Credit card fraud booms in South Africa

Consumers are losing millions of rand every year as credit card fraud skyrocketed in South Africa over the past three years, the SA Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) said today.

Head of Sabric's Commercial Crime branch, Susan Potgieter, was speaking at a media briefing in Durban. She said annual comparisons had revealed a drastic increase as criminals had been "tricking weak consumers."

In the 2005/2006 financial year, she said, the crime had gone up by 46%. This had increased in the 2006/2007 financial year to 97%. From last year up until present, it had gone up by another 57%.

In the first five months of this year, statistics showed the crime was most prevalent in Gauteng. Gauteng is at 46.7%, the Western Cape at 19% and KwaZulu-Natal is at 17.2%.

She said the trend had changed since last year when groceries stores were the most targeted. This year liquor stores have been the worst hit.

Captain Louis Helberg of the Commercial Crime Unit in Durban said a credit card syndicate had been using card skimming devices to defraud scores of people at ATM machines, restaurants and casinos.

He said the device was being imported, particularly from China and could be bought easily over the internet.

The black device, which is about the size of cigarette lighter, copies data from the magnetic strip on the back of bank cards and each device can be used to copy about 2 000 cards.

Helberg said they continued to make arrests but said the crime still grew. The latest arrest was made last week at Mount Edgecombe.

Potgieter says the crime has evolved over the years and criminals are relying on consumer weakness and that's why they want to educate people using cards.

"People must be smart and alert at all times so criminals can stop abusing the commercial space", she said. - Sapa