Former Westpac exec fights fraudsters with Da Vinci card

A former senior security executive at Westpac has founded a firm that lets people put all of their cards on a single piece of plastic that generates one-time PINs for transactions.

  19 9 comments

Former Westpac exec fights fraudsters with Da Vinci card

Editorial

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community.

Called ScramCard, the UK startup lets users link up to eight cards, online or via an app, to their Da Vinci Choice Mastercard, which has an e-ink display, touch numerical keypad and battery.

When they want to make a payment in-store or make an ATM withdrawal, users press a button to pick which card they want, then press the POS button and enter the Da Vinci card's PIN, which generates a one-time code that is entered into the terminal.

The card also supports contactless, requiring users to press a tap and pay button and enter their Da Vinci code before a transaction. Meanwhile, for online and telephone purchases, the card generates a one-time expiry date and CVV number.



The brainchild of former Westpac chief security officer Hewitt, ScramCard is inviting Brits to register interest in the £75 Da Vinci card ahead of its planned arrival early next year.

Says Hewitt: "Right now, the industry is stopping two-thirds of card fraud, but criminals still made off with nearly £300m in the first half of 2017. It’s beyond time that we stop it all. This is our vision.

"I’ve seen first-hand how easily people fall victim to fraud, and even if the money is returned, it’s a huge hassle and leaves people in the lurch with their personal finances. Our proposition is simple; work with us to cut financial fraud out of your wallet."

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Comments: (9)

Abimbola Oloyede

Abimbola Oloyede LEAD PRPAID CARDS at UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA

This is very interesting, i am very happy about it and i hope we will be able to cut down fraud to the bearest minimum. Kudos guys.

Rajesh Tiwari

Rajesh Tiwari Practice Director at Wipro Ltd

Indeed a great move, less burden on my wallet and on my mind too. I dont need to carry many cards and remember various pin/passwords. Isnt it on the pattern to PSD2? Finally we are moving from many options to one great option. 

But a great thumbs up for the initiative. 

A Finextra member 

I agree. A very interesting proposition, though £75 seems a bit steep and is that an annual fee or just a one off registration? How long before other (major) banks start to follow?

Michael Fuller

Michael Fuller Former Retail Banker at None

Interesting but why as a consumer should I pay £75 to fix the underlying insecurity of allowing card not present transactions? I'm not liable for fraud (unless grossly negligent) so what is the benefit I get for my £75?

A better solution would be for the card networks to ban card not present and offer a truly secure way to buy goods online that doesn't rely on card details.

A Finextra member 

The requirement that more than one billion e-comm shoppers should get a new device in order to stop cardfraud they are not liable to pay for, makes it unlikely to become a global standard. Furthermore the PSD2 now sets up requirements for strong two factor or biometric auth for all electronic payments + dynamic linking for e comm payments and this will be the main objective to meet in Europe.

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

There are at least 3 similar products that failed to go mainstream in the US. In my blog post Coin Solves A Pain. But Is It A 100 Dollar Pain?, I'd done a quick "cost-benefit analysis" of COIN, the pioneer in this product category. An overwhelming majority of readers who took the survey on my blog post said they'd pay not more than US$ 10 for it. Good luck to Da Vinci card with its £75 price tag.

A Finextra member 

"When they want to make a payment in-store or make an ATM withdrawal, users press a button to pick which card they want, then press the POS button and enter the Da Vinci card's PIN, which generates a one-time code that is entered into the terminal." Seriously?!.

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

@AlexanderPeschkoff:

LOL but stranger things have happened viz. "Reach checkout; enter PIN to get past lockscreen; locate mobile wallet app; locate card; scan QR code; blah blah blah". Mobile wallet simply won't work in a supermarket where there's a long queue. But the last year's re/demonetization in India provided a good learning opportunity: Most other types of stores - e.g. apparel stores, bookstores, mom-and-pop stores - don't have such a long queue at checkout. Despite the fact that a mobile wallet entails a longer-drawn out process compared to cash / plastic card, I think it's still quite usable at many stores.

A Finextra member 

@KS - Some UX flows are "non-traditional", but they work because they either solve a pressing problem, or are better than the existing one. Ideally - both. Not in that case, unfortunately. 

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