Beware of card cloning

Ian Vogel, Fish Hoek

Absa’s fraud division contacted my wife on Thursday March 3.Three fraudulent purchases had been made on her credit card. While talking to Absa, a further four irregular transactions took place.

Absa cancelled her card. A total of seven such transactions were made with a total of R10 450. These were all thankfully cancelled. The Absa official said that her card had been cloned and that places such as garages, restaurants and wi-fi outlets were prone to credit-card cloning.

Her transactions had been diverted to another phone. She had only made four purchases with her credit card (all in Fish Hoek) from Monday February 28 to Thursday March 3 and had only handed out her credit card to an employee at a service station (She had personal control of her credit card with all three other purchases.).

The petrol jockey had said there was a fault with the hand -held credit card machine. I contacted the manager at the service station and said that although there was no definitive proof of wrongdoing by the employee or the garage, I wanted him to be aware of this possibility.

I wish to emphasise to the public that they should not give their credit card to anyone and not continue with a transaction if they suspect any irregularity. And much thanks to Absa for their great service.