Global credit card company Visa is rolling out new technology on its cards in a bid to curb a 20% rise in the amount of money banks have lost to fraud over the last two years.
The chip and pin technology features a computer chip which Visa says is almost impossible to copy. This, used in conjunction with a pin number, will replace all signatures by 2012.
The director of risk management for Visa in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, Ian McKindley, says fraudulent card activity in New Zealand has increased by more than 800% in the last four years.
Although the cost of new technology to prevent it is expensive - pushing up the cost that banks pay for cards from 10 cents to more than $2 dollars - Mr McKindley says it's proved to be effective overseas, reducing credit card fraud in the UK by over 50% in three years.
