CrediMax holds credit card fraud workshop

The seminar was addressed by Mr. Mohammed Redha Al Aali, Head of Card Security at CrediMax who discussed the various types and aspects of credit card crimes along with preventive tools and methods that can be adopted and practiced to combat such crimes.

'In general, credit card fraud usually includes the use of stolen, lost or counterfeit cards, use of stolen customer information through e-Commerce and fraud committed using a credit card or any similar payment mechanism as a fraudulent source of funds in a transaction,' explained Mr. Mohammed Redha.

Over the years and even today, the use of a magnetic stripe on credit cards is prevalent. Information contained through this mode is easily accessible, readable and, after a certain lapse of time these stripes becomes obsolete.

'There are many ways to commit credit card fraud. The most common and recorded modes of committing such frauds are at ATM's and various points of sale (POS) Fraudsters are very inventive, using sophisticated technology and fast moving people with global networking. As technology changes, so does the technology of criminals, and thus the way in which they go about their fraudulent activities, 'Mr. Redha further added

Today the chip and PIN technology is the most common defense against such frauds.
Biometric authentication has also added new dimension in card payment security.
The introduction of microchips, which use encryption to scramble the cardholder's information, presents new, powerful and flexible features to strengthen and improve security in the plastic card industry.

'As well as increasing security and enabling faster transactions, chip technology allows the implementation of multi-application card programmes and the opportunity to explore different payment channels such as mobile phones,' said Mr. Redha

At the seminar, Mr. Redha also highlighted Internet and E-Commerce fraud and the new authentication capabilities developed by Card associations to improve transaction performance online as well as to accelerate the growth of electronic commerce through increased consumer confidence.

Frauds can be eliminated in several ways that include customer and merchant education, application and use of the latest technology such as chip card and data encryption and collaboration between all relevant parties like banks, card associations, merchants, police, legislation, judicial and executive bodies.

'Imparting proper information and education, and the adoption of the latest technology are prime essentials to combat card fraud' said Mr. Redha

CrediMax continues to be the leading credit card issuer in the Kingdom, offering its customers a wide range of unique privileges, services and opportunities to win valuable prizes.