PITTSBURGH — PNC Bank said Wednesday that it had begun offering Verified by Visa, the free service that lets customers voluntarily attach passwords to their Visa card accounts.
The PNC Financial Services Group Inc. subsidiary said it was introducing its service for its debit card customers, who hold a product called the PNC Bank Visa Check Card. The passwords are meant to help prevent unauthorized transactions at participating online stores.
“With the holiday shopping season in full swing, we are very pleased to offer Verified by Visa to give customers an extra layer of security and more control over how they shop online,” said Jody Leidigh, a vice president of debit cards, at PNC. “We believe this authentication practice will help protect PNC Bank customers from fraud and the unauthorized use of their check cards at the growing number of online retailers participating in the Verified program.”
Customers can enroll through PNC’s Web site. The bank said that, as an additional measure against fraud, card users create their own personal messages that are displayed back to them for verification when they shop online. At checkout, Visa cardholders are prompted by PNC Bank to enter their password and verify their personal message to authorize purchases whenever their card is used at participating online stores. The authentication process usually takes less than 20 seconds.
More than 40 major online retailers support Verified by Visa, and an additional 52 will soon offer it to consumers, PNC said.
