Plastic Money
Introduction
Plastic Money is designed for cashless payments and getting cash from one’s bank account with ATMs all over the world. It is the most convenient way to carry money. It is safer to carry than to carry the paper notes. ATM around the world accept plastic card and dispense required amount of money. Plastic card can also be used for payment for most good and services although there may be a lower and upper limit of transaction. Bank charges on plastic transactions can often work out less than commissions on purchases of traveler’s cheques.
Today it is already impossible to imagine modern bank operations, commercial transactions and other payments without using the plastic cards. Plastic money due to reliability, universality and convenience, which won the deserved recognition all over the world, have received a wide circulation. So, now, the Visa cards holders’ number makes more than 300 million. Also, about 300 million clients are totalled by other largest payment system presented as MasterCard and EuroCard alliance. Besides there are a lot of international payment systems, such as American Express (AmEx), Diners Club (DC), JCB, and numerous national, regional and local (inter-and monobank) one-currency systems.
Approximately 90% of adults hold one or more cards in UK and USA.
In the sphere of financial services in Bangladesh during the last few years, the new kind of payment means – “E-cash” and “Q-Cash” is used on the plastic cards base (magnetic and chips) in addition to the proprietary cards of SCB, HSBC & DBBL, and branded cards from VISA and MasterCard issued by different banks.
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Types of Plastic Money:
There are many varieties of plastic money, as listed below:
1). Credit Cards
Credit cards are issued once the customer has entered into an agreement with the credit card company. The card permits the customer to buy goods and services straight away up to an agreed amount. The customer then decides over what period to repay the money owed plus interest on the amount spent. A monthly statement is sent to the customer showing his account details, what he spent, where, on what date and how much is owed. The full amount can be re-paid which may mean the customer would avoid any interest charges or if he chooses to repay a lesser amount he will incur interest charges. Most Credit card companies have a set minimum payment this is usually Tk.500/- or 5-10% whichever is greater of the money the customer owe each month. Interest will then be charged on the outstanding debt each month. A credit card can usually be used in ATM but higher rates of interest may be charged on cash withdrawals. Some credit card companies offer gold, platinum and standard credit cards. All the cards provide credit facilities but each type of card has different conditions and benefits.
2). Debit Cards
These cards are a substitute for using cash or writing a cheque. The money is taken directly from the customer’s bank account. The card can be used in ATM machines allowing them to withdraw cash from their own bank account and it is also used in POS terminals to pay for goods & services.
3). Payment / Pre-Paid / Electronic Purse Cards
These are cards that the customer loads with cash and they then use the card as an alternative to cash. These are generally used for small purchases or to buy on the Internet.
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4). ATM (Automated Teller Machine) Cards
These are also known as a cash card, cash dispenser card or cash machine card. A plastic card is used in an ATM for cash withdrawals and other banking services.
5). Charge Cards
This is a card similar to credit card with a credit limit, however unlike credit card the account normally has to be settled in full at the end of each month. Usually there is an annual fee for having use of this credit facility.
6). Store, Budget or Option Cards
These cards offer a form of credit. Stores or retail groups issue them. The card is used to purchase goods from the store or one of the stores in the retail group. The customers are sent a monthly bill and interest is usually charged if he doesn’t pay back all he owes each month.
Another Classification:
Plastic Money can also be classified by payment systems or card associations.
The most famous payment systems are VISA, MasterCard and American Express (AMEX).
One card can be supported and serviced by only one payment system.
Some payment systems can emit only cards of some types. For example American Express and Diners Club emit credit cards only, and others may emit only debit cards. World famous leaders such as VISA and MasterCard emit and support both types of cards.
It should be pointed out that credit cards of different systems are divided into classes. VISA has two main classes: Classic and Gold. MasterCard has Standard and Gold classes and American Express has Mass and Gold cards.
Benefits of Plastic Money:
Customers Perspective:
Carrying less cash is safer for the customers. In case of Debit Card, a Personal Identification Number (PIN) ensures secure access to their checking accounts.
The customers won’t be limited to cash on hand with the use of the Plastic cards. And they won’t need to remember to carry cheques / cash.
Customers speed through checkout lines faster with their Plastic cards. There is less change to be made and no cheques to write and approve.
