Sainsbury's checks out secure payments systems

Sainsbury's contactless payments form part of the supermarket's strategy to reduce crime in its stores

Sainsbury’s is to start a contactless payments trial as part of a multimillion-pound revenue protection programme.

The retailer is selecting a vendor for the in-store reading equipment and will begin testing the devices in the coming weeks.

“The introduction of chip-and-PIN has reduced the number of card-based scams considerably, but we have seen a substantial increase in cash fraud,” said Sainsbury’s national crime and investigations manager Phil Wilson.

As well as increasing transaction speed, the supermarket chain will use the technology in its attempts to tackle non-electronic crime, he said.

Sainsbury’s web operations will also be covered by the scheme. The business is already using security system Verified by Visa for online payments and is developing in-house detection software which will aim to spot fraud before the payment stage.

But efforts to increase online security could be hampered by challenges such as voucher hoaxes.

“There is still a fair amount of voucher hoaxes around ­ if you search for Sainsbury’s on eBay you will find lots of fake coupons. But eBay is not that keen on helping us, as it views the web as a free marketplace,” said Wilson.

Compliance requirements such as the PCI DSS card payment security standard have also had an impact on internal organisation.

“The process involves changing the way we protect the servers under our tills, which could be hacked by staff or even shoppers, as they are not always manned ­ you would be amazed at what can happen in a supermarket,” said Wilson.