Holiday-makers should use cash to pay at toll booths in KwaZulu-Natal to avoid becoming victims of credit-card skimming.

"Pay cash. Do not let your card out of your sight," advised Susan Potgieter, head of the Banking Risk Centre's commercial crime unit, yesterday.

"At a toll booth, you can't see your card so you don't know what is being done to it.

"Skimming of cards is a problem nationally, with the increasing prevalence of devices mounted to ATMs, which are not easily detectable by unsuspecting ATM users."

Sabric and KwaZulu-Natal police yesterday said skimming or cloning of debit and credit cards was now occurring at toll gates throughout the province.

Durban's commercial crime unit began investigating toll gates during the soccer World Cup and made a breakthrough two weeks ago when they arrested a man suspected of skimming cards at Marianhill toll plaza, between Durban and Pietermaritzburg.

The man was linked to 158 cases of skimming cards.

Captain Louis Helberg said investigations indicated that the skimming devices were delivered by a motorist to toll booth attendants to bypass security checks.

"Attendants are searched before going into the booths and are compelled to carry their belongings in transparent bags so that the security guards can see what they are taking in," Helberg said.

"We believe the device is delivered by a motorist who is a member of a syndicate," he said.

Bank-card fraud in Stanger and Tongaat has doubled, causing detectives to believe that skimming has been taking place at the two busy toll plazas motorists pass through to reach popular North Coast holiday destinations.

Potgieter said banking industry losses due to credit-card fraud have decreased throughout the country from R409.3-million last year to R263.8-million this year.

Potgieter attributed the decrease to the introduction of the "chip and pin" system, which requires most credit-card users to punch in their PIN after the card has been scanned.

In the past year, credit-card fraud was rife in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape.

The types of fraud reported are:

• Card not present - this refers to transactions on the internet or by phone in which presentation of a bank card is not required;
• False application fraud - relates to criminals stealing an identity to obtain a bank card;
• Counterfeiting - refers to the skimming or cloning of a bank card;
• Lost or stolen card fraud - when cards are used for transactions after being stolen or lost;
• ATM fraud - often relates to the user being distracted at an ATM and a bank card being swopped. - nairn@thetimes.co.za