Fraud & Security

Escalent Inc., an analytics and advisory firm, said it acquired Mercator Advisory Group, adding to its payments advisory portfolio. Escalent acquired Javelin Strategy & Research in 2019. Current Mercator president and chief executive Robert Misasi will help with the transition before leaving these positions.MoneyGram International Inc. agreed to pay a civil monetary penalty of …

Fraudsters targeted fintechs at an alarming rate in 2021, according to Sift Science Inc.’s first-quarter 2022 Digital Trust & Safety Index. The index reveals that the payment-fraud attack rate across fintechs within Sift’s network increased a whopping 70% in 2021 compared to 2020. The attack rate is defined as the …

Buy now, pay later specialist Affirm Inc. said its fiscal quarter-to-date financial metrics exceeded its expectations, leading it to revise its financial outlook. Affirm on Feb. 10 had expected its gross merchandise volume to be no more than $3.71 billion, but now says it will be at least that much.Aplazo, a buy …

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic continues to impact consumer finances and financial habits. On the one hand, since the onset of the pandemic, the bank deposits of American households have been at a record high, partially due to limited spending on entertainment and travel, reduced in-person shopping, and the receipt of …

Consumer spending in the United States, in terms of February retail sales excluding auto, was up 8.7% over February 2021 and 17.3% over February 2019, according to Mastercard Inc.’s SpendingPulse report, which monitors in-store and online retail sales.President Joe Biden signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to work out a common …

As Russian armed forces continue their assault on Ukraine, Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc., and American Express Co. late Saturday said they are suspending all operations in Russia, following up on actions taken by the networks nearly a week earlier. Meanwhile, reports began to filter out of Russia that at least some …

With card issuers making it easier to dispute a transaction in the two years since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, observers say it has become harder for them to distinguish good customers from bad customers, especially when a transaction is disputed post-purchase. The latter case is when friendly fraud can occur, …

Visa Inc. will decrease interchange rates by 10% for small businesses accepting consumer credit cards in April, according to a Reuters report. The reduced rates will apply to online and card-present transactions and only to merchants with $250,000 or less in Visa consumer credit volumes, Reuters attributed its information to an …

The actions taken by the SWIFT payments-messaging network and by Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine will have an impact, but a muted one, observers say.  The 49-year-old SWIFT system, which on Saturday said it is banning Russian banks, has not barred all …

Cross-border payments specialist Flywire Corp. reported its payment volume rose 75% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, to $3.1 billion. Volume for 2021 totaled $13.2 billion, up 76% from 2020.Walmart Inc. announced customers can send remittances from any of its U.S. stores to any of its stores in Mexico for a fee as low …