Valuedesign has added Akuru's ASUKA fraud detection and authentication system to the credit-card funding route for Value Card, its merchant prepaid platform. The change puts additional screening at the point where customers load money into a retailer's or restaurant's own stored-value account. [S1]
The Japanese provider announced the integration on August 31, 2026. It applies to businesses using Value Card that have adopted credit-card top-ups, a narrower group than the platform's entire merchant base. The release does not identify individual participating merchants or say that every Value Card account is covered. [S1] [S2]
Protecting the funding transaction
Value Card lets businesses operate their own branded electronic money. Its credit-card charging service allows consumers to check balances and add funds through a merchant app or website, including when they are away from the store. That route supplements the platform's cash-loading option. [S1]
The August announcement concerns the security of this existing funding service. Credit-card charging itself began in September 2023, according to Valuedesign. Treating the new integration as the launch of remote top-ups would overstate the change. [S1]
ASUKA scores customer attributes and behaviour and uses authentication according to the assessed risk, the companies say. For a prepaid operator, the relevant distinction is between approving the card-funded load and the customer's later use of the merchant balance. The announced controls address the former; the release does not describe a new redemption restriction or a change to the value customers receive. [S1]
Akuru's own service page describes a wider security platform covering fraud management, account protection and payment authentication. That product background helps explain the supplier's role, but it does not establish that Valuedesign has deployed every ASUKA module. [S3]
Later-published Japan Credit Association data provide a national risk comparison: card-number theft losses were JPY50.47 billion in 2023, JPY51.35 billion in 2024 and JPY47.54 billion in 2025. These figures cover Japan-issued cards across uses, not just prepaid loads. The association classifies 93.1% of 2025 fraud losses as number theft and does not split face-to-face from remote transactions, so the issuer’s description of that share as internet fraud is too specific. The decline in the latest annual pair also does not support an unqualified claim of increases every year. [S4]
Japan-issued card number-theft losses
Annual 40-company JCA reporting base; domestic and overseas losses combined.
JPY billion
Tap or hover for details. All values are also available in the data table.
Source
National credit-card risk context, not gift-card-only losses, Valuedesign losses or measured ASUKA effectiveness. Includes cash advances, excludes foreign-issued cards and does not identify transaction channel.
Show data tableHide data table
| Category | Reported value |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 50.47 JPY billion |
| 2024 | 51.35 JPY billion |
| 2025 | 47.54 JPY billion |
A shared service for merchant programmes
Valuedesign, part of Paycloud Holdings, supplies stored-value infrastructure to retail and food-service businesses. It says the credit-card charging service can be introduced without each merchant making separate arrangements with individual credit-card companies. Adding a specialist screening provider to that service extends the controls available through the same platform relationship. [S1]
Paycloud’s October 15 results presentation gives later context for the shared platform’s scale. Its payment-handling measure was approximately JPY1.45 trillion in the year ended August 2025 and JPY1.58 trillion in the year ended August 2026. That measure combines spending through own-Pay programmes with credit-card loads handled under comprehensive card-company agreements. Loading and subsequent spending can both contribute, so it is neither unique consumer expenditure nor the amount screened by ASUKA. No separate protected-volume series is disclosed. [S5]
Paycloud own-Pay handling measure
Issuer-reported composite of own-Pay spending and specified credit-card loads.
JPY trillion
Tap or hover for details. All values are also available in the data table.
Source
Approximate annual operator figures published October 15, after the integration announcement. Includes loads and spending, not gift-card sales, unique expenditure, ASUKA-protected volume or an integration effect.
Show data tableHide data table
| Category | Reported value |
|---|---|
| Year ended August 2025, approximately | 1.45 JPY trillion |
| Year ended August 2026, approximately | 1.58 JPY trillion |
The potential beneficiaries are merchants that want to keep remote loading convenient while managing abuse of the funding channel. Akuru said attacks on proprietary prepaid services have become more sophisticated, including attempts to test credit-card credentials. Valuedesign presented the integration as a way to improve security for its customers. Those statements describe the companies' assessment and objectives, rather than measured results. [S1]
No fraud-loss reduction, false-decline rate, approval-rate change or implementation charge was disclosed. The announcement also does not set out which party bears losses or how individual merchants will configure the service. The confirmed development is the integration of risk screening and authentication into card-funded prepaid loads, not a guarantee that fraudulent transactions will be eliminated.
The deployment adds a security measure to Valuedesign's merchant stored-value business alongside its separately reported restaurant prepaid and loyalty implementations. Each concerns a different part of operating a prepaid programme: accepting funds, managing a balance and encouraging customers to return.
In this article
Daniel Brooks
Daniel Brooks covers payment networks, financial technology, payment security, gift card fraud and PCI DSS for Gift Card News.