Merchants Perspective:
Whether there is a new business or an established enterprise, card acceptance will likely have a big impact on the bottom line. Here are some of the benefits of card acceptance by the
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... and cash are used for everything. Credit cards are ... share some similarities, but plastic money and cash have some differences. Cash and credit cards differ in some ... payment method and the store just accept credit or debit card. If people do not have plastic money customers cannot buy online. In summary, both credit cards ...
Merchants:
Increased Sales
Consumers spend more when they’re not constrained by cash on hand. Also customers may visit the merchants store more often.
Customer Satisfaction
The customers will appreciate the fact that the merchants allow them the flexibility to pay the way they want to pay- including by credit or debit card. Happier customers are more loyal customers.
Speed of Checkout
Checkout with rapid electronic payment will bring speed to the customers. No more counting change or waiting is required while customers write cheques.
Improved Efficiency
Card transactions today are conducted electronically. These paperless payments can save time and money by minimizing cash handling and payment reconciliation, giving more time to do more important things- like managing and growing business.
Safety
With lower volumes of cash, Merchants are less vulnerable to theft and pilfering.
Currency Conversion
Electronic payments through most of the branded Plastic money are settled in the currency in which the merchant sells his goods and services, regardless of where the cardholder is from.
Safer than Cash or Checks
Because transactions are 100% online, debit card reduces risk of bounced cheques and disputes.
Reduced processing & collection cost
When customers use their Debit/Credit cards in ATM instead of using at POS terminals or presentment of cheques, the Merchant’s bill/cheque processing and collection costs are reduced.
Advantage and disadvantage of Paper Note, Cheque, Credit
Card and Debit Card:
a) According to Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS, 2004(1))
“Plastic Money is set to overtake cash as most popular method of payment. The debit cards are leading a trend which means that in 2004, for the first time, plastic card payments outstrip cash payments for goods and services.
In 2003, the number of plastic cards in use in UK grew by 13 million (nine per cent) to 160.6 million, accounting for £243.9 billion of spending. Debit cards accounted for two-thirds of plastic card transactions (64.9 per cent) and more than half of expenditure on plastic (£130,5 billion).
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Although credit cards and debit cards are both widely used with majority of the population, their methods, rules and fees are very similar. While credit cards tend to get a lot of people into debt because it is harder to keep track of you spending balance, debit cards are an easier way to keep track of your spending much like having cash on hand. Both credit cards and debit cards provide a ...
In 2004, total plastic card business use was above £269 billion, against a predicted £268 billion of cash payments. In 2005, it is expected that personal plastic card usage alone will overtake cash payments.”
b) According to Griff Witte (G. Witte, 2004):
“Americans kept their cheque books in their pockets and instead flashed debit cards in record numbers last year, making 2003 the first time plastic and other electronic payment methods beat out paper.
A total of 44.5 billion electronic payment transactions crossed the wires in 2003, compared with 36.7 billion check payments. Those numbers marked a turnabout from 2000, when Americans wrote 41.9 billion checks, and electronic payments clocked in at 30.6 billion.
The trend toward electronic payments and away from paper cheques has been in progress for many years. But it has been accelerated by especially strong growth in the popularity of debit cards, which can now be used to buy just about anything — plane tickets or McDonald’s Happy Meals. The debit card payments are increasing at an annual rate of 23.5 percent, more than credit cards and other types of electronic payment.
Transactions involving signatures are considered more susceptible to fraud, so banks charge more on signature based cards to cover the higher risk. If the customers use a PIN debit and compare it with a cheque, they are very close [in terms of the charges to merchants]. But if he uses signature debit, it’s many times more. It’s about what it costs with a credit card. Those higher charges ultimately get passed on to consumers.”
c) According to Kathleen Day and Caroline E. Mayer (K. Day & C. E. Mayer, 2005):
“For more than two years, special-education teacher in USA, Fatemeh Hosseini worked a second job to keep up with the $2,000 in monthly payments she collectively sent to five banks to try to pay $25,000 in credit card debt.
Even though she had not used the cards to buy anything more, her debt had nearly doubled to $49,574. That is because Hosseini’s payments sometimes were tardy, triggering late fees ranging from $25 to $50 and doubling interest rates to nearly 30 percent.
Punitive charges — penalty fees and sharply higher interest rates after a payment is late — compound the problems of many financially strapped consumers, sometimes making it impossible for them to dig their way out of debt and pushing them into bankruptcy.”
