Credit card company Visa has worked with Agency for Science and Technology Research (A*Star) to develop a special software that can identify deceptive and fraudulent merchants.

Out of the millions of transactions processed daily, the technology can pick out the digital fingerprints left behind by fraudulent merchants, allowing Visa to stop their operations.

The technology took 18 months to develop. It may be used globally in Visa's products and services offered to banks and other business partners.

A*Star worked with VisaLabs, the Asia-Pacific office of Visa's innovation labs, on this project. VisaLabs was set up last year.

Visa has about 2,000 employees in Singapore, where it has based some of its global operations, including its global technology strategy and innovation office.