Semafone launches trustmark for telephone payments

“Secured by Semafone” to boost customer confidence in card data security

Surrey, 02 October 2013 – Semafone today announced that it has launched a new trustmark, Secured by Semafone, to be used by all customers and partners which implement Semafone’s patented payment method.

The trustmark will provide a guarantee of security for customers who are paying for goods or services over the phone. Two of Semafone’s partners have already adopted the Secured by Semafone trustmark. Ultra Communications, a specialist contact centre technology company, and Automated Transaction Services (ATS) will both be including the mark in their own offerings. 

Semafone allows customers to enter card details directly through their telephone keypads, removing the risks of speaking the numbers out loud. The company’s patented payment method ensures that all the keys emit the same tone, making it impossible to identify the numbers by their sound. This means that only service agents using a Secured by Semafone payment method can continue to speak to their customers throughout the payment process.

Robert Bates, chairman of Ultra, commented on the new trustmark. “Ultra’s technical specialists independently concluded that the technique of concealing keypad tones was by far the most elegant solution to remove the contact centre from the scope of PCI-DSS compliance. The Secured by Semafone trustmark means that we are able to provide our clients with a strong guarantee that our product is fully in line with Semafone’s patent.”

John Greenwood, CEO of Automated Transaction Services, added, “We are proud to confirm that all of our future UK deployments of DTMF Control solutions will hold the Secured by Semafone trustmark irrespective of the technology platform we implement. ATS has recently secured a five year contract to help de-scope PCI-DSS across all contact centres for one of the UK’s leading non-food retailers. The DTMF Control element of that overall solution will be Secured by Semafone.

Tim Critchley, chief executive of Semafone, commented, “With card fraud still continuing to skyrocket, no organisation should be asking its customers to speak their card details out loud on the telephone.  Too many contact centres have put their trust into the flawed method of stopping and starting call recordings in order to become PCI DSS compliant. This approach is unreliable, affects the integrity of the call recording and guarantees neither security nor compliance. The only payment methods which can reassure customers on all counts are Secured by Semafone.” 

To read more about the Secured by Semafone trustmark and Semafone’s Shhh! campaign, please visit:
http://www.semafone.com/secured-semafone/shhh/