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Plastic Money market status:
In Bangladesh the number of different cards issued by different banks and financial institutions is not large. However, starting in 1997, the market is gradually increasing. Table-1 shows the present position of different cards issued by different banks, financial institutions and payment consortiums.
Table-1: Present card market status of Bangladesh (Approximate numbers)
Sl.No. Bank, financial institution or payment consortium No. of Credit cards No. of Debit cards No. of pre-paid cards Total No. of cards
01 Standard Chartered Bank (MasterCard & VISA) 1,40,000 1,20,000 – 2,60,000
02 National Bank Ltd (MasterCard) 11,000 11,000
03 Premier Bank Ltd. (VISA) 20,000 – 20,000
04 Vanik (including Dhaka Bank) 20,000 – – 20,000
05 Prime (MasterCard) including Exim & HSBC 20,000 – – 20,000
06 City Bank Ltd. (VISA) 3,000 – – 3,000
07 Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd. (Proprietary & Maestro) – 10,000 – 10,000
08 Eastern Bank Ltd. (VISA Electron) – 10,000 – 10,000
09 E-Cash – 7,000 – 7,000
10 Q-Cash – 5,000 – 5,000
11 Ready Cash – – 5,000 (Active) 5,000
Total 2,14,000 1,52,000 5,000 3,71,000
The growth of Plastic Market in UK is shown at TabIe-2, which shows a sharp increase in debit cards during 1991-2001. The number of credit cards has also increased but at lower rate. In 1991 the purchase by cards and cash withdrawal from ATMs were almost equal whereas in 2001 the purchase by cards become almost double than the cash withdrawal from ATM. This has indicated a lower requirement of cash during recent years.
Tabie-2: Growth of transactions in the UK card market, 1991-2001 (millions of transactions per year)
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Debit Cards 359 522 659 808 1,004 1,270 1,503 1,736 2,062 2,337 2,696
Credit & Charge Cards 699 724 748 815 908 1,025 1,128 1,224 1,344 1,452 1,1558
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Store Cards 46 70 82 100 109 118 128 134 131 125 117
All Card Purchases 1,104 1,316 1,488 1,723 2,023 2,413 2,759 3,094 3,537 3,914 4,381
Cash Withdrawals by Cards 1,112 1,198 1,277 1,372 1,512 1,656 1,809 1,917 2.025 2,102 2,269
Source: APACS
Technology related to Plastic Card:
Plastic
Plastic card is a plate with standard dimensions (85.6 mm. x 53.9 mm. x 0.76 mm.) produced from special, mechanic- and thermo-resistant type of plastic used to store information.
Magnetic Strip and Micro Chip
As electronic data media, the cards are divided into magnetic strip cards and integrated chip (microprocessor) cards. The first ones are called magnetic cards, the other ones are smart cards, or chip cards.
Cards with a magnetic strip are the most widespread today – circulation is over two billions. The magnetic strip settles down on the back side of a card and, according to standard ISO 7811, will consist of three tracks. First two of them are intended for storage of the identification data, and on a third it is possible to write down the information (for example, the current value of a limit of a debit card).
However because of low reliability of repeated process of recording / reading, recording on a magnetic strip, as a rule, is not practiced, and such cards are used only in a mode of reading of the information. However such type of cards is rather vulnerable for swindle. In the USA in 1992 the total damage from frauds with credit cards with a magnetic strip has exceeded one billion dollars.
On a magnetic strip card the following data is provided:
a) on a card’s face one can find:
• Owner’s name
• Card number
• Card’s validity
• A logo of a card’s issuing bank
• Payment system logo
Some cards have holograms for extra protection.
b) on the opposite side there are:
• A place for an owner’s signature
• Magnetic stripe
• Owner’s photo (in some cases)
• Logos of ATM networks where the owner can perform operations with the card
Card number consists of 16 digits:
• The first six digits- a code of an Issuing Bank
• The following nine numbers – card’s bank number (card account number)
• The last one – control digit
In smarts cards a data carrier is the microprocessor / micro-chip – the memory size of which can store from 32 bytes up to 16 kilobyte. This memory supposes unitary recording and repeated reading, or admitting both repeated reading, and repeated recording.
Smart cards were invented in the early 1970s. In the mid-1980s, French banks began widespread use of the technology as retail transaction debit cards.
The microprocessor allows to take certain actions on the data stored in the card via the card’s operating system with multiple functions for memory and service control and security measures.
