00:00Convenient stores, especially those that offer a 24-hour service like the one behind me here at St. Christopher's gas
00:07station, are as the name suggests, convenient to members of the public.
00:11That includes the law-abiding citizens and, well, non-law-abiding citizens.
00:15As of late, people seeking to commit bank card fraud have been finding it convenient to venture to these locations,
00:23especially with a convenient contactless feature, or what we would call the tap feature, on these cards.
00:30In the absence of needing a card pin number, President of the Owners Dealers Association, Reval Chattagoon, explains how this
00:37fraud is being conducted.
00:38And what we have found, especially in our convenience stores or places that do not have pay-a-de-pump,
00:46is when they go to the terminal, they're saying that they want to get, let's say, for argument's sake of
00:52$300, knowing that a card could only take $100 or sometimes $0.
00:58So it could be considered fraud, because when you ask them to put it back onto their card, they're saying
01:06they forget their pin, is their grandfather one, is somebody a card that they don't know, and then they become
01:13very irid.
01:14People are also purchasing expensive items, such as alcohol and cigarettes, running into hundreds of dollars, using the same contactless
01:22feature.
01:23They then seek to return them for a cash refund.
01:26Only to find out, not too long after, probably a week or less, then TTPS is coming to you to
01:33say that this transaction was last used at your business place.
01:39Chattagoon tells us cashers are also coming under threat when the suspected criminals do not get their way.
01:44The ODA is advising its members to call the police when such situations are encountered.
01:49According to Chattagoon, the increase in these incidents started around six to eight months ago, with a slight uptick for
01:56Christmas and a spike around Carnival.
01:59The number of incidents has not been recorded because of a lack of awareness.
02:04Amongst my members, I don't want an exact thing, but I would say about out of 10, at least, that
02:14I would have called, I would say about six or seven of them had instances like that, but didn't think
02:21of it as credit card fraud.
02:23Chattagoon says a lot of these suspected fraudulent transactions occur during the early hours of the morning, generally 1 a
02:30.m. and after.
02:32To mitigate this, the ODA has advised its members to increase their camera surveillance.
02:37Why we ask them to install cameras, because now you have a person with a timestamp for a particular time
02:44in front of a merchant, is not to see anybody's pin, but to get a facial recognition of who is
02:50there, which would assist TTPs in trying to get these individuals.
02:57But the benefits can extend past that, as the association says, it can help the police in solving certain crimes.
03:04Because it could very well help in carjacking, it could help in a home invasion, it could help in a
03:12robbery, because now you have a timestamp with somebody using a card that they did not get through legitimate ways.
03:20So you could have this widespreading to fix and solve plenty of crimes and to increase the detection rate as
03:30well.
03:30Chattagoon notes that victims of these crimes may not think to call their banks right away to have their cards
03:36cancelled.
03:37The ODA believes that the suggestion to heightened surveillance is part and parcel of people doing their part in the
03:44crime fight.
03:45The association hopes it will help to spread awareness, not only among its members, but other businesses as well.
03:52Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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