Due to an increase in cyber crime in Kenya, prepaid card holders are becoming more hesitant on using their cards to make purchases. According to data from Central Bank, the number of prepaid card transactions slowed month-on-month from October 2013 to February 2014. Specifically, the number of monthly transactions dropped from 5,196 to 4,701 in that time frame.
A bank insider who wished to remain anonymous, spoke with All Africa on the topic of cyber crime and prepaid cards.
“What’s happening is that more people have witnessed cases of hacking after using their debit cards interchangeably as prepaid cards especially when some banks ran swipe promotions,” the man said.
Additionally, the bank insider explained that most fraud cases involve the hacking of a debit card holder’s account, and it’s only later they realize that fraudulent transactions occurred. However, as a result of these, the news source explained that most banks offer prepaid cards that are not directly linked to card holder’s accounts.
Kevin Nyateng works in central marketing for I&M Bank in Kenya, and told the news source that his organization’s prepaid cards are not linked to accounts for that very reason.
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