The microchip embedded in smart cards can be a simple memory-only device (also called IC cards for integrated circuit) or a complex read/write microprocessor (also called a central processing unit or CPU).
Now-a-day normally Chip is available with eight kilobytes storage capacity, which can hold 1,600 words of text or a digital snapshot of a fingerprint, palm print or retinal scan. It is predicted that 16-kilobyte chips will be available soon and that a 64-kilobyte chip will be produced sometime in the next decade – the sky is the limit.
Encryption makes access control applications more secure. One can set up his reader so that it requires a cryptogram to be correctly passed between the card and the reader – like a challenge and response. The reader will challenge the card with a number and the card has to encrypt it and send it back to the reader. The reader checks the response to see if it is correct. Only an authentic card will know how to encrypt it because it is the only one that knows the particular encryption keys that have been set up for that application.
Personalization of plastic cards:
Depending on the type and purpose of plastic cards, one can choose various types of personalization:
• Encoding of chip-module
• Recording on magnetic strip (HiCo, LoCo)
• Imprinting of unique numbers (pin, login) covered with scratch-strip by means
of thermo-printer or bubble jet
• Embossing with tipping
• Imprinting of bar code
Encoding – Recording of information on the magnetic strip or micro chip. LoCo – Low-coefficient magnetic strip (300 oersted).
HiCo – High-coefficient magnetic strip (noiseproof, up to 4,000 oersted) with high resistance to magnetic fields, i.e. information that is protected on a magnetic strip is difficult to delete using a magnetic field.
Embossing – A method of mechanically pressing information comprising from letters and digits onto a plastic card; allows significantly faster payment by imprinting a slip on it.
Tipping – Covering embossed symbols with a painted film to stand out from the background images of a plastic card; most often uses gold, silver or other metallic colors; The needed brightness is achieved by adding black or white paint.
Signature strip – A special strip on a card for inputting a signature or other information; can be with or without captions that prevent the signature to be rubbed off.
Hologram – A holographic sticker that is pressed onto a card under high temperature; functions as an additional level of protection from creating imitation cards; comes in two types, 2D and 3D.
Fraud in Plastic Money:
Scams targeting plastic money are on the rise, and are becoming more sophisticated by the day (Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Urip Hudiono, 2005).
In the early days of credit cards, conmen only had to use a little sleight of hand to steal and then forge the holder’s signature. But protecting the card now is much more difficult.
“The ‘pickpocket’ method was used back in the 1980s. Now they are deploying state-of-the-art equipment in their scams. In this digital age, credit card fraudsters now use “skimmer” machines to read and duplicate the personal data encrypted in the magnetic strip of a card. They do not eyen have to get hold of the card anymore, as they can tap directly into telecommunication lines used for credit card transactions and intercept card data. Meanwhile, as using credit cards for online transactions becomes more common, “phishing” techniques have also developed, in which conmen claiming to be employees of credit card issuers contact unsuspecting card holders and sweet talk their way into obtaining data. In the end, everybody loses — card holders get huge bills, and then complain bitterly to credit card issuers.
Acting on the situation, the central bank of Indonesia (Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Urip
Hudiono, 2005) had recently issued a regulation requiring that all credit card issuers in the country utilize credit cards that use “smart chips” instead of magnetic strips by year 2006. The country’s criminal justice system will also act on credit card fraud ensuring that all district court judges are trained to handle credit card fraud cases and that they hand down deterrent sentences. The Bandung District Court in Indonesia recently sentenced a credit card fraudster to four years in jail, while the Denpasar district court sentenced another to three years.
Plastic card fraud was one of the fastest growing crimes in the UK in the late 1980s and early 1990s (APACS, 2004(2)).
Losses more than doubled over the period reaching just over £165 million in 1991. The major banks and building societies agreed that collective action was necessary to stem the losses and in September 1990 they formed the Plastic Fraud Prevention Forum (PFPF),
The immediate measures introduced by the industry (banks, payment systems etc.) in the early 1990s focused on those areas where most fraud was committed, i.e. on lost/stolen cards being used over the counter in shops and stores. Initiatives included:
• The introduction of lower floor limits (the amount above which a retailer needs to
seek authorization from the card issuer) particularly in fraud-prone retail sectors, so
that more transactions had to be referred for authorization.
• Use of ‘hot card files’ – lists of cards reported lost or stolen – broadcast electronically
to the point-of-sale (POS) terminals so that retailers could check a card automatically.
