Gauteng tops list in credit card fraud

JOHANNESBURG - The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) has warned consumers to be vigilant during the festive season as card fraud is on the increase.
Gauteng rated the highest in credit card fraud, followed by the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces respectively. The provinces collectively accounted for 88% of all credit card fraud losses in South Africa.
The highest credit card fraud loss occurred in Gauteng (55%), followed by the Western Cape with 22 percent and  Kwa Zulu-Natal accounted for nine percent of the gross fraud loss.
These provinces also recorded the highest number of skimming devices retrieved. From 2005 to September 2014 a total of 1 377 handheld skimming devices were recovered by either SAPS or bank investigators.
The majority of handheld skimming devices were recovered in Gauteng (38), KwaZulu-Natal (13) and the Western Cape (9).
Card skimming involves the illegal copying of encoded information from the magnetic strip of a legitimate card by means of a card reader, and this could occur either at ATMs or points of sales.
"We urge bank customers to adhere to ATM safety tips such as not accepting assistance from anybody at the ATM and not letting their cards out of their sight when transacting," said Kalyani Pillay, Sabric CEO.
According to Sabric, the banking industry’s gross fraud losses due to South African issued credit card fraud increased by 23 % from R366-m in 2013 to R453, 9m in 2014.
Meanwhile, counterfeit credit card fraud losses inside South Africa decreased by 12 percent from R55,1-m in 2013 to R48, 4-m in 2014.