Wednesday January 7, 2009

Added security to prevent credit card fraud

PETALING JAYA: The National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC) is proposing that credit card purchases of fuel at the pump be authenticated by the cardholder keying in a personal identification number (PIN) or password.

“There should be more security for consumers who use their credit cards to buy fuel,” the centre’s chief executive Muhammad Sha’ani Abdullah told a press conference here yesterday.

He said cases relating to lost credit cards and fraud increased from 809 in 2007 to over 1,000 last year, and most misuse took place at petrol stations.

“This is because the current system only requires the user to swipe the card,” he said. The NCCC will send its proposal to Bank Negara Malaysia this week, added Muhammad Sha’ani, who is also Fomca secretary-general.

He lamented that not all credit card issuers had a flagging system to alert users when irregular transactions were made.

“Some banks could not care less when irregular transactions occur, such as a credit card being used many times at the same premises on the same day,” he said, adding that these banks left the responsibility to the cardholder.

“If banks are not equipped with such a simple security system, then Bank Negara should just stop credit card usage altogether,” Muhammad Sha’ani said.

# posted by share n care @ 11:38 PM