SmartMetric Says That Global Card Fraud Figures Show an Unrelenting Increase With Losses to Credit Card Fraud Topping $16.31 Billion Last Year

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - December 22, 2015) - SmartMetric, Inc. (OTCQB: SMME) -- Research published by The Nilson Report found that payment card fraud increased by 19% in 2014, while the volume of card sales only grew by 15%.

Disturbingly, the Nilson Report also found that fraud losses in the United States increased to 12.75 cents for every $100 in volume annually. The United States accounts for 48.2% of fraud losses globally while it only accounts for 21.4% of global card dollar volume.

The effects of a string of high volume data breaches has exposed millions of stolen card numbers and cardholder identification information making this information readily available to thieves and being the direct underlying cause of the huge increase in card counterfeit losses. Losses due to card counterfeit are the single largest source of all card fraud losses in the United States with U.S. card issuers reportedly losing $3.89 billion last year (2014) due to card counterfeiting.

There has never been a greater need for a safer and stronger payments card security. The need for stronger card security for both the consumer and the card issuing Bank has never been more clearer, said today SmartMetric's President and CEO, Chaya Hendrick.

SmartMetric is the creator of the biometric fingerprint activated credit and debit card. The SmartMetric biometric payments card solution works with existing chip card readers in retail stores and ATMs without the need for additional hardware or systems at the bank. According to EMVco there are 3.4 billion EMV chip cards now issued around the world. The United States is now changing over in excess of 1 billion credit and debit cards to EMV chip cards nationally.

To view a video of the SmartMetric biometric chip card follow this link:

SmartMetric Biometric Payments Card -- https://youtu.be/zSX59uHoHqU

To view the company website: www.smartmetric.com.

Safe Harbor Statement: Certain of the above statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are within the meaning of that term in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.