Australia has been specifically targeted by international fraud rings because of the sluggish adoption of online security systems, according to Visa. And the banks are partly to blame.Because of the way banks initially promoted the security system "Verified by Visa" fewer than one in 10 Australian merchants have so far signed up for the security scheme, according to Justin Roche, director of e-commerce at Visa Asia Pacific.Roche said that in the past the banks had obliged online shoppers wanting to have their purchases "Verified by Visa" to submit their details just before completing an online transaction. This often led to people abandoning a purchase, which made merchants unwilling to use the system, even though it only costs A$500-$1,000 for the software needed to use it and so reduce the incidence of fraud.As a result, the adoption rate in Australia remains much lower than in other Asia-Pacific countries, such as China and India, and consequently: "Australia uniquely did suffer [from] being targeted by quite a few international fraud rings," according to Roche. He pointed to statistics showing card-not-present fraud had leapt from 21 per cent to 71 per cent of all card-related fraud between 2006 and 2011.Speaking at CA Expo in Sydney yesterday, Roche said that Visa was now recommending banks automatically enrol their customers in the scheme rather than have them opt in at the point of purchase.Roche said that "Verified by Visa" confirmed the identity of a card-holder before a sale was made. "Ninety five per cent of transactions will be unchallenged - but the merchant and the issuer will be protected," he said, adding that in around 4.9 per cent of transactions card-holders would be challenged to provide additional verification of their identity, with a small number of very high risk transactions being declined.