Millions of British visitors to Spain are warned they could be victims of a credit card scam

By
Sean Poulter
Last updated at 8:55 AM on 19th November 2009

British families who have visited Spain have been warned they may be victims of the scam Millions of British families who went on holiday to Spain this year could be victims of a credit card scam.
It is thought a gang hacked into a Spanish company that processes card payments from retailers, restaurants and hotels.
The criminals are understood to have stolen card details and then used them to buy goods online.
The sting is believed to involve holidaymakers from across Europe. In Germany, a number of banks, including Barclays, are recalling and replacing more than 100,000 credit cards.
A UK banking industry insider said: ‘As we understand it, someone has
hacked into the computers of a Spanish payment processing company.The problem has only recently been discovered, but it is extremely unlikely that British banks and customers will be immune from this.’ Andreas
Martin, of the German Central Credit Card Commission (ZKA), said banks
in the country are involved in a massive credit card replacement
programme.He said: ‘A number of credit card distributors
have been affected including some from other countries. We are not sure
how many cardholders were in Spain at the time in question.’Consumers are being advised to examine their card statements to identify suspicious transactions.

Details
emerged just a day after it was revealed that rogue staff at the mobile
phone network T-mobile sold the personal details of thousands of
customers to rivals.The card services companies Visa and
MasterCard last night both issued warnings to banks in the UK that
their customers could be involved.
German banks including Barclays have recalled and replaced more than 100,000 credit cards
A Visa Europe spokesman
said: ‘Cardholders who are innocent victims of this fraud will get
their money back, subject to the terms and conditions of their bank.’Any cardholder who is concerned should keep a close eye on their accounts and report any unusual or unexpected activity.’He
said: ‘We cannot comment on the detail of specific investigations but
Visa Europe is aware of a possible card data security issue in
Spain.

‘No details are yet confirmed, but we do not believe that the issue is specific to Visa.’As
is normal in these circumstances, we have contacted a number of our
member banks to make them aware of the situation and some may decide to
take action as a precautionary measure.
‘In instances like this, our role is to support on-going investigations and to share the outcome with our member banks who can then act to protect cardholders.’A spokesman for MasterCard in the UK said: ‘In response to a potential security compromise of a Europe-based entity, MasterCard is monitoring developments to learn the extent to which card account data has been placed at risk. ‘As is normal protocol, MasterCard has notified issuers of cards that were determined to be at risk to monitor for any suspicious account activity and take steps to protect cardholders.   ’MasterCard is concerned whenever there is any possibility that cardholders could be inconvenienced and we will continue to both monitor this event and take steps to safeguard account information.’If cardholders are ever concerned about their individual account, they should contact their issuing financial institution. Cardholders should continue to use their cards unless otherwise notified by their issuing bank.’The company said: ‘Protecting cardholders by preventing fraud and safeguarding financial information is a top priority at MasterCard.’Because this incident is under investigation, we cannot disclose additional details regarding the incident or otherwise comment at this time.’UK Payments, which is the bank trade body responsible for plastic cards, said it is investigating how many, if any, British credit card customers are involved.

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This is the very reason why I only use cash and travellers cheques when I’m abroad. It’s very difficult to get redress if you are caught up in one of these scams
- Pip, United Kingdom, 19/11/2009 08:46

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We knew about this in Norway months ago. Why is this only coming out now over there?
- Shelley, Oslo, Norway, 19/11/2009 07:27

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As a nation the Spanish are lucky they have good weather otherwise nobody would go.
There lazy, work shy and have never done anything of note….
- The one, Suffolk, 18/11/2009 22:53

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We are not only victims of the credit card scam….. we are victims of thieving Brits over there.
My wife had the displeasure of having her handbag stolen when we frequented a perticular bar in one of Spain’s popular tourist resorts.(which was owned and ran by a Brit).
We reported the theft to our holiday Rep who replied “Don’t worry, your passports and credit cards will be returned… They are only after cash and jewellery.”
And sure enough, after a couple of days our passports and credit cards were found in a bush near our hotel and returned to us.
But to us, the trauma that we went through, going to the police station for three hours (where they did not speak English, and we could not speak Spanish).
This is organised crime that the Spanish authorities brush aside. And to cap it all, it is our own people that are committing the crimes.
- Geo, Coventry, Warks, 18/11/2009 22:48

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Yes all my transactions for the last 3 years are suspect.
Please refund me asap.
thanks
- Robin, Alicante, 18/11/2009 22:46

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There is also another crime people should be warned about. Gangs are shadowing people in stores and whilst people are in stores the rest of the gang is breaking into their car and stealing everything. This happened to us and we were left with the clothes we were stood up in. Luckily because we both drive whilst in Spain I carried our passports with us in my bag as we are required to produce them if asked by the police. So beware anybody who hires a car in Spain. Also remove all stickers showing it is a hire car (we also had done this). Yes we had hidden everything in the boot; unfortunately all our luggage was in the car as we were due to fly home. It is becoming quite a common occurence. The Spanish police were wonderful I might add.
- Sue, Wells, Somerset, England., 18/11/2009 22:43

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