South African banks have warned that scratching out a\u00a0credit card\u2019s CVV number has risks, including leaving\u00a0your card void and it being rejected by merchants.<\/p>\n
Professor Basie Von Solms, Director of the Centre for Cyber Security at the University of Johannesburg, recently advised consumers to scratch out the CVV number on the back of their credit cards.<\/p>\n
Von Solms said<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0anyone who steals your credit card has access to all the information needed to make an online purchase: your name, credit card number, expiry date, and the CVV number.<\/p>\n If you remove the CVV code from the back of your credit card, the criminal will not be able to purchase goods online from retailers which require the code, he said.<\/p>\n Deon Louw, head of card and merchant fraud at Nedbank, agreed\u00a0that if a client has removed the CVV or CVC number from their card they could reduce their risk of falling victim to “card not present” fraud.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would, however, be vital that the client memorize the number or store it separately from the card if they wanted to do Internet transactions as they would need the number to complete the transaction,\u201d said Louw.<\/p>\n Following Von Solms suggestions, FNB and\u00a0Barclays Africa\u00a0said it is not advisable for people to scratch off their CVV numbers from the back of their cards.<\/p>\n Willie van Zyl, head of card issuing at Barclays Africa, said scratching off your CVV number can have the following consequences:<\/p>\n Gareth Rimmington, head of fraud for FNB Credit Card, said they do not advise their customers to scratch off the CVV number, as it is an important identifying feature of the card.<\/p>\n He said all FNB customers are automatically covered by Verified by Visa, which is a global authentication programme that provides an added level of security for online transactions.<\/p>\n Van Zyl said the industry has also embarked on a full-scale roll-out of 3D Secure protection for online purchases.<\/p>\n 3D Secure requires cardholder authentication for online transactions via a one-time PIN.<\/p>\n Scratch out your credit card CVV number now: security expert<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n How criminals steal your credit card info<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nBank warning<\/h3>\n
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