Banks can do more to tackle online fraud

Recently, I received an SMS from the bank informing me that an attempt had been made to fraudulently charge an online purchase to one of my credit cards.

The card had yet to be activated and so the charge was unsuccessful.

I contacted the bank, which immediately cancelled the card.

This was all well and good, except the bank officer then told me there would be no further investigation by the bank, since the attempt to charge to my card was unsuccessful.

With all the resources at its disposal, why isn't the bank taking on a more proactive role and working together with the police to track down such perpetrators so that this does not happen to someone else in future?

The police have said that the community remains its most important partner ("Commercial crimes, including credit-for-sex and Internet love scams, up 47% in 2015"; ST Online, last Friday).

Are our banks being engaged deeply enough as part of this police-community partnership through information sharing and other initiatives to address online fraud?

Woon Wee Min

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 15, 2016, with the headline Banks can do more to tackle online fraud. Subscribe