Financial services provider BNZ, a subsidiary of National Bank of Australia (NAB), has made available a protection mechanism designed to combat card skimming.

Dubbed Liquid Encryption Numbers (LEN), the security technology is set to change the magnetic stripe number every time a customer visits a BNZ ATM, thus preventing criminals from using cloned cards. In addition, LEN will enable banks to automatically detect if a card used at one of its ATMs has been copied or duplicated and take action to halt further transactions.

“Skimming” remains a major issue among the Australian card holders. In 2009 payment fraud totaled around EUR 142 million, with 75 percent accounting for credit card fraud.