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Firm unveils "quirky" credit card fraud buster

An Adelaide company has stated that it has come up with a "quirky" way of avoiding credit card fraudsters.

Telephone solutions company Skunkworks' system is aimed at preventing online stores from losing millions in fraudulent credit card transactions, the Advertiser reports.

A recent study by the Australian Payments Clearing Association found 16.7 transactions out of every 100,000 using credit cards last year were fraudulent, up from 14.8 per 100,000 the previous year.

Many fraudsters are increasingly using online transactions in order to get hold of credit card details and other financial information from consumers. Skunkworks claims that their system can beat the criminals at their own game.

During a web purchase, SkunkWorks' telephone validation system calls the shopper and confirms the shopper has agreed to terms and conditions while taking an audio voice print.

The process also associates an identifiable telephone number with the shopper, all for the price of a normal telephone call.

Skunkworks director Bill Osborn told the publication: "We have seen an explosion of interest this year and see more export opportunities for our systems."

Credit card numbers are often obtained by theft, illegal copying of the numbers by retail employees, or hacking into bank computer networks.

Criminals can also attach card number "skimmers", easily bought over the internet, to ATMs.

Recently, an investigation by the ABC found that as many as 300,000 Australians were using their credit cards "too much", to pay for unnecessary items.

The report found that the Australian credit card market offers customers over 10,000 possible store-branded credit cards, offering in-house credit with nothing to pay back for a number of months, adding to the financial mess of many Australians.

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