Fraud schemes that rely on social engineering and other attacks to steal sensitive information are especially dangerous this time of year, when the hustle and bustle of the holiday season may lead consumers to let their guard down and skimp on security.

Fraud technology startup BillGuard is adding analytics and savings add-ons to its iPhone app.

McDonald’s has more than 34,000 locations in nearly 120 countries, making it an ideal testing ground for payments innovation. As such, many payments providers try get on its menu.

Direct Auto Insurance now offers customers the ability to pay their bills with a text message, allowing customers without smartphones to pay their bills on the go, too.

Customers of U.K.-based Nationwide Building Society now have Visa’s V.me digital wallet as a payment option when shopping online.

A Baby Boomer who has banked with the same small financial institution for more than 37 years hardly fits the mobile profile. But look below the surface and this mom is actually a prime candidate.

Banks in Hong Kong have established standards for the creation of a Near Field Communication-based mobile payment infrastructure in the region.

Ally Bank expanded its use of Fiserv's Popmoney person-to-person payments service, allowing consumers to send and receive funds from the bank's mobile banking app.

When Isis launched its mobile wallet nationwide in November, it also launched a new interface. PaymentsSource journalists give their first impressions of the new payments method.

Wearable identity and authentication startup Bionym released software development kit documentation and an online forum to get developers coding apps for its forthcoming wristband, called Nymi, on Monday.

The Amazon Coins digital currency is now available for consumers in the U.K. and Germany to buy mobile applications and make in-app purchases on the Kindle Fire tablet and on Amazon.com Inc.'s regional app stores.

Mobile point of sale terminals are projected to reach 46% market penetration by 2017, up from the 17% share of the point of sale terminal market that mobile systems held in 2012, according to a whitepaper by Mobey Forum.

Vodafone Group marked the launch of its European mobile wallet initiative in Spain, revealing plans to expand it into Germany next month and other parts of Europe early next year.

Brooklyn is teeming with New York natives and tourists alike, and the borough's merchants sometimes struggle to keep up with the activity. Several are using mobile point of sale systems from companies like ShopKeep to cut through the chaos.

Many of the payments industry's longtime veterans and new entrants started their careers in other industries or founded their companies with a different purpose in mind. Here are some highlights from the many diverse career paths in the payments world.

On Track Innovations' (OTI) contactless readers have received certification from the mobile wallet venture Isis, which recently launched its Near Field Communication-based payment system nationwide.

Web commerce provider Digital River will supply online payments technology for HarperCollins, which has recently redesigned websites for author C.S. Lewis.

Payment technology provider Yespay and retail services company PMC are partnering to build mobile payment products for retailers.

Rather than simply continuing to absorb the losses from account takeover attacks, institutions should be reevaluating the effectiveness of their authentication methods and increase security to better prevent fraud.

Airtag figures it has landed its mobile payment system in the right places at the right time, concentrating on the fast-food and grocery markets.