Fears of credit card being 'compromised' after Fiji trip

A Westpac customer got a call from her bank, telling her her debit card had been "compromised" during her trip to Fiji. Photo / Supplied

A Westpac bank customer says her credit card details may be published online after a skimming device was reportedly attached to an overseas ATM machine.

A woman, who only wanted to be known as Courtney, went on an overseas trip to Fiji in November last year. She recently got a call from her bank, telling her her MasterCard debit card had been "compromised" during her trip.

"I got a call from Westpac bank and they said a few people's credit card has been compromised in the past few months from ATMs in Fiji and Australia."

While no money was taken from her debit card, the bank cancelled the card.

She said she called her bank again to get more information.

"I had to probe him to get more information.

"When I rang again, they said there is a lot of skimming incidents at the moment," she said.

A Westpac spokeswoman said skimming issues affected customers from time-to-time.

She recommended Westpac customers travelling overseas contact the bank to notify them of their travel dates.

"We will then have an idea of what kind of transactions we can expect to see on their cards.

"Customers should also be vigilant and monitor their own statements for any transactions they don't recognise and contact us as soon as they detect anything unusual," she said.

Several people were charged by police after customers' bank card details were obtained through a skimming device attached to an ATM, the Fiji Times reported.

It reported foreign nationals were involved.

The director of the Financial Intelligence Unit, Razim Buksh, said there was an increase in the number of skimming cases since June 2015.

The last major and "carefully orchestrated" incident happened in December last year, which Mr Buksh said affected more than 500 credit and debit cardholders.