7 News Belize

Accountant Got 12k Ripped From Credit Card
posted (February 20, 2014)
A Belize City accountant lost thousands of dollars from his First Caribbean Bank Account after someone got hold of his Credit Card. Police haven't given out his name, but the 58 year old from Albert Hoy Avenue, reported that in the three weeks between the second day of January 2014 and the 24th of January, 2014, someone withdrew $12,978 dollars from his First Caribbean Bank account using his First Caribbean Credit Card. They used the ATM machine at the San Cas Plaza to do it.

But, while that is the plight of that accountant, today, a representative of the First Caribbean Bank spoke with 7News about the dos and don'ts that credit and debit card holders should know to protect their money. Here's what she told us about how the bank treats fraud and their customers who have been the victims of these crimes:

Rosanna Villanueva, Business Support Officer, FCIB
"If you discover or you suspect that you are the victim of any kind of theft of fraud or if you happen to lose your card, your card is stolen, report it right away. We have toll free numbers that we give our customers that they can call 24 hours a day and report the card lost or stolen, when you do that the bank will immediately freeze the card, so no further transactions can go through. If you are a customer of the bank and you are a genuine victim of fraud, we've determine that yes you are a genuine victim of fraud and we know that you have met all your obligations, and then of course the bank will take that into account when we deal with it. I speak to each situation because each situation is different. But of course if you have given your pin number to someone else or you did something that really opens yourself to fraud that you know you shouldn't be doing it - not sharing your pin number. Don't give your pin number to other people because you would be surprise how many do it, they would give their card and pin number to a friend and say do me the favor and take out the cash for me and when these things happen it is unfortunate but you have to try and protect yourself as much as possible."

"The bank looks at each situation to see what exactly the circumstances are and then we take it from there."

Daniel Ortiz
"So, in a situation where a customer is found to be blameless, what happens in that situation?"

Rosanna Villanueva, Business Support Officer, FCIB
"In that situation, if you are I am saying blameless, you know all angles have been looked at and we realize you are genuinely, maybe you were shopping online and your card was compromise for some reason, on hackers got a whole of your information then the bank would refund you the amount that you had lost or the as a result of the fraud, something like that yes."

Daniel Ortiz
"That situation ends up on your desk and it is found that I engage in behavior like that, that put me at risk. What sort of options is there for those customers that are it a total complete loss?"

Rosanna Villanueva, Business Support Officer, FCIB
"It's difficult to say. If you really have knowingly compromise yourself in some way...if you leave your car and you don't lock your car, you leave your windows down and something is stolen - there is an amount of responsibility that the customer or client or the account holder has to take for actions that they take. So something like that we would look at it as an individual basis but the card holder would need to be responsible for whatever actions he or she took that left them open to fraud."

Villanueva had a list of steps that all card holders should follow if they want to keep their money secured. First, you should treat your card as though it is cash. Never leave them around, and never give out your pin number to anyone. That sounds obvious, but she told us that the bank has encountered many situations where customers trust people with their pin number. Next, Destroy old cards so that they cannot be used to access your accounts.

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