A Taiwanese businessman in Shanghai who had 12.19 million yuan swiped from his debit card – after he unwittingly revealed his password during a public ATM transaction in Hong Kong – lost his appeal to the Shanghai Municipal Higher People’s Court to compensate his money on account of his own negligence in making the transactions.

Debit Card Fraud

According to Shanghai media reports, the businessman surnamed Huang first obtained a Debit Card in early 2008. That March, Huang took the card to Hong Kong to be a guarantor for a friend’s credit standing. He made multiple deposits onto his card and openly inserted his password at the ATM.

It was during this time that a bystander allegedly memorized Huang’s password and made a duplicate of his card. On Mar. 18., Huang discovered that between late Mar. 14. and the early hours of Mar. 15., someone had swiped his card and verified the transaction with his password eight times – all traced to jewelry or watch boutiques in Macau – and spent a total of 12.19 million yuan.

As Huang never stepped foot in Macau during that time, he immediately notified and reported the case to Chinese, Macau and Hong Kong authorities. Unable to resolve the issue with the Debit Card bank teller, Huang brought the case to the Shanghai court, asking to be repaid the 12 million yuan plus the 60,000 yuan (US$1,000) interest.

The court ruled that Huang had been callous when he publicly inserted his password, hence bring the debacle onto himself. The Shanghai court thereby rejected Huang’s appeal.

Courtesy. asiaone News