Lanka a hotspot for card fraud

Cloned cards used to make mega purchases:

Mohammed RASOOLDEEN in Saudi Arabia

SAUDI ARABIA: Sri Lankan expatriates here who had used their international credit cards in the island during their summer vacation, have complained that their cards were cloned and transactions made on their cards from far-off places such as Japan, Britain, Sri Lanka itself, Canada and Thailand.

A white-collar worker in the city was shocked yesterday to note that a sum of Rs 660,000 had been debited from his credit card account for nine purchases made in Thailand while he was in the Kingdom.

“I am in the Kingdom and my card has been used for purchases in Bangkok,” shocked Minhaj ( not his real name) told Arab News. Minhaj pointed out that he discovered the fraud when he made a random check on his account balance through phone banking.

According to the credit card statement which the victim retrieved from the bank, all the nine purchases had been made continuously during the last three days.

Besides using his card in the Kingdom, he said the last overseas station where he used the card was Colombo. The bank has agreed to reimburse the loss and agreed to replace the card with a new number.

When the monthly bank statement arrived, a media specialist based in Riyadh, found that someone from London had used a skimmed card and made four purchases for Rs 125,000 from his account in December.

On a complaint made by the cardholder, the bank had called for full copy of his passport to ensure that he had not travelled to the United Kingdom during that period and promised to rectify the record after formal investigations.

According to the scribe, he had last used the card in Sri Lanka, while the illegal transactions took place in Stratford, London, four weeks after his return to the Kingdom from the island.

The same person had a similar experience when he returned from Colombo after his summer holidays this week.

“I did use my card only once in Colombo at a popular superstore in the city,” he said, pointing out that a transaction has been made for Rs 125,000 from Canada.

A school teacher whose husband is working in a Riyadh -based bank faced similar experience when someone made purchases worth Rs. 50,000 in Sri Lanka.

A Sri Lankan banker, attached to a financial institution, who had used his card in Colombo, was told by his bank that it declined a transaction from Bangkok since the bank knew he was holidaying in Colombo.

Commenting on such frauds, Priyan Attyagalle, chief executive officer of American Express here, told Daily News that the some of these cards are cloned in foreign countries when the card holder presents the cards to the merchant at the time of purchase.

To prevent such fraud, he said the card holder should take extra care of his card when he makes his purchases. “

He should insist that the card must be within his sight and should ensure that it is swiped for the particular purchase,” he said, pointing out that the card user must exercise extra care when he uses it in high risk countries.

High risk countries where credit cards are alleged to be copied for fraudulent transactions include Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and Sri Lanka.

According to a senior banker, every bank has a Fraud Management Department to monitor credit card transactions.

“The bank immediately contacts the credit card holder on his mobile phone when it receives a suspicious transaction for authorization,” he said, stressing that the card holder should cooperate with the bank by promptly responding to the call which comes for necessary verification.

In a recent incident, a transaction that was to be made for SR 20,000 for a purchase in Japan, was averted when the bank gave a timely call to the card holder and found him answering the call from the Kingdom.

Some banks issue credit cards with limited credit facility solely for online banking purposes which prevents hackers from taking fancy amounts from credit card accounts.