NEW YORK -- A newly designed MasterCard credit card, containing a laser-imbedded three-dimensional hologram to foil counterfeiters, made its debut Monday in New York.
The Bank of New York became the first bank in the New York City area and one of the first major banks in the nation to issue the credit cards that were specially designed to make it impossible for counterfeiters to duplicate through photography or silk screening.
A small strip on the lower right-hand side of the card contains floating, ultraviolet-inked 'MC' initials which are imbedded by lasers inside two small globe insignias.
The use of holography -- the science of laser photography to produce three-dimensional images -- is the latest effort by the financial industry to combat credit card crime.
Russell E. Hogg, president and chief executive officer of MasterCard International, has said that $9.1 million was lost last year due to counterfeit credit cards.
Since the card's introduction last March, about 30 banks across the country have adopted the cards, a MasterCard spokeswoman said. The new card, she said, will be mandatory for all issuing banks by 1986.
A Bank of New York spokesman said the bank would issue the new cards to its customers as their present cards expire.
