Fraud Warning

April 24, 2007 (LBO) – The Central Bank of Sri Lanka is warning the public against payment card fraud following the discovery of a massive fraud in the United Kingdom which has been linked with Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers. "This scam which has been said to be running for several years has involved in cloning credit or debit card information and stealing the personal identification number (PIN) during transactions and then extracting small amounts of money from the cardholders’ bank accounts over a period of time without the knowledge of cardholders," the central bank said in a statement.

"Therefore, the Central Bank wishes to provide following information with a view to making aware of the public of basic operational features of electronic payment cards to enable them to be more cautious in using these cards and to mitigate potential risks involved in using these cards."

The statement is reproduced below:

What are the electronic payment cards?

The electronic payment cards have become a convenient mode of payments and banking transactions reducing the need for currency notes and coins. There are mainly three types of electronic payment cards.

¢ Credit Cards – Credit cards provid