With the help of a mobile wallet company, the Singapore Police Force has arrested four individuals for conducting credit card fraud, and 15 other people are being investigated for related offenses.
You Technologies, which operates a multi-currency e-wallet called YouTrip with services that connect with a prepaid Mastercard issued by EZ-Link, contributed to the investigation after noticing two red flags. Certain account users were topping up their cards with huge amounts, and then draining them immediately by making purchases or cash withdrawals; from late December onward, there was also a high frequency of incomplete transactions during top-ups due to incorrect card credentials.
Technicians at YouTrip were able to identify more than 18 accounts that exhibited both behaviors. Their findings were handed over to the police.
A special task force made up of fraud monitoring specialists and engineers was formed by YouTrip to uncover common transaction locations, common merchant names, and chargebacks that have a strong correlation to fraudulent activities. In all, 85 fraudulent transactions were identified, amounting to more than S$96,600 (US$71,300).
You Technologies’ country manager in Singapore, Kelvin Lam, told local media outlet Today that the company had expected fraud to occur as their user base grows. Hopefully, YouTrip’s new security measures, such as one-time passwords issued when a new card is added to a YouTrip account, will prevent criminals from committing fraud and abusing the platform.
Last September, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued guidelines to protect consumers from fraud and security threats while using electronic payments. It was part of Singapore’s official endorsement of cashless payments.
Editor: Brady Ng