Credit card fraud dips
Published:Wednesday | February 9, 2011 | 12:00 AM
At least one commercial bank is reporting a reduction in losses in credit-debit card fraud with the other major banks refusing to divulge if there has been any reduction.
The National Commercial Bank (NCB) is reporting as much as a 68 per cent reduction in credit-debit card fraud for the quarter ending December 2010, compared to the corresponding period of December 2009.
Lennox Channer, assistant general manager of strategic planning and performance told Wednesday Business that the bank wrote off $2.58 million for credit/debit card fraud at the quarter ending December 2010.
This is substantially less than what it wrote off for the corresponding period of December 2009 where it had losses of $8.2 million.
According to data from the bank, the reduction in the fraud was reflected in the quarter ending September 2010 when there was no write-off in that period. The subsequent quarter (December 2010), however, saw a write-off of $2.58 million.
The bank is attributing this reduction to tighter security and education of customers to be more vigilant when using their debit- credit cards.
"The reduction is as a result of measures put in place to mitigate the fraud," said Channer.
"These measures include more active monitoring of credit-debit card transactions, educating customers about the risks. We have a good relationship with the police," said Channer in efforts to nab the organisers.
Meanwhile, Scotiabank Jamaica while refusing to divulge its numbers said that they have been collaborating closely with the local police, as part of the Organised Crime Investigation Division (OCID) - ABM Card Fraud Task Force to create deterrents to card fraud.
Bruce Bowen, president and chief executive officer of Scotiabank at the end of August had reported that the bank has seen a significant jump in credit- and debit-card fraud, which hit J$150 million over nine months to July 2010.
Bowen at the time had told shareholders that the bank was continuing to upgrade its systems to catch those as quickly as possible to shut down the fraudulent cards before a lot of money is lost.
Yesterday, the bank in an e-mail response to questions from Wednesday Business said it has continued to increase customer awareness of pin security by adding screen messages to the ABMs.
"Internally the Bank has been working to improve the systems and technology associated with card issuance and usage in an effort to reduce the opportunities for card fraud," said Joylene Griffiths-Irving, director public & corporate affairs.
Card readers
Griffiths Irving said along with other local financial institutions, the bank is also pursuing an initiative to remove card readers from ABM doors to reduce the opportunity for fraudsters to use these devices to illicitly acquire information on cards.
"For example on our doors now, to gain access you press a button instead of swiping your card," she pointed out.
Meanwhile, RBTT did not respond to questions sent to them about the level of credit-debit card fraud it had. The bank said it was experiencing a "quiet period".
"All Royal Bank of Canada entities observe 'Quiet Period' , one month prior to the release of the bank's financial results for the preceding quarter. Our Quiet Period for this quarter ends March 3," said the bank in response to questions from Wednesday Business.
Just last month the Jamaica Bankers' Association joined with the police to launch a major counter-fraud initiative - Operation Safe Card, a task force, which will investigate and bring before the courts persons who prey on unsuspecting persons.
The police reported that said since October, 20 people were arrested, 55 charges laid and more than 300 fraudulent cards recovered.