PETALING JAYA: All Touch 'n Go card users will have to register and upgrade their cards for better security features beginning tomorrow until Dec 8. 

Rangkaian Segar Sdn Bhd, which operates the electronic stored value card, said cards which were not upgraded would not function after the deadline. 

Users should bring their cards to any Touch 'n Go counter, including “add value” lanes at toll plazas, for the upgrading process, RSSB chief operating officer Swinder Grewal said in a statement yesterday. 

There are around 2.8 million cards in circulation and one million MyKad holders with Touch 'n Go facilities. 

“Touch 'n Go security features have not been compromised in the past but as new technology is available, it is time to update the card to maintain a fraud-free status,” she said. 

On the registration process, Swinder said users who did not previously register should go to a Touch 'n Go counter and give their details by filling in a registration form. 

They could also call the Touch 'n Go Careline Centre at 03-76285115, she said. 

Forms can be downloaded from Touch 'n Go's website www.touchngo.com.my and either faxed to 03-76285100, e-mailed to or posted to RSSB's headquarters.  

“With this exercise, details of card owners will enable RSSB to refund the money left in the card in the case of stolen or lost cards,” Swinder said, adding that the information would remain confidential. 

Registration would also allow RSSB to give out free itemised on-line Touch 'n Go transaction statements or e-statements, she said. 

Swinder said all users who upgrade, register or purchase new cards would automatically qualify for “The Winning Touch” lucky draw contest and stand to win a 42-inch plasma television every week or a Volvo S40 at the end of the period. 

For more information, please call the Touch 'n Go Careline or check RSSB's website. 

Federation of Malaysian Consumers' Associations (Fomca) advisor Datuk Hamdan Adnan said any security feature upgrading without any cost to the consumer was most welcome. 

“This move will encourage greater use of the card. People will be more confident putting money in their card as they can get refunds if the cards are lost,” he said. 

As RSSB would earn more revenue, Hamdan said it should reduce the cost of the SmartTag. 

He also questioned the durability of the MyKad, especially when it was used frequently for its Touch ’n Go facilities.  

Source: The Star

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KUALA LUMPUR: What was supposed to be foolproof – a microchip for credit cards introduced by Bank Negara to combat card fraud – has now been cloned. 

Federal police officers, together with their Penang counterparts, recently busted a syndicate and seized computers and machines used in the production of these chip-based cards. 

Commercial Crimes principal assistant director Senior Asst Comm II Ismail Abdullah said police managed to prevent the syndicate from distributing the cards. 

It is learnt that the police came to know about the cloned chip-based cards when they arrested a man who tried to buy petrol using a fake credit card in Penang. 

“Syndicate members had first tried to use the cards for purchases but failed in their attempt as the machines could not read the data on the chips. 

“They then persuaded merchants whose machines couldn’t read the chips to swipe the cards instead,” SAC Ismail told The Star. 

SAC Ismail said most of the transactions were made at odd hours in petrol stations and shops in remote areas to avoid detection and suspicion. 

He said several merchants had suspicions the cards were fake, but went ahead with the transactions because they wanted to make the sale. 

Credit card fraud is believed to have cost banks an estimated RM40mil in losses since last year.  

Following the introduction of chip-based cards this year, police managed to reduce credit card fraud by almost 90%. 

For the period of January to July this year, only 40 fraud cases were reported, with to-tal losses amounting to RM164,000. 

Bank Negara mooted the idea of microchip-based credit cards as early as 2002 to stem fraud and banks were given until Dec 31 last year to comply.  

Source: The Star

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