Card thieves are getting the picture.

NEW YORK - Citibank said the customer photograph it has placed on MasterCard and Visa cards contributed to a 67% decrease in fraud incidents in the New York market since April.

The optional enhancement, called Photocard, has been accepted by 12% of New York credit card customers since it was introduced April 20.

Amount of Losses Not Disclosed

Citibank did not disclose the number of instances of fraud, or its losses.

The Citicorp subsidiary also said it has benefited from Positive Account Activation, another antifraud initiative, which requires customers who receive a new card to call an 800 number to verify and activate the account.

This reduces the chance that a card can be used when stolen from the mails.

MasterCard, Visa Join the Effort

Earlier this week, MasterCard International and Visa U.S.A. unveiled initiatives intended at least in part to stem fraud.

Visa said it will introduce Payment Service 2000, a processing system that could help members identify risky transactions.

MasterCard said it hopes to cut members' annual fraud losses by $10 million with a "merchant velocity monitoring program."

It will flag unusual volumes of transactions at a particular merchant that could indicate fraud.

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