IMGCAP(1)]
A leading Kuwaiti lawyer reportedly has called for tougher laws to combat credit card fraud and online data theft in the Middle East, one of the latest attempts to secure the rising number of card transactions around the globe, especially those done online. The lawyer, Labeed Abdal, told the Arab Times newspaper this week that hackers are stealing more information from online shopping sites. Abdal gave no immediate comment to CardLine Global but an analyst said the problem is widespread. "Increasing credit card fraud has alarmed regulators across the world to bring in effective reforms for greater security on credit card transactions," Prathima Rajan, an India-based analyst with United States-based research firm Celent LLC, tells CardLine Global. "Though regulators have set up credit bureaus to assess the credit worthiness of potential cardholders, the fraud and defaults are coming from the cards that are already in circulation." Rajan and another analyst, Zoran Knezevic, with Australia-based East and Partners, tell CardLine Global that the PCI data-security standard can help reduce card fraud as more consumers shun cash for cards. "As an increasing share of transactions are made using credit cards, criminals have been looking for ways to compromise the security of credit card transactions and obtain sensitive customer data," Knezevic says.
