Credit card firm Mastercard has announced a partnership with the Singapore Police to implement the world’s first device to help law enforcement agencies detect payment card fraud with greater speed, accuracy and efficiency.

The Mastercard Forensic Reader (MFR) which resembles an in-store point-of-sale terminal, aims to improve the effectiveness, timeliness and accuracy in investigating payment card fraud of Mastercard and other payment cards. It enables law enforcement agencies to quickly process seized fraudulent cards and verify with the relevant card issuer if the card is a suspected counterfeit in a matter of seconds.

The MFR equips law enforcement officials with greater speed of fraud detection, increased efficiency, and simple reporting. It is a flexible tool in that it can be used to scan different types of cards, including chip, magnetic stripe and contactless varieties, and it does not store any customer data.

Mastercard’s regional head of customer fraud management for the Asia Pacific region Derek Pak said: “The Mastercard Forensic Reader is a practical example of how we’re putting our expertise and resources to innovating new ways to fight fraud, partnering with like-minded organisations such as local law enforcement agencies to implement this on-ground. It is the combined force of the industry that will allow us to effectively combat card fraud, with the common goal of safeguarding cardholders’ private information.”

Originally piloted in 2015, law enforcement agencies in Macau and Taiwan were among the first to adopt the MFR in Asia Pacific.