Worried Wellington City Council officials are checking parking machines after fears that a huge credit card scam may have spread to the capital.
The scam was uncovered in a downtown Auckland parking building where thieves hacked into credit cards used to pay parking fees.
Banks, who have begun issuing new cards, say that more than 100,000 may have to be replaced as a result of the scam.
The scammers used parking payment machines at a downtown Auckland carpark to get card details and used the cards for fraudulent transactions.
Westpac Bank says the scam may have been confined to the parking building in Auckland and there is no reason card holders should not use their cards elsewhere for normal transactions.
The bank also says if cardholders followed the rules and did not give their PIN numbers to anyone, they would not be expected to cover the cost of the fraud on their cards although they may face a $50 charge as part of the inquiry.
It is still not known how the scammers got access to the card information.
Experts have suggested it could be a dishonest employee, someone hacking physically into the machine to read data, or a skimming device.
Wellington City Council said on Wednesday it was reviewing parking building machines in the city.
Police in Auckland said they had yet to receive a formal complaint from Westpac about the scam which may have been going for years.
Massey University banking expert David Tripe said this type of fraud was common overseas and if it increased in New Zealand banks and credit-card companies would probably move to "blacklist" retailers.
"If there were places that were clearly failing to operate securely I'd be saying well ... we won't accept credit cards from you," he told The Dominion Post
Wellington City Council spokeswoman Michelle Brooker told the
paper the council's pay-and-display parking machines were being
checked to make sure they were secure.
Are you very concerned about using your credit card in
light of the recent scams? Have you stopped using your credit card
altogether? ONE News would like to talk to you. Please email us
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