ID tool that is not easy to fake

[img_assist|nid=8044|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=66] A new anti-fraud device was developed and designed by Siemens in the shape of a fingerprint scanner.

The risks of online fraud are expected to be reduced at the expense of the technology assumed as a basis for the gadget which has a pocket size. Bank customers will be identified by the device when electronically reading their fingerprints.
“The device will reduce the threat posed by online fraud, reassuring customers and banks that online transactions are valid. I would expect a UK bank to offer the biometric ID card in six months,” says Jonathan Heywood, head of financial services consulting at Siemens IT Solutions and Services.

Now any big online banking transaction is not to be made without confirming the identity of an account holder with a fingerprint scan. Ten fingerprints of an individual can be stored on the gadget. If a customer is being forced to make a transaction by a felon he may select a “panic finger” to alert the bank of transactions carried out under duress.

The upgraded tools already applied to enhance the security of card-not-present transactions proved to be very efficient and made it harder for crooks to commit online fraud. Last year losses from online banking fraud decreased 1/3 from £33.5 million in 2006 to £22.6 million.

Online customers of many respectable banks received “chip-and-pin at home” devices to identify themselves before letting banks move money out of their account. All banks were expected to use the same scheme, so that devices for one bank could be used by customers of another, but instead they have introduced different systems.

On this score customers had to carry several of the devices at the same time to process their multiple accounts. The advantage of the Siemens card is that it can be used with more than one bank.