RIYADH, 14 March 2004 — How safe is your credit card?
Not very, judging by the experience of Dr. Subhani Muhammad Okarvi, a radiopharmaceutical scientist at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center.
Despite having a Gold credit card embossed with his name, photo and signature, he became the victim of a scam.
His credit card remains in his possession, but SR16,645 does not.
The credit card statement shows where Dr. Subhani purportedly used his credit card. He had a coffee at Starbucks in Makati, Manila and bought some spare parts in Quezon. Dr. Subhani has never set foot in the Philippines.
When he tried to draw the attention of his bank in Riyadh, the stock answer was: “Fax your message to us.” He did as instructed. All he got in return were the transaction details, none of which he had signed or authorized.
“All I can think of,” Dr. Subhani told Arab News, “is a visit to Australia last year. I made only a single transaction in Sydney during my trip.
“I signed the purchase order and got back my credit card. But later I found all these purchases that I hadn’t made.”
After six months, Dr. Subhani’s credit card mystery remains unresolved.
Arab News has seen copies of receipts from various outlets in the Philippines, where a cardholder with the same card number signed off under the name of Aldwin S. Sy. The entire SR16,645 has already been deducted from Dr. Subhani’s account in accordance with a direct debit agreement he made with the bank.
“I would like to ask the following question of the credit card agencies: When the credit card shows my name, photo and signature, how come the transaction went through when the signature is different from mine and the name of the person is shown as Aldwin S. Sy?
“It means the credit card is not safe and all cardholders are at risk.”
The matter remains unresolved.
