Virtual credit card said to be fraud-proof

21 September 2015 - 02:02 By Katharine Child

More than $16-billion was lost in credit card fraud globally last year - and now a South African technology is being used to combat the crime. Last month The Nilson Report, a publication that reports on the credit card industry, said that fraud had increased by 19% in 2014 whereas card sales grew by only 15%.Johannesburg financial technology company Zazoo, a subsidiary of Net1, has developed an app that provides users with a secure and accessible mobile-device payment platform.Users create a credit card number on their cellphone and use it online - generating a virtual credit card for every purchase and a voiding falling victim to credit card fraud.People can download the app, VC Pay, then upload money into it by depositing money into an account at a bank, using EasyPay points at certain shops or a credit card.Marketing manager of Zazoo Jose Soares said: "We have conducted several surveys and there are two clear-cut indicators as to why people have downloaded the app."They want to curb the risk of online fraud or they want to give people who don't have a credit card the ability to pay online and use services such as Uber."..

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