CBA cuts spending limits
(27 January 2010 – Australia) Commonwealth Bank of Australia has made the move to reduce some of its customers’ card limits after skimming threats surfaced.
The bank sent sms messages to some of its customers notifying them that their cards may have been compromised and requested the customer complete a PIN change.
The card limits were reduced to A$200 per day until the customer had changed their PIN.
A spokeswomen for the bank, Nicole Ismay, told Bloomberg News, that the limit was set as a precautionary measure and it did not mean that the customers who received the message had been targeted by skimmers.
The Daily Telegraph reported that CBA's measures taken to prevent card skimming comes as Westpac revealed that it blocked around 11,000 cards in a Ten day period due to compromised transactions occurring; police then revealed that over A$5 million had been stolen in Australia's largest ever skimming operation.
Westpac's move was a preventative measure, with a much smaller number of its customers in NSW, possibly hundreds, actually having money stolen from their accounts.
McDonalds appears, in many of the cases, to be the target of the skimmers; a spokeswoman for the franchise declined to comment on how many of its machines may have been targeted.
The skimmers modify the machines to capture customers’ card details and PIN, giving them access to withdraw funds.
Customers are not liable for money taken in an unauthorised transaction; the cost is solely the bank’s.
Total fraud involving cards used or issued in Australia stood at A$263 million in 2008, according to the Australian Payments Clearing Authority. In 2009, card fraud exploded with the invasion of eastern European crime gangs from Romania and Bulgaria into Australia.
The card limits were reduced to A$200 per day until the customer had changed their PIN.
A spokeswomen for the bank, Nicole Ismay, told Bloomberg News, that the limit was set as a precautionary measure and it did not mean that the customers who received the message had been targeted by skimmers.
The Daily Telegraph reported that CBA's measures taken to prevent card skimming comes as Westpac revealed that it blocked around 11,000 cards in a Ten day period due to compromised transactions occurring; police then revealed that over A$5 million had been stolen in Australia's largest ever skimming operation.
Westpac's move was a preventative measure, with a much smaller number of its customers in NSW, possibly hundreds, actually having money stolen from their accounts.
McDonalds appears, in many of the cases, to be the target of the skimmers; a spokeswoman for the franchise declined to comment on how many of its machines may have been targeted.
The skimmers modify the machines to capture customers’ card details and PIN, giving them access to withdraw funds.
Customers are not liable for money taken in an unauthorised transaction; the cost is solely the bank’s.
Total fraud involving cards used or issued in Australia stood at A$263 million in 2008, according to the Australian Payments Clearing Authority. In 2009, card fraud exploded with the invasion of eastern European crime gangs from Romania and Bulgaria into Australia.
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