What Is V.me by Visa?

What Is V.me by Visa?

Visa’s V.me aims to simplify online payments using your computer, tablet, or mobile phone. Announced in May of 2011 as a “digital wallet” (Visa press release) and rumored to be a replacement for the oft-misunderstood Verified by Visa (VbV) program. (For more about problems people have experienced with VbV, check out our blog post “Verified by Visa Scam: How to Spot the Fake“)

The Visa V.me service provides you with all the security and protection you’d normally expect from Visa without the need to carry a credit card around. There are multiple layers of security including fraud-monitoring, API’s to secure communication, and encrypted tokens using SHA-256 hash algorithms. The really nice thing about V.me for consumers is that we don’t have to worry about keeping (memorizing) our card data when we make a V.me transaction online.

Key points of V.me:

  • Beyond the Digital Wallet:

    Mobile integration will be a big factor (pay online or in-store), and seamless one-click payments will be a big piece of that puzzle.

  • Fixes the Verified By Visa “feel”:

    One of the complaints about Verified By Visa is that the program itself felt like a scam. The new V.me aims to work more like Amazon’s 1-Click.

  • Multiple Cards, Multiple Banks:

    V.me will allow users to register cards and banks outside of their Visa brethren. (Mastercard, American Express, etc.)

  • Rumor Has it:

    It’s said that Visa will be using V.me to support payments through QR codes, bar codes, and near-field communications (NFC).

Its been pretty quiet on the V.me front since late 2012, but a few press releases have popped up regarding adding new retailers who will accept V.me (currently over 50 financial institutions and 23 merchant partners like PacSun, 1-800-Flowers, and Buy.com), as well as a few promos that offer increased savings to anyone using V.me to make an online purchase. My thinking is that they’re still testing the waters, and soon we’ll see more partnerships, certainly before Black Friday this year. After that my guess is that V.me will make a bigger splash in the mainstream news and in the arsenal of accepted payment types by key eCommerce stakeholders.

Have you used VbV or V.me? What are your thoughts on either program?

Image courtesy of Visa

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Verified by Visa Scam: How to Spot the Fake.

Verified by Visa Scam: How to Spot the Fake.

Update: Learn about Visa’s (rumored) replacement for Verified by Visa, V.me.

Keep on the lookout for a scam regarding the Verified by Visa (VbV) program; a legitimate security layer set up to provide increased protection for your data for online purchases. Internet scam artists are sending out spam linking to fake versions of the program that do nothing to protect you.

The Verified by Visa program is part of the 3-D Secure protocol (developed by Visa), with similar programs adopted by Mastercard (SecureCode) and JCB (J/Secure). These programs provide an additional authentication step (i.e. a password request) for your online purchases through participating Internet retailers. This added step is set up to help ensure your identity at the time of purchase. Here’s the official word from Visa:

In addition to our other ways of preventing, detecting, and resolving fraud, we offer Verified by Visa, a free, simple-to-use service that confirms your identity with an extra password when you make an online transaction.

Phishers are casting their lines and looking for new victims. The bait they’re using is usually an email that looks like the real deal, but ultimately leads to a scam website that tries to get you to submit your credit card number and other information under the guise of the Verified by Visa program. Luckily we’ve got three suggestions for you to protect yourself from getting caught by this scam:

  1. Scrutinize your email:

    Most Verified by Visa phishing attempts start with an official-looking email that requests you to join. However, Visa isn’t sending out emails to customers in order to get them to sign up. The usual way you’d get the Verified by Visa sign up option is through a participating retailer as you begin the checkout process on their website. If you receive one of these emails, call your Visa provider and ask them to verify if the email is legit. Chances are it’s not.

  2. Watch where you’re surfing:

    If you do happen to click on the link from your email, be careful. Phishers and other scam artists are great at copying real websites and making their VbV scam version look legitimate. Check the URL, or web address, that you’re on to make sure you’re on the real site. See our blog post entitled “How to Spot a Fake Website” for more information.

  3. Go to the source:

    If you’re interested in signing up for the Verified by Visa program or learning more about it, visit the official Verified by Visa FAQ.

As always, be wary of emails in your inbox asking you to sign up for anything or giving you a link to click on to enter any of your information.

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