• Delivering cards to the customer using more secure forms of delivery.
• Enhancement of security features within the card. These include the hologram and
information enhancements to the magnetic stripe.
• Working with retailers to encourage co-operation with the introduction of POS
initiatives.
• Dialogue with police of all levels.
• Promoting practical advice for cardholders and good practice for retailers through
campaign.
The success of the above initiatives leads the fraudsters to targeting new areas such as:
Counterfeit
Counterfeit is the fastest growing fraud-type. Cards used to perpetrate fraud are generally lost or stolen cards which could be used intact or altered by re-embossing and re-encoding, or counterfeit cards that are entirely new. In order to counterfeit a card it is necessary to know the details of a current valid cardholder – hence the desire of offenders to obtain legitimate credit card details from sources such as the Internet (a method which is being used increasingly by offenders throughout the world).
Blank, white plastic cards are then embossed with stolen numbers, the magnetic stripe is encoded with matching numbers, and the signature pane! on the card installed. Identifying logos and color printing are added to mimic a real card.
Sometimes information on the card’s magnetic strip is obtained by “card skimming”. This is when a legitimate card is obtained for a few seconds to enable it to be passed over a magnetic tape reader so that a counterfeit copy may be made.
Another technique is “buffering”, which involves modifying the information stored in the magnetic strip of the card or obtaining security codes electronically.
Although magnetic stripe cards are relatively easy to forge, smart cards are more difficult to counterfeit, but there are claims that they are not absolutely tamper-proof.
To protect against it, chip cards built to an internationally-agreed standard are being introduced. Retailers are also being trained in techniques for spotting counterfeit cards.
Application Fraud
Frauds relating to the issue of cards may be perpetrated in one of two ways:
First, so-called “true name fraud” occurs when an offender obtains the personal details of a real person and uses them to acquire credit cards in that name. The offender then uses the cards to purchase goods for which the liability passes to the legitimate cardholder.
The second type of fraud involves the use of false identification details, which, are used to obtain a legitimate card in a false name by individuals who later default on payment and abscond.
Application fraud traditionally accounted for only a small percentage of plastic card fraud cases with card issuers being quite successful in taking preventive action. In England, for example, between 1991 and 1993, losses sustained through application fraud declined more than 50 per cent, due to a range of security initiatives (Newton 1995).
PIN Fraud
Other vulnerabilities arise out of the way that the individual making use of the card authenticates his or her identity when using the card. This is mainly a problem with debit cards used in electronic card reading machines, which can verify the identity of cardholders by requiring them to enter a PIN or password. In order to enhance the security of the system, the user’s PIN is encrypted before it travels through the network, thus making it difficult for the PIN to be discovered by hacking into the network.
A more substantial security risk arises from the manner in which the PIN is communicated to the cardholder, recorded and remembered by the cardholder, and used by the cardholder at a terminal during a transaction. Although cardholders are clearly warned of the dangers associated with disclosing their PIN, writing it on the card, or keeping it in the same place as the card, a considerable proportion of cardholders refuse to heed such advice, thereby placing themselves at risk of loss – for which they will be personally responsible.
Card Not Present
The rise in mail and telephone order sales transactions has led to significant growth in fraud where the card is not present. At present, most commercial transactions which take place on the Internet are undertaken by customers purchasing goods and services by disclosing their credit card details. It has been estimated that transactions valued at approximately $A640 million took place on the Internet in 1995, and by the end of 2005 global online commerce is expected to reach between $A97 billion and $A238 billion (Russell G. Smith, 1998).
Credit card information is illegally obtained either by hacking into databases of account numbers which are held by Internet service providers, or by intercepting account details which travel in unencrypted form. There are also many online scams perpetrated by customers who make use of false credit card details, as well as merchants who fail to honor online agreements.
The banking industry in UK implemented an automated system in 2001 to enable merchants to verify the billing addresses of cardholders and cross-check coded digits on cards to make these types of transaction more secure (APACS, 2004(2)).
Plastic Money Fraud Prevention Strategies:
There are four primary strategies which can be used to prevent plastic card fraud. 9.1
Action by Card Issuers
Card issuers can adopt a wide variety of strategies to reduce the risk of plastic card fraud. The most pressing need is for financial institutions not to issue cards to individuals unless they are satisfied of their identity.
Various procedures could also be adopted to ensure that plastic cards are not stolen and that cards and PINs are communicated securely to customers. Banks could also assist merchants by notifying them promptly of stolen cards and PINs.
