FÄLSCHUNGSSICHERES KREDITKARTEN ABSENDSYSTEM

PCT No. PCT/CA93/00560 Sec. 371 Date Jun. 22, 1995 Sec. 102(e) Date Jun. 22, 1995 PCT Filed Dec. 24, 1993 PCT Pub. No. WO94/16415 PCT Pub. Date Jul. 21, 1994An anti-fraud system for the dispatch of credit cards to customers, rendering the new card useless to anyone other than the intended customer. Validation of the new card is accomplished at any retail outlet by means of a timed sequence at the transaction processing computer which ensures that any first-time sales authorization request under the new card is followed immediately within a prescribed time interval by a reading of the old credit card number and expiry date. The system also operates if the old card is tendered first at a sales outlet after the new card has been issued. This unique sequence of events will then automatically invalidate the old card, validate the new card, and indicate to the card issuing company that the customer has acknowledged receipt of their new card. Since both the old, expiring card, and the new card are required in order to validate the new card, an unauthorized party in illegal possession of the new card only, cannot use it.