Credit card fraud increases
While there has been a decrease in debit card fraud, SABRIC warns of increase in credit card fraud.
MORE than a R117-million was lost to debit card fraud (for the period 1 January to 30 September), the figure is significantly lower when compared to the previous year which saw the industry losing R204m, a decrease by 42 per cent.
That’s according to the latest banking industry’s card crime statistics as released by SABRIC (The South African Banking Risk Information Centre) last week. SABRIC CEO, Kalyani Pillay, said the decrease can be attributed to changes in the business processes and systems in the banks as well the ongoing collaborative efforts between the industry and law enforcement.
However, the banking industry still calls on customers to be vigilant when transacting. The industry is, however, concerned about the increase in credit card fraud. Credit card fraud losses have increased by 22 per cent from R300.6-million in 2012 to R366.8-million in 2013.
Pillay added that counterfeit card fraud remains high. “Criminals are progressively using counterfeit South African issued credit cards in neighbouring countries such as Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique and these transactions are mostly related to fraudulent cash withdrawals at ATMs,” said Pillay.
The prevalence of card skimming incidents in South Africa is still very high and a significant portion of the fraud losses can still be linked to counterfeit card fraud.
