Fraud Victims Call For Credit Card Security
By Rosli Abidin Yahya

Bandar Seri Begawan - Calls were made by local credit card fraud victims for better security features to be included to prevent them from incurring losses as a result of illegal uses by fraudulent tricksters.

A local businessman said he has been a victim of credit card fraud four times and he had been asked to pay for the bills, which the card provider promised to return after the completion of investigation.

"The first three falsified bills amounted to more than $1,000 which I paid where I was promised the money would be returned after investigation had been completed.

"But now, I received another fraudulent bill amounting to more than $400," said a fuming victim who showed his recent credit card bill.

All the bills were for budget airline tickets purchased through the Internet and the purchases were made at the airline kiosk in Sepang, Kuala Lumpur.

The man told his credit card provider that he had never been to Sepang, Kuala Lumpur to purchase or collect the air tickets.

He said he was also asked to pay the latest fraud bill, which he considered was unfair.

"I will need to change my credit card too so I can be issued a new card with a new number. That will cost me another $20," he said.

He felt the lack of a coherent regulation for payments with credit card over the Internet is the main reason for such fraud.

"Anyone can just make payment over the Internet with credit cards without the need to ensure the identity of the persons using them.

"A legal framework needs to be immediately completed before credit card companies, advocate groups, and legal authorities can gain substantial ground in battling the problem," he said.

He said two avenues exist in tackling the Internet fraud issue.

The first is to create a legal framework which regulates the use of information and transactions over the Internet.

The second is to provide preventive measures and punishes those who misuse information technology, as a medium to commit crimes.

Industry observers said that "the majority of carding (the term used to describe credit card fraud over the Internet) activities are conducted in public Internet kiosks."

Most kiosks do not check renters' identifications and the majority of kiosk administrators know their kiosks are being used for carding.

Hence, if Internet kiosks obliged potential customers to produce identification, kiosks would lose business and they would not be able to pay their high overhead costs.

"The most effective way to curb credit card fraud is to start from Internet kiosks, however this may prove to be impossible as the operators will not cooperate," they commented.

Meanwhile, according to a report in Singapore's The New Paper, the extravagant shopping holiday of a Malaysian ex-bank officer - who was travelling on a Singapore passport - came to an abrupt end in Sri Lanka.

The police in Colombo detained her and three other men on Dec 6 for alleged involvement in an international forged credit ring, reported the New Straits Times.

The four are also being investigated for possible links to a passport forgery ring.

More than 300 credit cards were seized when the suspects were nabbed at a hotel in Colombo.

The cards had credit limits ranging between RM6, 000 (S$2,500) and RM12, 000.

Security consultants with card companies said the four of them blew almost RM1.5 million (S$640,000) before they were arrested. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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