Desjardins to Fight Debit-Card Cloning Fraud

If members wish to withdraw more than $500 in one day, they will have to go to a Desjardins ATM, which will require that they confirm their identity by entering their date of birth. Bear in mind that Desjardins Group is still the only financial institution in the country to have adopted a security measure by which members need to confirm their identity for deposits exceeding $1,000 or withdrawals of more than $400, which substantially reduces the amount of losses related to debit-card cloning on its ATM network. However, Desjardins has observed that defrauders make increasing use of the Interac network to bypass this obstacle. The measure announced today is intended to counteract this practice. On average, Desjardins caisse members carry out more than 400 million direct payment transactions on some 40,000 Desjardins point-of-sale terminals and 320 million transactions at its 2,900 ATMs every year. Though it is rising, the debit-card cloning phenomenon does not at all challenge the security of the computer system that manages these transactions. Desjardins would like to remind its members that they can help minimize the risks associated with fraud using debit cards. Among other things, they can help by always being sure to hide their personal identification number (PIN) when they carry out direct payment transactions or use an ATM. Also, members must never disclose their PIN to anyone, for any reason. It is, of course, just as important to hide their date of birth when entering it at the ATM.