Monday, Apr 02, 2012
Gulf News
Dubai: Visa and MasterCard yesterday said they had taken necessary steps to safeguard the accounts of UAE cardholders after a massive data security breach was reported in the US.
The two payment processing networks confirmed they are monitoring any suspected fraudulent activity and advised UAE consumers to contact their banks if they have concerns about their cards being compromised.
In a statement, Visa and MasterCard said they had alerted global banks regarding the affected account numbers so that they can also take steps to protect cardholders. They said that while there has been no breach in their own systems, cardholders should always be vigilant of suspicious card transactions.
R. Sivaram, senior vice-president and head of cards business at Emirates NBD, also advised the banks customers to review carefully the SMS transaction alerts they receive regularly from the bank and report any irregularities.
US-based third-party services provider Global Payments Inc. reported on Friday unauthorised access into its system early last month, resulting in the potential compromise of card account information from major card brands including MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discover.
Although the recent incident happened in the US, some cardholders in the UAE expressed fears that their personal information could also be at risk.
By Cleofe Maceda, Senior Reporter
Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.
