By Kris Bortz

It’s no secret that phishing scams continue to grow and increase in sophistication as global financial networks extend to the Web. Online scams such as phishing continue to make headlines every day and threaten the growth of online banking and electronic commerce. According to Gartner Research and Visa International, phishing attacks and similar scams could slow the growth of e-commerce globally by $4 billion to $9 billion -- in 2005 alone.

Initially, well-known brands were the hardest hit by phishers, but even the smallest credit unions are now being targeted. As the world’s leading payment brand, Visa is a high-profile target for criminals. In any given month, Visa is hit by 25 to 60 phishing attacks involving urgent emails purporting to be from Visa. The emails urge consumers to update their account information or enroll in Verified by Visa, a global Visa authentication program designed to make online shopping safer.

In reality, Visa does not have direct relationships with consumers. All consumer account relations are managed through our 21,000 member financial institutions worldwide. It is important to note that Visa never sends emails to consumers requiring program enrollment or requesting personal or account information.

Phishing attacks are detrimental to the Visa brand and have the potential to create consumer distrust in online shopping and banking. So what is Visa doing about it?

In February 2005, Visa collaborated with Microsoft, eBay, PayPal, and WholeSecurity to launch the Phish Report Network, the first global anti-phishing aggregation service. The network enables phishing attacks to be detected, reported, and filtered in real time to protect consumers before they are victimized.

Visa also works with law enforcement bodies worldwide, including the FBI and the UK National High Tech Crime Unit, to help catch criminals perpetuating online fraud. It also employs a team of risk-management experts who continuously monitor all potential fraud issues with member financial institutions. We also have pioneered domain-name monitoring and anti-phishing detection technology to identify fraudulent emails and Web sites 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

In addition, Visa has invested significantly in anti-fraud technologies such as Verified by Visa, a program that allows cardholders to authenticate themselves to participating merchants, ensuring that only authorized users of the account can use it to shop online. More than 67,000 online merchants have adopted Verified by Visa, and 10,000 member financial institutions make it available to more than 385 million consumers around the world.

As a result of these initiatives, Visa has the leading risk management program in the card payment industry, and fraud currently accounts for well under 0.1 percent of total Visa transaction volume. Visa provides cardholders with the confidence to shop online and provides merchants with protection and payment guarantees comparable to those they receive in the physical world.

Kris Bortz is vice president of global e-commerce at Visa International.

 

Wiley Rein LLP