Man facing court for alleged card cloning

Source: Post Courier

CLONING of bank cards is on the rise in the

country.

Yesterday, about four unsuspecting customers

of the Bank South Pacific fell victim to these

fraudsters who accessed their debit visa

accounts and drained their accounts of their

savings in them.

One of the victims, a teacher, was lost for

words when she went to the ATM and found

out that her account was depleted.

She fronted up at BSP Boroko to enquire but

was told by the bank staff that she is not the

only one, there are a number of customers

who have fallen victim to fraudsters who are

fraudulently accessing customers debit visa

accounts and depleting their hard earned

monies.

She was told that she is the third person to

report to the bank on this issue.

BSP Group general manager retail, Ronesh

Dayal, when contacted said: "Card cloning has

emerged as a significant issue within the

banking sector in PNG, particularly with the

use of magnetic stripe cards. The banks are

working together closely to address this risk and will be engaging with regulators to explore

effective solutions.

"We urge any customers who believe they

have been impacted by card cloning to contact

their bank as soon as possible.

"In the meantime, we are consistently

communicating with our customers,

emphasising the importance of safeguarding

their card information and not sharing their

details with anyone."

Meanwhile, an alleged offender who allegedly

cloned a bank card and stole more than

K6000 belonging to another person is now in

court for the charge of stealing.

Elson Meauri, 37, from Tipaipana in Bereina

Central Province, was brought to court after

police alleged that he used a bank card to

steal a total of K6291.20 belonging to the

complainant on different ATMs in Port

Moresby. Police allege that the Elson and his

accomplice were picked up by a taxi at Hohola

2 and brought to Waigani BSP branch where

he withdrew K3000 swiping it three times then

they drove to 5-Mile White House where the

fendant used the same bank card to purchase a carton of beer and cigarettes

amounting to K302, then drove to Repeng

Supermarket at Hohola, previously known as

TST.

At Repeng Supermarket, the accused told his

accomplice to go and buy cigarettes with the

same bank card in which his accomplice went

and bought cigarette packets valued at

K2989.00.

The complainant had gone to a ATM and

realised that his money in the bank was

missing so he went to the bank and got a bank

statement and tracked down the places where

the card was used.

Police further alleged that the defendant had

allegedly conspired with an employee of the

bank to clone the bank card with the same pin

number that belonged to the complainant.

Upon a formal complaint lodged at the police

station, the police identified the taxi through a

CCTV footage, and the taxi was impounded

and led them to the accused who was

apprehended and arrested.

Waigani Committal Court Magistrate Paul Puri Nii had the defendant formally arraigned and

he will no undergo the committal process to

dispute police allegation against him.

Source: Post Courier