Stopping the skim

BNZ fraud initiatives manager Michael Turner’s software-based technology for reducing credit-card fraud has been patented world-wide. The “liquid encryption number” (LEN) technology is used on all BNZ credit and debit cards, and has cut the incidence of fraudulent transactions from “cloned” credit cards by 5 per cent preventing “skimming” of information. The technology works by changing numbers on a card’s magnetic strips every time a transaction takes place, or an account balance is requested at an automatic teller (ATM). Skimming is the process of accessing then cloning credit card information, most commonly through ATMs. Often the information is held for six months to a year before it is used to access the card holder’s funds, BNZ security and fraud national manager Owen Loeffellechner said. “Because LEN changes the card’s information each time it is used at an ATM it makes the skimmed information out of date and unable to be used to commit fraud,” Loeffellechner said.