Credit card fraud drops signficantly

The National Credit Card Center (聯合信用卡中心) says that the recent busts of Taiwan's two largest fake credit card rings have reduced the incidence of fraud affecting its member banks. The rings were busted on April 26 and May 19.

"According to staff in the risk management departments of our member banks, credit card fraud has been reduced by 60 to 70 percent" recently, said Wu Tzu-li (吳子禮), the manager of the center's member banks service department.

Sammy Ip, director of risk management at MasterCard, Yang Cheng-yi (楊正義), assistant manager of the credit card center at Union Bank (聯邦銀行), and an employee from the risk management department of E. Sun Bank (玉山銀行) who wished to remain anonymous, all said that they had seen steep reductions in credit card fraud in April and May.

"Credit card fraud has been reduced by 50 percent since the busts," said the E. Sun official.

"Most of our member banks' risk management departments have noticed a reduction in credit card fraud cases in April and May," said Ip. "We have noticed the difference that the busts have made," said Yang.

Another bank also said the crackdown was showing signs of success. "The busts have helped us to avoid extensive losses," said Sun Lan-ing (孫蘭英), director of the credit card center at the International Commercial Bank of China (中國國際商銀).

Credit card issuing banks and companies have also pushed for new legislation to increase the penalties for credit card fraud. Current penalties allow for prision sentences of up to three years. But a new bill, which recently passed its first reading in the legislature, would treat counterfeit credit cards the same as fake securities, dealing out penalties of up to seven years in prison.

Banks nevertheless appealed to cardholders to look after their credit cards carefully.

"To prevent credit cards from being used fraudulently, credit cardholders should look after their credit cards carefully, and take particular care of their personal identification numbers. But more important point is never to let your credit card out of your sight," said Ip.

Pundits recommended that consumers stay clear of streetside card vendors, and do the math themselves. "Never apply for a credit card or give personal information on the streets," said Sun.

Meanwhile, Ip said the locations of credit card number thefts are well known.

"Credit card codes are at a high risk of being copied in places like KTVs, restaurants, gas stations and department stores," he said.