Cards could also be required to display the holder’s photograph.
One of the main strategies used to prevent EFTPOS fraud has been simply to lower floor limits (the transaction value at which authorization is required from banks before the card can be accepted).
Finally, various transaction monitoring strategies have been suggested to minimize losses through smart card fraud by quickly identifying fraudulent transactions and limiting the maximum value of transactions (AUSTRAC, 1996).
Action by Merchants
Frauds involving merchants constitute a large problem for financial institutions as merchants or their employees are ideally placed to handle the customer’s card, to permit access to computer networks and to alter transaction details.
Finally, merchants should examine any suspicious behaviour and appearance of customers. This might involve customers selecting purchases rapidly; being dressed inconsistently with the nature of the purchases selected; customers who split purchases between various slips in an attempt to forestall authorization calls to issuers; customers who make multiple purchases all under the floor limit; and customers who buy many of the same items but in different colors and sizes (Grau, 1992).
Unfortunately, it is often not possible for merchants to use all of these techniques through fear of deterring potential customers.
Action by Cardholders
Protection of one’s card, PIN or password is the primary crime prevention strategy which card holders need to take. Although consumers are advised not to disclose their PIN, keep it with their card, or write it on the card, studies have revealed that between 20 and 70 per cent of people fail to adhere to such advice (Sullivan, 1987).
Technological Solutions:
A wide range of technological solutions have also been devised in order to reduce the security risks associated with plastic card payment systems.
Protections against Card Counterfeiting
Various strategies have been devised to enhance the security of plastic cards and to make them more difficult to alter or counterfeit. These include the use of micro chip, holograms, embossed characters, tamper evident signature panels, magnetic stripes with improved card validation technologies, and indent printing.
Card Restrictions
As an alternative to target hardening, the risk of large-scale fraud through the use of plastic cards could be reduced by placing limits on the size of card-based transactions or the amounts of money that may be stored on plastic cards. There could also be a limit on the life of the cards.
Fraud Detection Software
Software has also been devised which is able to analyze plastic cardholder spending patterns in order to alert individuals to the presence of unauthorized transactions. Merchant deposit monitoring tecliniques also exist to uncover claiming patterns of corrupt merchants. One software package called PRISM (Proactive Fraud Risk Management) is used to detect credit card fraud carried out through the use of lost cards, stolen cards, counterfeit cards, fraudulent applications, cards never received, mail order, phone order and catalogue sales and merchant fraud. The cost is between $384,000 and $1.92 million depending on system requirements and configuration (Nestor Inc., 1996).
While initial installation costs may be high, the benefits obtained through the prevention and detection of fraud makes the use of such systems worthwhile for large organizations.
Improved Cryptography
Finally, cryptography, which is the mainstay of electronic banking security systems, could be improved to protect data transmissions over the net. This is currently being explored to secure online electronic cash systems by joint ventures such as MasterCard and Visa International’s Secure Electronic Transaction Protocol, which uses public key encryption to protect data from being compromised, and is expected to be fully operational shortly.
Some Guidelines and recommendations:
(i) Plastic money due to reliability, universality and convenience, have won the deserved recognition all over the world and have received a wide circulation. However, in Bangladesh the market is till to be discovered.
(ii) Three major types of cards are widely in use: Credit Card, Debit Card and Pre-Paid Card.
(iii) In the countries where the plastic card culture exists for long, the Debit Crad is leading the Credit Card. However, in a country where the Plastic Card culture is new, the Credit Card is more popular.
(iv) Debit Card relives the customers from various charges, interest and fees, and above all from the debts.
(v) Scams targeting plastic money are on the rise, and are becoming more sophisticated by the day.
(vi) Smart cards are more secure than the Magnetic strip cards.
(vii) All the banks and payment consortium should agree that collective action is necessary to stem the losses and form a Plastic Card Fraud Prevention Forum in Bangladesh.
(viii) Banks should have a centralized fraud reporting and investigation agency for plastic cards, which will maintain close liaison with the police.
(ix) Policy-makers should recognize that the plastic card industry is being deliberately targeted by organized criminal enterprises from around the globe. The perception that it is only an industry problem would no longer be sustainable. The key to reducing plastic card fraud and disrupting organized criminal enterprises is the establishment of a meaningful partnership between industry, merchants and law enforcement agencies.