Its good to note that our new weekly feature, The Scam, which we put up in the beginning of the week, is off to a good start by the response we have received. Our first scam feature was about a woman who visited Mombasa sometime back where she lost 300 dollars in a VISA card fraud. We received several responses, with readers sharing stories similar to that, and figured we should share them here. We are not trying to scare you, but the reality of these creative methods used by cons to steal your money will make you think twice on how you handle your cards and bank account information.

One of our readers, Frank (not his real name) visited Kenya from Ireland sometime back and hired a car and a driver from an Indian safari company near Westlands. He  made payment for the rental services using his credit card.  Frank says that this was the only time he used the card while on that particular vacation in Kenya.

He flew back to Ireland sometime later where he learnt that his credit card had been used to buy plane tickets in the UK, pay for a cruise in the US and $700 withdrawn in Kampala.

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After investigations were done, it was discovered that a duplicate of his credit card had been produced in Kenya and used to make payments for a plane ticket, a cruise and $700 withdrawn in Kampala.

The fraudsters made one crucial mistake of forgetting to forge Frank’s signature on the duplicated credit card. The fake card was finally seized when the cons tried to make another transaction. They however managed to flee the scene.

Fortunately, Franks’ credit card had been insured so he didn't incur the fraudulent expenses.

It’s now a reality that ATM, credit and debit card theft has become prevalent in Kenya. Many have fallen victims to such schemes and have been forced to pay for fraudulent expenses. Banks tend to be very slow and reluctant to refund in such cases so caution must be exercised when using these cards. Anyone can fall victim to these schemes.