Don’t fall for credit card fraud in Singapore or abroad
Credit cards are as secure as you want them to be, and 99.999% of the time credit card transactions are honest, secure and above board. However, you’ve got to be aware that there are people out there who will try their damnedest to get their hands on your card, your PIN, and – ultimately – your money.
This being the case, it pays to be aware of the kinds of scams that operate both in Singapore and around the world. We ought to know – an unguarded moment in a petrol station led to a clerk cloning a card belonging to a good friend, and selling the details on to some very bad people on the Indian sub-continent. Knowing exactly where and when this happened led to the police taking an interest, and let’s just say that clerk won’t be doing that again. But he learned a lesson – don’t let your card out of your sight.
He fell for a simple trick. The clerk had a card reader under the counter an swiped his card twice. Once in the official machine, and once into his own device. So the first lesson is this – if the clerk or waiter takes the card of of your line of sight, they might be up to no good.
Another scam that’s doing the rounds locally also involves the card leaving your side. Bar staff may take your card away to process a transaction, then return it wrapped in the receipt. Most people – if they’ve had a few to drink – don’t notice the little details, and in this case, the card they’ve returned is not yours, rather an expired one. The receipt too might be a fake, but by the time you’re home, you’ve already been scammed.
And one to look out for abroad is another that cost a (different) friend a small fortune in dollars. Some less than reputable businesses will play on the fact that you’re foreign and not entirely up-to-speed on exchange rates. Before you know it’s they’ve added a few zeroes to your bill, and you arrive home wondering what happened to all your money. If you’re abroad, be aware how much of the local currency you get for your dollar.
What we’re saying is this: It’s very rare that you’ll be the victim of credit card crime, but people are out there after your money. Keep an eye on your card when you use it, and you’ll never be a victim.
If you are looking for a travel credit card then compare no further than Enjoy Compare, Singapore’s comparison website
Article by Jason Taylor – [email protected]
