Credit cards offer a great amount of convenience, but also expose us to a wide variety of criminal behaviour. For the most part, financial institutions have safeguards in the event that your credit card information is misused.
You won’t end up stuck with a huge bill that you can’t pay if someone commits credit card fraud in your name. However, you still need to deal with the hassle of cancelling the card and dealing with the police.
What to do if you card is lost/stolen
Cancelling a credit card is a straightforward affair, especially if you’re dealing with a criminal case. This is something that you should be informing the bank when you call them to suspend the card.
Step 1: Call your bank
You want to inform your bank about the situation and get your card blocked as soon as possible.
Be aware that you will have to answer a few questions to verify your identity. This is a security measure as cybercriminals have been known to masquerade as their victims and call banks to set up scams.
It is important that you inform your bank as soon as you discover that your credit card has been stolen or when you see any unauthorised charges.
Some banks also allow you to report a lost or stolen credit card through their mobile apps. Depending on your level of comfort with technology, this may also be a suitable alternative if your calls are not getting through to customer service.
For convenience, we have listed the contact numbers for most major banks here. This table lists the phone number for each bank’s lost or stolen credit card hotline where possible.
| AEON Credit Service | 03-2719 9999 |
|---|---|
| Affin Bank | 03-8230 2222 03-8230 2323 (AFFINBANK World MasterCard only) 03-2028 6300 (after office hours) |
| Alliance Bank | 03-5516 9988 |
| AmBank | 03-2178 8888 |
| Bank Islam | 03-2690 0900 |
| Bank Rakyat | 03-2693 6880 (24 hour hotline) 03-2692 4600 (card loss/theft) |
| Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) | 03-2613 1888 (General) 03-2688 0888 (Credit Card) |
| CIMB | 03-6204 7788 (general line) 03 6204 7799 (premier credit card) |
| Citibank | 03-2383 0000 (KL) 04-296 0000 (Penang) 07-268 0000 (JB) 1-800-82-1010 (Sabah & Sarawak) |
| Hong Leong Bank | 03-7626 8899 |
| HSBC | 1-300-88-1388 1-300-88-9393 (HSBC Premier & Amanah Premier) 1-800 80 2997 (Visa emergency services) 1-800 80 4594 (Mastercard global services) |
| Maybank credit card centre | 1-800-88 6688 03-5891 4744 (fraud hotline) |
| OCBC | 03-8317 5000 |
| Public Bank | 03-2176 8555 |
| RHB (only open during office hours) | 03-9206 8118 082-276118 (East Malaysia) |
| United Overseas Bank (UOB) | 03-2612 8100 |
| Standard Chartered Bank | 1-800-88-8998 |
Step 2: Make a police report
A crime has been committed, so you will need to let the authorities know. Informing the police also lets them begin an investigation into your problem, and whether there are other victims.
You need to fill out the police report with an accurate account of how the crime happened and provide any relevant details and documents. This police report is then signed by the officer on duty and that document is recognised by all relevant parties, including the bank which issued your credit card.
There won’t be any money to recover in this case, as the nature of credit cards means that you do not need to pay for fraudulently bought items.
Step 3: Fill out your bank paperwork
Now that all the relevant parties have been updated on the situation, you will need to do the paperwork to get any fraudulent purchases removed from your bill.
If you noticed your credit card missing before anything else happened, congratulations. All you need to do now is send a copy of your police report to your bank to get the card cancelled.
If there are any charges that you need to remove, then your first step is to get hold of the charge dispute form. These are located on your bank’s website, although it may take a little time to find. Your quickest option would be to google “ charge dispute form”.
You then need to submit this form to your bank through email (some banks still allow fax). These forms will generally list the relevant email address in the contact information box. This will generally be located at the top of the form for most banks.
Constant vigilance
Criminals don’t actually need to steal your physical credit card to start causing mischief. There are a huge number of ways your details can be stolen, even if you’re in the safety of your own home.
Given the growing incidences of financial fraud and scams, Bank Negara Malaysia has also provided guidelines on unauthorised use of credit or debit cards as well as steps on what to if you are a victim of a fraud.
Because of this, you will need to keep an eye on your credit card statement at all times. This is to ensure that you can detect any unauthorised transactions when they happen. In fact, modern e-statements make it much easier to do this by logging in to your online banking system.
It’s also important that you not share your credit card information with anyone (including giving them your card); especially not over the internet. Doing this could expose you to cybercriminals who may steal this information.
The most important step in preventing credit card fraud is to ensure that your personal information is kept personal. The next thing to do is to make sure you move quickly to report the crime to prevent further damage.
