Local credit-card scam artist busted

Local credit-card scam artist busted (30-12-2005) HCM CITY — Vietnamese banks escaped financial damage this week after a man was arrested for using 30 fake credit cards in Vietcombank’s automatic teller machines. Ha Noi police arrested Nguyen Anh Tuan on Tuesday for having allegedly used fake VISA, Master Card and American Express credit cards to withdraw up to VND800 million (US$50,000) from a Vietcombank automatic teller machine. Vietcombank officials said the transactions only affected the US banks that issued the cards. International credit card organisations have warned their global-member banks of crimes of this kind, known worldwide as “skimming” (stealing cards’ data) or “fishing” (stealing personal identities). Banking officials said it was essential for customers to protect their private personal identification numbers (PIN) codes and any other information about their cards. Nguyen Tu Anh, head of Vietcombank’s card management department, said cardholders should be especially careful about giving their personal card information to anyone through e-mail. To prevent fraud, Duong Quang Khanh, head of the electronic service depatment of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of Viet Nam, said that banks must closely monitor their operations and pay more attention to recruitment, and possibly even rotate personnel. Online transactions Because of the possibility of fraud, Incombank officials said the bank has yet to launch its online payment service through credit cards it has issued. Anh said Vietcombank has long issued international credit cards using chip technology considered optimal in combating fraud. But he said offline payments remained the goal of most…