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Visa is defending the safety of its "tap and go" payment cards which last month exceeded one million transactions for the first time.

The global payment giant's New Zealand country manager, Caroline Ada, attributed the rapid growth to the increasing number of retailers with contactless terminals.

Fast-food restaurant Subway is the latest merchants to start accepting the payments, adding to more than 12,000 existing terminals.

But the rapid uptake since the 2011 launch has been marred by concerns about the technology making it easier for fraudsters to steal money or copy card details.

Ada said such stories had been doing the rounds for years, but she was still unaware of a single instance of "electronic pick-pocketing" taking place.

She said cards had to be held in close proximity to a terminal, and would only make a payment when it was live.

Any rogue operator scanning people's pockets for cash would be easily caught, as they would need to be a registered merchant, she said. "It's got to be hooked up to an acquiring bank for it to go through the Visa network and facilitate payment," she said.

Earlier this year, security experts raised concerns about cheap point-of-sale scanning devices sourced from China which could read the information stored on credit card microchips.

Ada conceded it was possible such devices could be used to scan a card, but said a different code was transmitted every time, and couldn't be used to make a replica.

"If they do take the information, it's completely useless," she said.

"You don't take the card number, you don't take the expiry date, you don't take the CVV [three-digit security code]."

If a thief actually stole the physical card, their shopping spree would be limited to the $80 upper limit for each contactless transaction.

Ada said the risk of that occurring was no greater than with a chip- or swipe-card with a signature.

The Banking Ombudsman's office advises customers were not liable for losses caused by fraud, as long as they took reasonable care of their card, were not negligent, and notified their bank of any issues quickly.

Some users have reported trying to use their own card for a purchase, but accidentally charging it to another card nearby.

Banking Ombudsman Deborah Battell said that particular issue had not resulted in any complaints to her office.

"If people are concerned, I would say just make sure you take the right card out of your wallet," she said.

A common concern raised by consumers is that the lack of choice in whether or not to use the technology in newly issued cards.

All new Visa and MasterCards are contactless, and there is no ability to set the limit to zero or otherwise disable it.

More than 1.5 million Visa payWave cards have already been issued and Ada expected the number to keep growing as people updated expired cards.

But she said similar grumbling in Australia had died down once people got used to the new technology.

Visa is encouraging banks to have an exception process in place for customers who were opposed to receiving a contactless card.

"If you don't want to use the technology, you don't have to - you can still insert the card or swipe it," Ada said.

"If you absolutely don't want it, you should contact your bank."

Ada hoped to see the number of contactless payment terminals double over the next year.

Growing acceptance of the technology would help pave the way for the next step, contactless payments through mobile phones.

The often-forecast "walletless society" came another step closer in September, when BNZ and Visa launched a trial mobile payments application.

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/9427308/Tap-and-go-hits-one-million-transactions