Protect Yourself And Your Money! 10 Credit Card Fraud Tips You Need To Know

South Africa is known for its credit and debit card fraud. The UK Government even mentions it in a section on the travel advice section of its website! Earlier this year, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) released a report highlighting the worrying statistics relating to a significant rise in credit card fraud over the past year. In the light of the alarming numbers, we’re about to share with you, read on to discover the best credit card fraud tips to help prevent you from becoming a statistic.

• Almost half of all credit card fraud in the world occurs in South Africa, along with 72 percent of global debit card fraud!
• Combined card fraud losses on cards issued in South Africa increased 18 percent from 2017 to 2018.
• Card Not Present fraud accounted for almost 80 pecent of all gross fraud losses.
• Gauteng has the highest losses of R63.1 million. Next is KZN with R56.1m, followed by the Western Cape (R20.1m) and the Eastern Cape (R19.9m).

Types of Credit Card Fraud

The most obvious form of credit card fraud occurs after your card is lost or stolen, and there has been an increase in this type of fraud over the past six years. Other types of fraud to be aware of include:

False Application

It is worrying easy to falsify a credit card application using someone else’s identity. Although this type of fraud only accounts for a little over one percent of all current credit card fraud in South Africa at the moment, there has been an increase in incidents of almost 25 percent over the past year, so this is clearly one to be aware of.

Intercepted Card

This happens when an authentic card is issued and sent but is intercepted by criminals before it arrives at its legitimate destination. Thanks to improvements in card collection and PIN issuing protocols, this type of fraud is decreasing.

Card Skimming at Point of Sale

Card skimming, or the fraudulent capture of your card information, is common with point of sale machines in restaurants and shops. Cards can also be skimmed at ATMs.

Counterfeit Cards

This occurs when the information from the magnetic strip of a stolen, genuine card is used to illegally manufacture a fraudulent card. This information is most commonly gleaned through card skimming, and not from the physical stealing of a card.

Account Takeover

This happens when an imposter, posing as a genuine account holder, uses the account for his own gain. Far from being an exercise in cloak and dagger disguise, the crook usually works online, gaining access to your personal information and, pretending to be you, applies for a replacement card.

What You Can Do: 10 Great Credit Card Fraud Tips To Help You Stay Safe

If you’ve never been a victim of credit card fraud, it’s not always easy to be as vigilant as someone who has unfortunately suffered at the hands of a clever fraudster. But with incidences on the rise, it pays to be ultra-cautious when it comes to protecting yourself – and your money – from the bad guys. Here are 10 really helpful tips to help avoid card fraud.

• If you still get your bank statements by post, make sure you shred them as soon as you’ve checked them. Never just throw them into the recycling bin! It’s far safer – not to mention more environmentally friendly! – to receive your statements by email.
• Make sure your card is chip-enabled (also called EMV). Most newly issued cards already have a chip embedded, but if yours doesn’t, apply at your bank today for one that does. This helps protect against card skimming.
• When shopping online, always make sure the site is secure before entering any payment details.
• Take advantage of the SMS notification service offered by most banks. This alerts you whenever there is a transaction on your account, helping you quickly identify any unauthorised activity.
• Never do online banking from a shared computer i.e. at an Internet café, student library or hotel conference facility or business hub.
• If your card is “swallowed” by an ATM, contact your bank immediately to ask for it to be blocked. A card you think has disappeared into the bowels of the machine may actually be being skimmed at that moment, so don’t wait until you get home.
• Never, ever, EVER let your card out of your sight when paying for anything, and always make sure you take your card back after making a purchase.
• Remember that official correspondence from your bank will never contain links to update your details, and you will never be asked for your PIN number or 3-digit security code (CVC). Any mail asking for this kind of information is a scam and should be reported to your bank immediately.
• Never accept help from anyone at an ATM. If you are unsure of how to proceed, take back your card and go into the nearest branch of your bank for assistance. Fraudsters are very skilled at pretending to help you with your transaction, only to secretly steal or swap your card.
• Always shred (not just cut up) old credit cards before throwing them away – even if they’ve expired.

As a PCI-DSS compliant company, Huge Connect is not permitted to access or view any credit or debit card information.  We are not able to access any customer card data, and it is securely transmitted across the Huge Connect network, directly from our client to the acquiring bank on the data-link layer. We do not store or process any cardholder data.

Why does this matter to you? Because it means you can trust us to transmit your information safely and securely across our network. If you’d like to find out how this can benefit your business, chat to us today.