China’s Ministry of Public Security and the People’s Bank of China soon plan to launch a 10-month nationwide campaign to crack down on bankcard crimes, the ministry notes in a statement on its Web site.
They are launching the campaign because of increasing incidents of credit card forgery, card-information theft and the use of fake identification documents when applying for cards, the statement notes.
The ministry will work closely with the central bank to directly handle major bankcard-related crimes and target cross-border and transregional card-fraud networks, the statement notes. “Criminals would be severely punished if they were convicted of bankcard-related crimes,” the ministry said.
An official at the central bank would say little to PaymentsSource regarding the campaign. “I cannot say when the campaign will be launched and what would be the punishment mechanism,” the official says.
China banks issued a total of 2.1 billion bankcards as of the end of November, according to central bank data.
