Visa (Contact Smart Card) is to bring all of its contactless transactions online this year across 10 European countries to give consumers “more control over their accounts” following calls from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for banks to tighten the processes they undergo when a customer reports a stolen contactless card.American Express is also “reviewing options” to ensure those who cancel their cards are protected against contactless fraud.
The security processes in place today when a customer reports a stolen contactless card allow — in a “limited set of circumstances” — for the card to be misused by fraudsters “several months after it has been cancelled,” FCA chair John Griffith-Jones wrote in aletter to the Treasury Select Committee published last month.
The key risk to customers occurs when merchants process payments offline and store them in a batch to process later on, Griffith-Jones explained. At present, around 45% of contactless card transactions occur offline.