Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Fear of Fraud Prompts Massive Bank Card Recall in Germany

Via Spiegel Online.

Thousands of credit cards have been recalled in Germany over concerns about a potential fraud scam in Spain.

Responding to allegations of data theft in the popular holiday destination, German banks are conducting their largest ever credit card swap-out to prevent fraud.

A spokesman for Germany's cooperative banking group, known as the Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken (BVR), told the Financial Times Deutschland that it had removed approximately 60,000 issued credit cards from circulation in response to allegations that a service provider in Spain stole data. Other banks and savings institutions in Germany have also been affected. In the end the massive credit card recall will top 100,000.

"We play it safe," said a spokesman for the BVR on Tuesday evening. "At the slightest suspicion, we exchange the cards. So the numbers are high," he added.

The organization is working to prevent fraud through fake transactions, after the banking industry received a warning from Visa and MasterCard that an "attack by a Spanish company on credit card data from German customers," was possible. The warning applies to Visa and MasterCards that were used in Spain in previous months. To date, no claims of fraud have been detected from the affected Visa and MasterCards, and if there were customers would not be liable for damages.

More here.

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