Last night we reported on the credit card scam being carried out by a few call center employees who were running their fraud through the Chon Saan Palace app.
Well, the fraudsters have taken it to another level and have been using "Kwiqpass", the new virtual ticketing app designed for Belize.
Jaleeza Roberts spoke with "Kwiqpass" management reps who said how these criminals turned credit cards into "eventful" memories
Kwiqpass has become one of Belize's most widely used digital ticketing platforms.
But behind the QR codes and seamless check-ins, a sophisticated pattern of fraud has been taking hold. According to Kwiqpass Public Relations Officer Delroy Fairweather, the first warning signs surfaced during BTB's Belize International Music Festival.
Delroy Fairweather, PR - Kwiqpass
"We were made aware of situations involving fraudulent purchases on the app. Maybe, probably like around the time when the Belize International Music Festival, that's when we started to have received a lot of chargebacks from the cards."
Kwiqpass internal systems revealed what was happening. Tickets were purchased, scanned, and redeemed, then weeks later, payments were reversed, a clear indication of stolen or unauthorized credit card use.
Delroy Fairweather, PR - Kwiqpass
"When those activities were seen on the app and then a chargeback started occurring, that's when we realized that, you know what, yeah, someone has been, you know, maybe multiple persons have been utilizing credit cards, which did not belong to them."
In response, Kwiqpass invested heavily in tightening its security. New protocols were introduced. Card names had to match account holders. Suspicious transactions were flagged automatically. But criminals adapted.
Delroy Fairweather, PR - Kwiqpass
"As the technology evolved and the scammers, if I could use that term, are getting a little bit smarter, you know, we have to update our protocols. So one of the things that we had done as a safeguard mechanism was to restrict certain card users from making purchases, namely cards from the U.S., because we realized that some of these were the areas where we would have had a lot of the activities occurring. And that's why, like I said earlier, we had put in place where if the card holder does not match the name on that account."
Despite these measures, fraud persisted. At one local event, Kwiqpass escalated the matter to the Cybercrime Unit.
Delroy Fairweather, PR - Kwiqpass
"One of the situations that we had was an event that we had, a local event."
"We found, again, there were some purchases that were being made. We flagged those purchases. We got in contact with the cybercrimes unit. They assisted us, and they actually had a personnel right there on the spot when those persons came to redeem those tickets. Luckily, they were there, and of course, we did not make a big scene or a big issue over it in terms of trying to shame anyone."
This isn't about getting into a concert for free. This is calculated fraud. What alarms investigators is that this is no longer simple opportunistic concert related leisurely theft. IDs are now being stolen. And organized criminal elements are beginning to get involved
Delroy Fairweather, PR - Kwiqpass
"Not all people at those call centers are actually bad people, because it's maybe only a handful of people who actually sit down, study the system, and try to figure out ways to get around it. Therefore, putting their whole industry in jeopardy, because again, what they're doing amongst some serious penalties. One of the things we realized is that the app has grown, a lot of people are very much used to this app. Whenever there's events that they would want to have this app utilized. It's a kind of a balancing act. Yes, you win some and you lose some. No one goes into business to lose money, but it happened."
Fairweather says the consequences extend well beyond Kwiqpass.
Delroy Fairweather, PR - Kwiqpass
"You know, it doesn't matter how much advice you would give to people, because it's, it's like basically taking candy from a child, you know, in certain cases, this is what some people would figure out. But again, like you said, putting your entire industry in jeopardy over, you know, maybe just having going to a concert or going to an event, you know, things like that, people really need to start looking at and realize that, you know, it might be all fun right now, but once the industry shuts down, then you have all these people will be out of a job."
Police continue to probe into possible prosecution all while the industry is at stake of the deeds of a handful. Jaleeza Roberts, 7 News.
And, to add a clarification to last night's story about abuse of the Chon Saan delivery app, we showed you emails from "Justin Parks". For clarity, we need to stress that Parks is not involved or implicated in the credit card fraud in any way. He is merely an employee of Heritage Bank addressing the chargebacks - and, again, he had no part in any fraud.
