Frauds with Visa cards in Romania, 14-fold smaller than in Europe, official says

Frauds registered with Visa cards in Romania stands at 0.004 percent and is 14 times below the average recorded in Europe of 0.058 percent, according to data from Visa.

In Romania, the dupery stands at 4 euro at each 100,000 euros traded with Visa cards, while in Europe the losses reached 58 euros for the same amount of money.

The number of these frauds in Romania is insignificant, according to the general manager of Visa Europe Romania, Catalin Cretu, who added the fight against duperies increased with the issue of chip cards.

According to data from Visa, frauds decreased from 0.026 percent in 2003 to 0.012 percent in 2008 on the European markets with chip cards.

There are four lenders that provide chip cards in Romania: ProCredit, ING Bank, Alpha Bank and BRD SocGen. However, other companies plan to issue such cards starting next year, Cretu mentioned.

He also explained no bank could change regular cards with chip cards "overnight", so these could be replaced automatically when they are no longer available. It could take from two to four years until all cards are replaced.

More than 40 percent of the points of sales (POS) in stores and almost all automated teller machines (ATM) accepted chip cards in 2008.

Visa Romania Europe plans to introduce the "cashback" service this year through which storekeepers can release 150 lei at the most to Visa card owners after making a transaction.

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