Card Credit- The Fraud and The Beautiful Lies

CREDIT CARD: THE FRAUD

It's been one week since we called the Bank Islam Credit Card Center regarding the new cards which we havent received yet. We were still waiting endlessly for the response from the CC Center since the new Credit Card Chip (SMART)based which they claimed that they've sent us about a couple of weeks before, went missing in action (somewhere during the delivery?)... when I suddenly received a call from "Credit Card Center", Menara KL, last Thursday, asking for confirmation of my information as the cardholder. I was a bit relief since I was afraid that the card went into the wrong hand.

But wait, I didnt know that Bank Islam were operating from Menara KL?!

I confronted the guy on that matter and he claimed that he wasnt calling on behalf of bank islam but rather an independent credit card center which offers some sort of benefits and privileges to credit cardholders. We didnt really used the cc on regular basis, tak pernah over due date thus tak penah la bayar riba yang menguntungkan pihak ketiga..so rugilah kalau betul mereka nak offer segala macam benefits seperti yang disebutkannya tanpa mereka dapat untung (vacations, bonuses, insurance etc)(suspicion no 1)

We've been passive credit card users for almost ten years now and yet, I could hardly recalled it if they were a special organisation/company who took care of the benefits etc of the credit cardholders, not certain clubs (for membership privilege) or banks themselves.

This guy (who claimed his name was Tengku Izzuddin) was asking for confirmation of my full name (he was not sure on how to address me, as cik or puan- suspicion no 2) and asked me if it was a visa or master card (suspicion no3). And then I stopped responding to his questions when he started to ask for the expiration date of my cc (suspicion no 4). I 'sweettalked' him that I would sms him my expiration date since the number was 016 xxx xxxx (suspicion no 5), but then he claimed that i cannot sms him since he was calling from office and it was the office number, thus they cannot respond to any sms or phone call and insisted me to answer.

I told that guy that Ive left my cc in the house, and that i didnt have the info at the moment. Maybe he sensed my suspicions and thought that I was lying (I didnt :P),
"Owh, ini memang jenis yang tak boleh pegang card credit ler nih, selalu hilang."
And then gelak-gelak, konon friendly sangat ler tuh. I was a bit annoyed and told him off,
"Hello. Saya bukan tak bawak sebab takut hilang, okey? Saya kat luar sekarang nih. Saya tak berada di rumah dan cc saya tuh saya tinggalkan di rumah. Tempat yang saya datang ni tak memerlukan saya bawak kad kredit, atau purse sekalipun. Dan saya rasa saya tak perlulah bagitau awak tempat apa yang saya datang sekarang nih. betul tak?"

Him, "Habis tu bila saya boleh telefon puan semula?"
Me, "Okeylah, awak call husband saya jer lah. Saya ada kerja." And gave him his number.

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Later, I called the number and my suspicions were right. He did pick up the call, (which confirmed mysuspicion that the call wasnt made from office or hotline number)...

"Ini Encik Izzuddin?"
"Ya, saya Tengku Izzuddin." (Heh, kalau tak letak tengku tu hilang 'bisa' ker?)
I confronted him on his company background, and what was the nature of his company. And then he started to read apa benda ntah...macam baca script..

"Kenapa saya call suami puan tak dapat, yer?"
Hehe, I gave him his old number, of coz la kan :P... But later, I gave him his correct number..Let the men do the talk :D Malas nak layan.

And at the same time, I called Bank Islam to temporarily block my card. Tapi my husband lagi teruk, when i asked him what did he say to the guy,

"I told him, tak payahla nak expiration date ker haper ker, saya nak terminate card tu, sekarang juga."
He did terminate the cards..:(

I did my research, and found out memang betul ada scam/fraud over the phones. The legal credit card center sometimes would ask for your name, mother's name, phone number etc but not your card number and expiration date, kan?

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CREDIT CARD - THE BEAUTIFUL LIES

Kat Jepun almost 10 tahun dulu, memang senang nak pakai kad kredit. Annual fee free or very minimum, visa and master card selalunya tak perlu penjamin, manakala kalau penjamin diperlukan, cuma perlu isi nama, telefon number dan alamat penjamin. Nanti diorang akan call dan confirmkan (my husband used my name, boleh pulak tuh, padahal i was a student, a foreign student, like him). Amex pun cuma perlu tunjuk buku akaun jer kut (tak berapa ingat).. Dan minimum requirements nya memang very minimum.

So rasanya hampir semua students Malaysia ada credit card, dan bukan satu,atau dua...kadang2 semua cards offered.. visa, master, american express (amex), jcb, apa lg ntah.. Tapi bila nak guna kat malaysia waktu tu sangatlaaa susah. Selain mereka agak suspicious dengan kita (budak2 tapi pakai kad kredit yang berwarna-warni pelik2, sebab kad kreditnya selalunya gabungan kad kredit n membership company mana2), kita juga agak suspicious dengan mereka, kerana di sesetengah kedai, mereka terpaksa pinjam kedai lain atau kaunter lain punya machine, so mereka bawalah cc kita kt mana2 untuk diswap. Hmm...

Kemudian sekarang, kat Malaysia, sungguh senang nak dapatkan card. Pergi mall mana pun mesti ada orang bawa pamphlets, padahal pergi dengan pakai tracksuits yang sungguh 'miskin' (heheh, it was me la). Dah tu, syarat untuk gold and platinum card pun dah makin mudah.

Jangan sampai jadi macam Jepun dah...
Ramai yang declare bankruptcy, sebab card credit. Suicide? Lagilaa...

Card credit nih banyak benar 'beautiful lies' nya..
-annual fee free: tapi untuk first year jer
@
-annual fee free: untuk principal jer, suppliment lain cerita
@
-annual fee free: kalau swaps/ transactions over certain number/amount
@
-tanpa riba: dengan syarat guna below certain amount
@
-tanpa riba: dengan syarat bayar cepat, within few weeks after the transaction
@
kalau tanak pakai n boleh terminate anytime - tapi mesti guna over 2 years
etc etc..

Ada kawan saya cakap, guna kad kredit tuh haram. Betul ker? Abis tu kalau travel overseas, kena guna traveller checques ker? Huhu~ debu-debu riba'...