▲ An ATM on a street in London (File Photo)
Person A was buying a transport ticket at an overseas automated teller machine (ATM) when a nearby criminal peeked at their card PIN, pickpocketed the card, and withdrew cash equivalent to 4.5 million won at another ATM.
Person A reported the loss and theft to their credit card company, but was ruled ineligible for compensation due to the transaction involving PIN entry.
The Financial Supervisory Service issued guidelines yesterday (July 22) for safe credit card use both domestically and internationally ahead of the summer vacation season.
When conducting transactions requiring PIN entry, such as withdrawing cash at ATMs in public places like overseas train stations and airports, users must cover the keypad to prevent exposure.
In disputes involving offline credit card payments and ATM withdrawals that entail PIN entry, cardholders are typically held responsible (at fault) for managing their PIN, making compensation from card companies difficult.
Particularly, users should be cautious of ATMs installed in quiet locations or private ATMs due to the risk of card skimming and theft of card information.
Such crimes are committed by installing skimmers on ATMs to copy the magnetic stripe of physical cards, or by using illicit cameras to film ATM keypads and steal PINs.
In some cases, overseas street vendors or pubs take cards elsewhere during payment to forge or alter them, meaning customers should directly monitor the payment process.
It is also advisable to pay attention to payment and suspicious transaction detection alerts while traveling abroad.
Using the card usage alert service allows users to receive approval details in real time, enabling a prompt response in the event of fraudulent use.
In particular, when using an overseas USIM chip upon departure, domestic text message alerts cannot be received, so settings should be changed in advance to KakaoTalk notifications or card company app push notifications.
During travel, users should check suspicious transaction notices from card companies and immediately report any fraudulent use to card companies to prevent or minimize damage.
If a card is lost or stolen overseas, proofs such as a report to local police must be prepared.
According to credit card terms and conditions, an accident investigation must be conducted for credit card loss and theft compensation, and card users have an obligation to cooperate.
If it is impossible to distinguish between personal use and fraudulent payment during the accident investigation process, relief from damage becomes difficult. Therefore, if damages such as loss, theft, forgery, or alteration occur overseas, users must report it to local law enforcement agencies, request a police report, and submit it to the card company.
Users should also note that if a card lent to a family member traveling abroad is lost, compensation may be difficult.
This is because current law prohibits allowing others, including spouses and family members, to use a credit card.
Cards should not be lent even among family members, and instead, family member cards issued under one's own name should be used.
When departing for overseas, applying for the domestic payment blocking service allows users to block or permit domestic payments.
Even if staying in South Korea during the vacation season, it is necessary to prevent overseas fraudulent payments.
By utilizing the overseas usage safety setting service, users can directly set overseas payment limits within the necessary scope to block fraudulent transactions and minimize damage.
By applying for the overseas entry and exit information utilization service, card companies can strengthen the detection of suspicious overseas transactions and prevent overseas fraudulent use damage.
When using unmanned stores or ATMs, users must be sure to retrieve their cards and report them immediately if lost.
Even if multiple credit cards from various financial companies are lost or stolen, a bulk loss reporting service is in operation, allowing users to contact a single card company to process loss reports for other card companies as well.
(Photo: Getty Images Korea)
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