YouTrip assists the Singapore Police Force to Uncover Credit Card Fraud

February 13, 2019 - 11:35
YouTrip assists the Singapore Police Force to Uncover Credit Card Fraud

SINGAPORE - MediaOutReach - February 13, 2019 - Multi-currency mobile wallet, YouTrip, has taken astand against financial fraud by assisting the Singapore Police Force inuncovering a case of syndicated credit card fraud.

 

Over 85 fraudulentcredit card transactions were flagged by YouTrip's Fraud Monitoring System. TheSingapore Police Force has arrested and charged 4 individuals with syndicatedcredit card fraud with another 15 individuals currently under investigation forrelated offences.

 

Investigating & tracing transaction patterns usingData Analytics

Throughout lateDecember and January, YouTrip's Fraud Monitoring System, which traces anddetects early signals of suspicious transactions, flagged two key signals:

 

  • Signal 1: High top-up amount followed byimmediate purchases or cash withdrawals to deplete the account balance
  • Signal 2: High frequency of failed top-upswith incorrect credit/debit card credentials

 

The combination ofthese two key signals and various data analytics techniques led to theidentification of a specific group of users who exhibited both of suchbehaviours.

 

A special taskforce made up of Fraud Monitoring specialists and Engineers was immediately setup to further uncover more transactions and usage signals that have a highcorrelation to potentially fraudulent activities. These include concentrationon common merchant names (e.g. overseas ATM locations), common transactionlocations, chargebacks and reports from members of the general public.

 

YouTrip handedover conclusive findings to the police to expedite investigations. This informationincluded 18 individuals suspected of fraudulently obtaining information on morethan 85 bank credit or debit cards to top up YouTrip accounts. These accountswere immediately suspended.

 

Enhancing our security measures

Whileinvestigations were underway, YouTrip rolled out a security update last weekthat requires mandatory OTP verification via SMS (to be sent by your creditcard issuing bank), whenever a new credit or debit card is added for the firsttime on the YouTrip app.

 

This helps tofurther eliminate cases of fraudulent use such as to perform top-ups on YouTripaccounts using stolen credit or debit cards, in addition to the existing fraudmonitoring systems and customer due diligence processes.

 


Security Update:mandatory OTP verification via SMS when adding bank credit/debit card onYouTrip App

 

"Fraud preventionand security will continue to be YouTrip's core mission to our users. We willcontinue to work closely with the authorities and community to ensure a secureand seamless payment experience for all YouTrip users," said Mr Kelvin Lam,Country Manager (Singapore), You Technologies Group.

 

The case iscurrently under litigation and YouTrip is working closely with the authoritiesin the ongoing investigations. YouTrip will be working with the relevantinstitutions to ensure a proper arrangement for affected individuals in thiscase.

 

YouTrip users canrest assured to use YouTrip as per normal, as the suspicious activities havebeen contained to the current identified suspects. Users can reach out toYouTrip's  customer support team at customer@you.co,if they detect any suspicious activities in their accounts.

 

Read the full storyat go.you.co/fraudmonitoring.

 

AboutYouTrip

 

YouTrip is amulti-currency mobile wallet with a contactless Mastercard prepaid card issuedby EZ-Link in collaboration with You Technologies Group, which enables users topay with no fees in over 150 currencies worldwide. Users can pay at more than30 million Mastercard merchants across the world, and also monitor live foreignexchange rates and store up to 10 selected currencies (SGD, HKD, JPY, AUD, NZD,EUR, GBP, CHF, USD and SEK) in their wallet at wholesale exchange rates with noadditional fees.

 

About You Technologies Group Ltd

 

You TechnologiesGroup is a leading financial technology group that operates and developsYouTrip, a mobile multi-currency wallet issued with a contactless Mastercard.Operating in the Asia Pacific region, You Technologies Group focuses onbuilding a revolutionary mobile-only platform for consumer banking and finance,empowering individuals across Asia with a simpler and smarter way to managetheir money. You Technologies Group partnered with EZ-Link and Mastercard tolaunch YouTrip in Singapore in August 2018.

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