Credit card fraud is reaching epidemic proportions.
Just look at the evidence. In South Korea last week, the data from 20 million credit card users was leaked by an employee at a credit rating firm. Last December, credit card details of 110 million shoppers at US retail giant Target were stolen by a computer programme.
These are not singular crimes. They are the latest in a rising tide of thefts that stretches as far back as 2005. There was an estimated $21 billion (Dh77.23 billion) of credit card frauds committed in the US alone in 2012. Steps have been taken to increase security, but fraudsters always seem to be one step ahead. It is time to get serious. Due to the international nature of these crimes — a Russian teen reportedly wrote the programme used in the Target heist — it is time for an international body to take over, one which has the ability and resources to tackle this international, technological threat. Otherwise, it will only be a matter of time before the risk of having our credit card details stolen will force us to go back to being a cash-based society.
