There Have Been 154 Cases Of Card Cloning In Zimbabwe So Far In 2018

Card cloning has slowly become a phenomenon for most of 2018. The cyber-crimes are on a rise and because the public was never prepared to actually safeguard themselves criminals are making a killing. The Zimbabwe Information and Communication Technologies (ZICT) has said in 2018 there have been 154 cases of bank card cloning reported.

The recently released report by ZICT stated:

Consumers in Zimbabwe are now paying with bank cards due to cash shortages. For thieves, that plastic represents a lucrative spending opportunity. So far in 2018, the number of bank cards compromised at merchant card reader (through card cloning) is over 154 cases with most of the cases not being recorded. Bankcard cloning is typically done via skimming devices that capture card data.

Card Cloning timeline

• ‘Swipe’ Users Lose $200 000 This Year Already Due To Debit Card Cloning. Around the halfway point of this year, it was announced that $200 000 had been stolen due to card cloning in the 1^st quarter alone.
• Suspected Card Cloners Arrested Including Chiyangwa’s Nephew. Mike Harris Chiyangwa reportedly swindled more than $20 000 through his business. Victims were actually customers at his own shop.
• As Card Cloning Shows No Signs Of Slowing Down, POSB Will Stop Offering Balance Enquiries On Zimswitch. Banks have also been moving to finally combat the issues plaguing the country. Steward Bank also came out and warned their customer base.

How to actually safe

I don’t think banks will be changing the technology in their cards anytime soon and even if they do change the technology best believe the charges to deploy the technology will be passed on to us and considering the charges we are already suffering through, I’m sure we all agree that more charges will simply be an act of cruelty.

So what can you do to actually protect yourself if the banks don’t have your back? Well, you can check out our previous articles on card cloning and how to stay safe;

• Apparently, Bank Cards Can Be Cloned Easily, Here Is How To Stay Safe
• ‘Swipe’ Crimes On The Rise: Here’s How To Stay Safe

The biggest problem I have with the government’s “cashless economy” spin is that what’s happening on the ground clearly shows that we did not deliberately plan to become a cashless economy. The government just stumbled upon the fact that cash was quickly running out and conveniently, they pushed people to adopt electronic channels and the public did so. There was inadequate infrastructure supporting these new channels of payment – We all saw how server issues plagued swipe into EcoCash to point of irrelevance. Secondly, the people using cards were not educated about the risks that can come with these cards and the disaster has slowly been unfolding in front of our eyes.