Police warn about into tap-and-go card fraud
Pretoria residents are being cautioned about the dangers of tapping their cards when making a purchase.
Police are warning residents to be vigilant when it comes to credit and debit card scams in Pretoria.
SAPS spokesperson Johan van Dyk said stealing credit cards at ATMs are the most common local card scams.
“If you think you are a victim of card scamming, the best thing to do is to cancel your card and go to the bank to take a bank statement that will show the purchases of scammers,” said Van Dyk.
He furthermore explained that you can open a case with the statement from the bank to show where the purchases were made and a criminal case will then be opened.
Pretoria resident, Mogau Malebane, who recently was targeted by scammers, described the experience as “shocking”.
According to Malebane, one of the issues with “tap and go” is it does not require a Pin, and there is no limit to how many times a person can tap their card.
“I actually did not know that my card did not have a limit until it was stolen,” he said.
Malebane added that the scammer went to purchase items worth R500 at different stores till he blocked the card.
He told Rekord he lost about R2 000 in less than 24 hours.
According to National Financial Ombud Scheme South Africa’s escalations and administration manager, Kwanda Vabaza, when using the tap-and-go method with your physical card, there’s a limit of R500.
“If a customer exceeds the limit, a Pin will be required in every purchase they make,” said Vabaza.
He also added that tapping with your phone is better than tapping with your physical card.
“Scammers steal your card number and CCV easily when you are using your physical card to tap,” said Vabaza.
Vabaza told Rekord they previously found out that scammers sell victims’ card information to people overseas (especially in Dubai and France).
He urged people to not give OTP numbers to strangers, because it might be scammers loading their card information into PayPal or other online payment methods.
ALSO READ: EPWP workers to be paid before end of this month
Do you have more information about the story?
Please send us an email to bennittb@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
