Crime: Massive credit card scam uncovered

Date Posted: Thursday 17-Oct-2013

Massive credit card scam uncovered - banks & fast food outlets affected

by Staff Contributor

Oct 16, 2013 

A computer virus has hacked into the payment terminals of fast food restaurants, scamming South African banks out of millions of rands. 

The Payments Association of South Africa (PASA) said that there is "no undue cause for concern by cardholders" but has called for users to report any suspicious transactions to their banks.

Fast food outlet, KFC is one of the biggest brands hit by the scam. According to PASA, mostly credit and cheque cards were affected - those that were not chip enabled and typically required a signature. PASA assures that pins were never compromised.

Perpetrators have yet to be caught

The exact details of the scam, using a strain of malware known as Dexter, are still being investigated by a multinational team including South African Police Services, Interpol and Europolwere to bring the culprits to book. According to PASA, the fraud has been traced back to Europe, but some of the funds from the compromised cards have been used in the US. 

All banks have been affected

"There's not a single bank that hasn't been affected," PASA Chief Executive Officer Walter Volker said in a phone interview today. "We first detected higher volumes of fraud early in the new year."

The fraud affects their debit, credit and check card customers.

TechCentral described the custom-written Dexter malware as "one of the worst breaches of customer card data in the country's history".