Accused of fraud with new card
|Published
File photo: Simphiwe Mbokazi File photo: Simphiwe Mbokazi
Johannesburg- Thanks to the criminals of this world, all of us are routinely subjected to security procedures such as bag searches, scanning machines in airports, and pat-downs if our bling sets them off.
And those who’ve been the victim of identity fraud have the ongoing frustration of having to jump through extra hoops to prove to authorities and businesses that they’re the actual person rather than their criminal counterpart.
Bank fraud is particularly rife so it’s fitting and necessary that banks have systems in place to protect honest folk from being “taken” by fraudsters.
Inevitably, a few good people get fingered as fraud suspects in the process.
But unless retailers and banks are sensitive to just how awful and humiliating it is to be mistakenly accused of doing something wrong – and have appropriate procedures in place which take this into account – the potential for abuse is huge.
That’s what appears to have happened in this case.
On Friday, June 7, David Rencontre collected his new debit card from Absa in Langebaan.
He’d applied for a replacement card because his existing one was a little worn and he wanted to avoid “having problems” with it while holidaying with his family overseas.
He used it for the first time at a Spar in Langebaan that day, without incident.
The next day he visited Checkers at Sea Side Village in Big Bay, Cape Town, with his wife and two young sons, where he attempted to make a purchase at the store’s liquor outlet.
“The payment went through, but according to Checkers’ admin manager, the card was ‘red flagged’.”
She then called the bank’s authorisations centre to get authorisation for the transaction.
“After an hour of no one telling us what was happening, they came back to us and told us that the card was fraudulent and that an Absa fraud investigator was on his way, along with the Saps.”
The police arrived at the store and went behind closed doors with the admin manager.
About 10 minutes later the policeman informed Rencontre that they had taken a statement from the admin manager on behalf of the store.
“He gave me two options. One that he was going place me under arrest for fraud and take me to the Table View police station, but because he did not want to put my family through that, the other option was for us to wait for the bank’s fraud investigator at the staff entrance at the back of the store,” Rencontre told Consumer Watch.
By this time, the saga had lasted two hours, and there was still no sign of the fraud investigator.
They went to the back, where they were all searched, before Rencontre convinced his “captors” to let his wife and sons leave.
At 4.50pm – about two and a half hours after the card was red-flagged – he was collected by a Checkers security officer and escorted to the manager’s office, where the Absa fraud investigator was waiting.
“He proceeded to ask me four or five questions to verify that I am the account holder. That took less than a minute, and I was told everything was ‘fine’. Just like that.
“Naturally, I asked what the problem was and why we were subjected to this."
"He told me it was an Absa system error and added that had he not come through to verify my identity, I probably would have spent the remainder of the weekend in jail.”
“Why couldn’t the Absa employee at the authorisations centre simply ask for me to verify the information over the phone? How can a system error cause this type of infringement and embarrassment to a decent family of four?
“We were detained and treated like criminals.”
I wrote to both Shoprite and Absa’s head offices for responses to Rencontre’s complaint.
I asked Absa: “Why could Mr Rencontre’s guilt or innocence not be ascertained over the phone, without subjecting him and his family to that humiliating ordeal?”
I also asked: “How many others were affected by this system error, and does the bank have plans to make amends to Mr Rencontre?”
Absa’s first response went like this: “Absa regrets what had happened and apologises for the inconvenience experienced by the client.”
“As a bank we strive to ensure that we make our customers’ lives easier. The error identified was technical and not fraud related.”
“Absa employs strict governance principles in alignment with the International MasterCard/Visa regulations, and therefore had to take steps to rule out the possibility of fraud.”
“Absa can confirm that with a single phone call for a code 10 (suspicious activity alert) authorisation, merchants in doubt of the presenter of a card, or the card itself, can verify whether the client is the legitimate cardholder.
“The bank will ask the merchant certain pertinent questions before speaking to the customer in order to verify these details. This can take less than two minutes and is the standard procedure prescribed by Mastercard and Visa.
“We will endeavour to re-educate merchants of this procedure to avoid a similar situation in the future. Absa apologises for any inconvenience caused.”
Nothing about the extent of the “system error”, or any amends.
In short, Absa confirmed Rencontre’s innocence could have been verified with a two-minute phone call, and the store should have known to do this.
Well, that’s not what the fraud investigator told Rencontre at the scene. He told him that had he (the investigator) not arrived, Rencontre could have spent the weekend in jail, under suspicion of fraud.
And the supermarket’s admin manager did call the bank when the card was red-flagged.
The Shoprite group told Consumer Watch that it was “satisfied that our administration manager followed the required procedures in accordance with Absa bank instructions and our own internal policies”.
“With the high incidence of debit and credit card fraud experienced in the retail market, it is not only in Shoprite Checkers’ own interest to apply specific verification disciplines, but more importantly, it is in the interest of its customers whose cards may have been cloned, to have the banks verify the authenticity of cards when a card number does not match the information printed on the EFT slip that is supplied by the bank.
“Regrettably we had no control over the fact that Absa’s system error unleashed this chain of events, nor the length of time that the bank’s fraud investigating officer took to get to the store.”
The two parties clearly need to talk about such procedures to prevent someone else being detained and made to feel like a criminal.
Rencontre is pursuing this matter with the two companies involved, via his attorney. - The Star