ArabianBusiness.com - Middle East Business News
Saturday, 04 July 2009 16:07 UAE time

YOUR DIRECTORY /

| Share |

UAE link to high-tech financial fraud probe

by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it  on Friday, 05 September 2008
HACKING PROBE: An investigation has been launched after information was reportedly stolen from financial servers in the UAE. (Getty Images)

An international investigation is under way to find hackers believed to have stolen information from financial servers in the UAE to make fraudulent credit and debit card purchases in the US.

The scam was uncovered after a number of employees at the US Embassy had unauthorised purchases show up on their bank cards in recent months, prompting the embassy to issue a warning on its website, UAE daily The National reported on Friday.

“To date, all of the reported fraudulent charges have been made from the United States,” the message said. “We are aware of no fraudulent transactions originating in the UAE.”

Story continues below
advertisement

MasterCard is co-operating with law enforcement officials and banks to investigate the issue, Chris Monteiro, the head of the company’s worldwide communications, wrote in an email.

Visa, when contacted, did not respond to questions or comment on the case. However the manager of an anti-fraud division at a credit union in North Carolina, in the US, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Visa had warned that there had been “a network intrusion” in the UAE between February and August.

Visa told her that the intrusion had happened “at the processor level”, which she said suggested that computer hackers had penetrated the electronic records of organisations that acted as middlemen between merchants and credit card companies such as Visa and MasterCard.


For news updates sign up for our newsletter
| Share |


READERS' COMMENTS

Disclaimer: The views expressed here by our readers are not necessarily shared by ArabianBusiness.com or its employees.

Click here to post a comment


Add your Comment
All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *
(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments


Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.


MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM

SHARE PRICE CHECK

 EMAIL ALERTS

  1. Mastercard

  2. Visa International

  3. Technology



READER COMMENTS

Reader Comments (24 hrs)

  1. Wi-tribe launches wireless broadband service in Pakistan 1
    03 Jul ' 09 at 16:21
    wateen has been a big flop. now they new wi-tribe will have a nice competition with worldcall evdo which is rapidly expanding its...  More »
Read all user comments >

BUSINESS FEATURES

Ringing in the changes

A long-awaited gold rush in commercial internet services could prove to be the telecoms industry's saviour.

Expansion slowdown

Vodafone's CEO says that the operator will concentrate on existing assets before making further moves into emerging markets.

BUSINESS INTERVIEWS

Calling the shots

Mobily CEO Khalid Al Kaf tells Arabian Business why moving first and moving fast is the key to the firm’s success.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM