Banks should notify their clients of any online transaction of more than NT$3,000 (US$108.50) via text message, smartphone app or e-mail, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday, as it lowered the limit from NT$5,000 to prevent credit card fraud amid increasing reports of cases involving smaller amounts.
The Bankers’ Association of the Republic of China (銀行公會) and credit card issuers reached a consensus on lowering the threshold in a meeting held by the commission on Jan. 4, the FSC said yesterday, adding that banks would have six month to update their systems.
“We noticed that the average amount in card frauds has declined in the past few years, from NT$4,030 in 2018 to NT$3,269 in the first 10 months of last year. It seems that thieves are targeting smaller charges,” Banking Bureau Chief Secretary Phil Tong (童政彰) said.
Photo: Kelson Wang, Taipei Times
The commission suggested to lower the limit to help cardholders check their balances more thoroughly, Tong said.
“Among all types of credit card fraud, online transaction frauds using stolen credit cards or card details had a share of 99 percent,” Tong said.
Last year’s figure compares with 97.2 percent in 2017, 97.7 percent in 2018, 97.08 percent in 2019 and 98.31 percent in 2020, Tong said, adding that preventing credit card fraud on the Internet is becoming increasingly important.
Some banks allow cardholders to set a lower notification threshold for online purchases, Tong added.
In the first 10 months of last year, Taiwan reported 495,000 credit card fraud cases, resulting in combined losses of NT$1.62 billion, FSC data showed.
However, the proportion of credit card fraud accounted for less than 0.1 percent of all 1.58 billion credit card transactions during the same period, the data showed.
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