Credit card fraud continues to hit South Africa's banking industry, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) said on Monday.
In a statement, it said the industry's financial losses resulting from credit card fraud for 2009 had increased by five percent,
This represented a significant downward trend in the growth rate of industry card fraud losses compared to the 30 percent increase last year, said Sabric chief executive officer Kalyani Pillay.
She said banks remained committed to raising the public's awareness of its role in supporting industry initiatives to mitigate bank card fraud.
Most bank fraud losses involving South African-issued credit cards in 2009 occurred inside the country, Pillay said.
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Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape accounted for 89 percent of the losses, she said.
Overall, card fraud losses inside South Africa this year decreased by six percent.
"Sabric attributes the decline in card fraud inside our borders to the decrease in certain card fraud types as a result of robust industry crime prevention measures, including public awareness.
"The impact of the reach of chip and PIN technology on the abuse of lost and stolen cards is beginning to be noticed," she said.
This was further supported by the industry's real time crime risk management which facilitated the immediate detection of, and response to, incidents of fraud at merchant level.
Pillay said counterfeit card fraud was the primary fraud loss category this year, having increased by 22 percent to R144 million.
"Most of banking industry's financial losses resulting from counterfeit card fraud occur within the borders of South Africa.
"Skimming of cards via hand-held skimming devices still remains the main modus operandi to obtain information needed, to manufacture counterfeit cards."
Pillay urged the public to adhere to safe banking messages from their banks, such as not to let their cards out of sight when transacting or accepting assistance with their ATM transactions.
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