Guard Your Credit Cards During Easter
he South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) and the police have warned that credit card fraud has risen countrywide, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, and have urged consumers and businesses to guard their credit card information this holiday season.
Sabric CEO Gilbert Swats said the banking industry had estimated that credit card fraud had increased by 47 percent during the 2005/6 period over previous years.
However, the centre’s General Manager of Commercial Crime, Susan Potgieter, said it should also be remembered that many people were entering the banking system and first-time card holders were particularly vulnerable to fraudsters. She said the crime also increased during holiday periods.
he centre had teamed up with the police’s Commercial Branch in the fight against card crime, which police believed was being perpetrated by organised criminal syndicates.
While most cases had been reported in Gauteng, followed by KZN and the Western Cape, Potgieter said it was worrying that the gap between the provinces was closing. “Over the last year, stolen card fraud doubled in KZN, and this category of fraud is six times higher than the next type. The number of incidents of stolen and lost card fraud reported was 8 000 per month in KZN,” Potgieter said.
In KZN, criminal spending of “stolen credit” was most prolific in Pietermaritzburg, followed by Westville, Umhlanga Rocks, Pinetown, Port Shepstone and Margate. And 50 percent of all debit and credit card-related fraud was mostly committed in supermarkets, service stations, fast food outlets, family clothing stores and restaurants.
Police Superintendent Vincent Mndunge said the Commercial Branch had stepped up its operations in KZN for the holiday season to combat credit card fraud.
