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US data leak hits 61,000 Japanese
cardholders
TOKYO - The
number of Japanese credit card holders who may be
affected by a US data leak had risen to more than
61,000 as of Tuesday night, according to a Nihon
Keizai Shimbun survey of card companies.
So far, there have been 320 instances of
fraudulent use, involving about 32 million yen
(US$294,930.83).
The number of
Visa-affiliated card customers who may be affected
exceeded 40,000, with Sumitomo Mitsui cards
accounting for 15,500 of these, followed by DC
cards with 5,800. Since many companies also
reported that they are still investigating, the
figures may rise further.
More than 20,000
MasterCard-affiliated card customers may have been
affected, with damages exceeding 13 million yen.
Data on 31 JCB Co customers may also have been
leaked, resulting in four cases of fraudulent use.
Visa International Service Association and
MasterCard International Inc have already
announced that Japanese customers suspected of
being hit by the data leak stand at about 60,000
and 80,000, respectively.
As the numbers
of those affected continues to rise, Japanese
credit card companies have began taking steps to
address the problem, including issuing new cards
and strengthening systems for detecting fraudulent
use.
As a first step, UC Card Co has
announced the incident on its website, explaining
that customers are not liable for losses resulting
from illegal transactions. It also plans to send
letters to those affected and change their credit
card numbers.
Nippon Shinpan Co intends to
send letters detailing the situation and later on
will call customers to arrange to have their cards
replaced. It will also answer telephone inquiries
from cardholders.
It costs about 1,000 yen
to issue a new credit card. Expenses increase even
further with the introduction of smart cards and
customer service operators.
Credit card
firms have said they will shoulder any losses
resulting from the fraudulent use of the cards,
and customers will bear no responsibility for
these charges.
While companies can
sometimes recoup losses from illegal transactions
through their insurance policies, it is not clear
whether these transactions will be covered. A
spokesperson for a major credit card firm said "it
will be difficult to obtain compensation" from the
US data processing company where the leak
originated.
Another point attracting
attention is how Visa International and MasterCard
International will deal with the situation.
(Asia Pulse/Nikkei) |
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