Local e-tailer Kalahari.net last week uncovered two cases of attempted credit card fraud, leading to the arrest of two individuals on Thursday. Kalahari`s internal fraud unit worked with Standard Bank`s fraud unit in identifying, tracing and arresting the individuals.
"Kalahari`s security system alerted us that fraud was suspected," says Hein Pretorius, GM of Kalahari.net. "We immediately verified the individuals` details and found that the owner of the credit card was, in fact, not transacting at the time. The order was cancelled and no delivery took place."
Kalahari notified Standard Bank, which in turn hot-listed the individuals. Standard Bank was alerted when the credit card number was used in an attempted purchase at a real world store.
Pretorius explains the e-tailer`s approach to combating fraud.
"Once a transaction is approved by the bank, it`s returned to us, and we run a number of parameters against the individual profile. That results in a list of suspicious transactions, which are further refined against another set of parameters. That list is then passed on to our fraud unit, which has direct links into the fraud units of local and international banks, and the fraud investigation unit of the SAPS."
"This sends out a clear message that credit card fraud will not be tolerated in our store and that Kalahari will do everything in its power to ensure that fraudsters are brought to book."
Since December 2000, Kalahari.net has averted 100% of fraud attempts on its site, translating into a saving of R300 000 for the company. Pretorius says that would-be fraudsters generally attempt to get away with amounts ranging from R800 to R10 000 in a single purchase.
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