Lost and Stolen Card Fraud

Lost and Stolen Card Fraud

This type of fraud occurs when a lost or stolen card is used by a fraudster posing as you.

 

Access to your card only

A fraudster with access to your card but no PIN may make purchases at merchant outlets where the merchant’s POS machine requires only signature authorisation. In such cases we may be able to recover the funds from the merchant if it can be proven that the merchant didn’t check the signature on the sales voucher against the signature on the card despite the card not having been reported lost or stolen at the time that it was used.

 

Access to both card and PIN

A fraudster with access to both your card and PIN may withdraw cash from ATMs and make purchases at merchant outlets where the merchant’s POS requires a PIN to be used to authorise the transaction. In such cases your money may never be recovered from the merchant or the ATM operator as the transaction was authorised by the PIN.

 

Stolen card used online

Stolen cards can also be used to make purchases online. The fraudster would need additional information such as the address to which the card is registered to carry out the transaction but this may be easily obtained from your bank statements if they were not disposed of carefully.

 

If your card is lost or stolen

  • Most lost and stolen card fraud occurs before you report the loss. It is therefore very important that you report any loss or theft of your card as soon as you notice of its absence.
  • Once you have reported the loss or theft of a card by calling (+248) 429XXXX and we have blocked your card, all transactions taking place on the card will be declined.
  • If ever a lost or stolen card is presented to a merchant, he will be advised through a special code on their POS terminal that the card has been reported lost/stolen, and if possible the merchant may be able to take the card from the fraudster and hand it over to their bank for further investigation.
  • Where the card is used in an ATM, it will be retained by the ATM to prevent any further usage of the card.

 

Protect yourself from lost and stolen card fraud 

  • Not leaving your handbag or wallet unattended or carrying your wallet in your back pocket.
  • Carrying only the cards you need.
  • Avoiding placing cards in your pockets, where they can easily fall out.
  • Making sure that your cards fit snugly inside your wallet or purse.

 

Recovering funds lost through lost and stolen card fraud

We will try to recover any money that had been used fraudulently before you reported the card as lost/stolen, however the process is one that is long and may not yield any results if the ATM or POS transaction was authorised by a PIN or an online transaction was executed on a website that is 3D secure.