Australian Bank to Use Bank of New Zealand's Anti-Card-Skimming Technology

National Australia Bank has begun using card fraud prevention technology developed by one of its subsidiary banks, Bank of New Zealand.

The technology, called Liquid Encryption Numbers (LEN), is intended to prevent the skimming of cards, where information on magnetic stripes is captured by criminals without the customer's knowledge, by attaching an illicit card reader to an ATM or using a pocket reader to scan a card en route to a cash register. LEN changes the magnetic stripe information every time a customer visits a bank ATM, so if a criminal captures the information and clones the card, he or she won't be able to use it to commit fraud. Liquid Encryption Numbers was invented by Michael Turner, fraud initiatives manager at Bank of New Zealand.

Bank of New Zealand has been using Liquid Encryption Numbers for two years and says its fraud numbers have decreased.

According to ACI Worldwide, one in five consumers around the world was hit by debit or credit card fraud over the last five years.