Nthabi Nhlapo
It's time to get back to reality, and what worse way to be reminded that the dreaminess and kindness of the festive season is just a short break from real life then becoming a credit card fraud statistic? Once the elves returned to the North Pole, and the Christmas trees found their way back into their dusty boxes, thugs have started sneaking around, making I hope no one else started their New Year as I did with a text on 2 January that...
All these texts would be fine, except the purchases were made in Gordon's Bay, Cape Town, while I sat at home in Randburg, Joburg - over 1 400km away. To add salt to the wound, I do not have a CTM card and have never applied for one. In fact, I didn't even have an idea that the store had a credit facility or that you could use their card to make purchases at Checkers.
However, criminals are also getting more intelligent and finding ways to bypass these systems. Recent South African Banking Risk Information Centre crime statistics revealed that card-not-present fraud - a fraudulent transaction where neither the card nor the cardholder is present while conducting the transactions - contributed to 55.3% of all card fraud in 2021.