May 2004

Credit card fraud is moving off the high street and onto the Internet. As large volumes of goods are now being ordered online and delivered to consumer's homes, the number of fraudulent claims from customers claiming to have not received the order is increasing.

T@lecom, developers of cost effective wireless solutions to the transport and logistics industry has launched a new optional credit card verification facility called CardHolder Present for its industry leading Wireless Delivered product range.

The facility has been designed so that couriers are able to verify the authentication of a credit card with the credit card company at the point of delivery, using a handheld unit over a GPRS network. It does not attempt to enable payment at the doorstep, but provides authentication with the credit card company that the card holder is present and the card is valid.

The service is also compatible with chip & pin technology. By using encryption over a GPRS network making payments & authentication are very secure, reducing the current high levels of fraud.

Deliveries can also be made to any location; customers do not need to wait for home delivery. Retailers are provided with a higher level of security.

Jan O'Hara, Chief Executive Officer for T@lecom commented: "Our new CardHolder Present facility further enhances the functionality of Wireless Delivered. Couriers can now be guided to the delivery address by satellite navigation where a signature is captured and the credit cared verified before any delivery is made with the back office and customer kept informed of the progress of the delivery in real time.

"Wireless Delivered provides a real time, cost effective and highly efficient service that offers courier companies and retailers real peace of mind. We already have a number of orders in the pipeline for CardHolder Present both from courier companies and high street retailers and are confident that this optional extra will prove to be a value added tool to our customers."