Olympic visitors urged to be extra vigilant in fight against credit card fraud
Fraudsters in Brazil are poised to exploit the influx of international visitors for the Olympics a survey revealed today.
With half a million visitors expected for the Olympics, research by ACI Worldwide indicated that 49 per cent of Brazilians have experienced some kind of credit or debit card fraud in the last five years, second globally to Mexico with 56 per cent.
In addition, card fraud in Brazil is on an upward trend as two years ago 30 per cent of those surveyed said that they had been a victim of card fraud.
“With fraud rates in Brazil continuing to soar, it is important that visitors to the Rio Games do everything they can to protect themselves,” said Jay Floyd of ACI Worldwide.
The survey also revealed that many people are not adequately protecting themselves in the battle against unscrupulous activity. Half of the people surveyed admitted that they wrote down their PIN number and then stored it next to their card. And in many of the countries 25 per cent of respondents confessed to not securing their mobile phone.
“Although many banks have invested in robust technology to quickly identify card fraud and will reimburse customers in case of fraud, it is better to avoid becoming a victim and having your holidays spoiled by fraudsters in the first place,” said Floyd.
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ACI advised Olympic-goers to pay using chip-and-pin terminals rather than simply through the card’s magnetic stripe – although this maybe harder to do as chip-and-pin terminals are less prevalent than in Europe.
Other suggestions included to speak to your bank before leaving and lock smartphones as they often contain valuable information that can be used for fraudulent transactions.