Mastercard and Singapore's Commercial Affairs Department launch card fraud detector

Mastercard donated 10 pieces of the reader to the department.

Mastercard formed a partnership with the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) of the Singapore Police Force (SPF) to implement the Mastercard Forensic Reader (MFR) that will help law enforcement agencies detect payment card fraud. It donated 10 pieces of the MFR to CAD.

According to an announcement, the MFR resembles an in-store point-of-sale terminal that will investigate payment card fraud of Mastercard and other payment cards. “In the past, such investigations required protracted processes involving multiple parties such as investigation agencies, payment solution companies and card issuers,” Mastercard said.

“The introduction of the MFR enables law enforcement agencies to quickly process seized fraudulent cards and verify with the relevant card issuer if the card is a suspected counterfeit in a matter of seconds,” it added.

Originally piloted in 2015, law enforcement agencies in Macau and Taiwan were among the first to adopt the MFR in the Asia Pacific.

The MFR enables law enforcement agencies to instantly contact the issuing bank to determine if the card is authentic or counterfeit within seconds. It is also designed to be able to read chip, magnetic stripe or contactless cards.

Moreover, Mastercard said the MFR meets industry standards and does not store any card information. It also provides simple reporting of large volumes of data in multiple formats including screen display, paper or digital.

CAD deputy director for financial investigation Ian Wong commented, “Mastercard had been working very closely with the CAD in fighting payment card fraud since the 1980s. Besides providing invaluable assistance in our day-to-day investigations, Mastercard has also partnered CAD and other organizations in efforts to prevent payment card fraud.”