrate Semtek's patented encryption technology into their own products, sources reported. VeriFone paid an upfront price of $6 million to purchase WAY, a mobile POS solutions and gateway services provider; up to an additional $3 million will be payable in one year should certain performance targets be met. The acquisition adds 25,000 mobile merchants to VeriFone's existing customer base, expanding the company's PAYware Connect Gateway infrastructure and mobile portfolio.

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Prepaid card aggregator and Safeway Inc. subsidiary Blackhawk Network reported that a patent owned by e2Interactive Inc. and Interactive Communications International Inc. (commonly known as the prepaid card distributor InComm) was being reexamined at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

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To aid disaster relief efforts in Pakistan, MoneyGram International and Visa Inc. launched campaigns designed to ease the financial burdens of victims caught in floods that have claimed over 2,000 lives and destroyed over one million homes.

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The annual Inc. 500/5000 rankings of the fastest growing private U.S. companies, based on revenue growth from 2006 to 2009, was released Aug. 24, 2010. Aggregate revenue among the Inc. 500 was $11.3 billion, down from $18.4 billion last year, and median three-year growth at 1,231 percent was up from 880.5 percent in 2009. In all, 42 payments industry enterprises were recognized among the top 5000 companies, with eight earning the distinction of inclusion in the top 500.

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On the heels of its launch of a best practices campaign for storing customer data, Visa Inc. is out with a new best practices effort centered on Payment Application (PA) Data Security Standard (DSS) compliance.

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