I hardly ever use my UK cards here now, and will probably be just as wary anywhere else I go. I got shafted for about 2,500 GBP last year (eventually reimbursed by Visa though), following a holiday in Bali, where I had used the card. Like another poster on this forum, attempted usage of the card number came from Taiwan. I haven't heard about the main card swiping machines being altered before, but I have heard that waiters and others who will accept your card for payment, sometimes have small swiping devices on their person. They can swipe your card discreetly while carrying it to the cashier, the numbers being stored then downloaded to a computer when they get home. This was believed to be the major method working in Bali, until they caught some guy a while back who had been running the show for about 5 years. Haven't heard much on the outcome of that though.

Best answer is to get a local Visa or MC from one of the Indonesian banks. They tend to strictly limit your credit availability (unlike UK or US) - I think to about Rp 20 million. This means you won't get stung for as much if they do screw you, and the thieves also tend to target the foreign cards anyway (so I am told!!), with the likelihood of more funds being available there.

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I was stung recently - AUD$7,800+ card was fraudulently used here in Jakarta for an airline ticket to Korea, plus a truck load of jewelry in Melbourne and looks like a pretty big tank of fuel at a Shell gas station. This occurred around 2-3 weeks after a short trip to Bali where I know credit card fraud is rampant.

Prior to moving to Jakarta, I was managing a resort on another Indonesian Island and 
several of our guests also got stung. The banks and Visa were considerate enough to blame the business enterprise without consideration to the vulnerability of their product - those magnetic strips contain all the info needed.

The scam works as such - a small scanning device is available to discreetly swipe your 
card. Check what the waiter is carrying under the tray on on their belt - it is no bigger 
than a mobile phone. The other method is another chip is placed in the EDC (the thing at the register where they swipe your card) this then duplicates every card going through.

In the later, it is likely the enterprise is involved as they have had to let someone in to 
tamper with the machine. Make sure the shop, bar etc. only swipes your card once - no need for two swipes - especially if it is a small reading device. (I guess the registers at Hero & Sogo are safe??)

As a business, both the banks and Visa made outrageous threats, up to - canceling the right to offer Visa service (please tell me what business can survive today with out this) and a substantial US$ fine.

Not once did Visa acknowledge they are part of the problem. What has Visa done for its millions and millions of card holders to warn them of this problem? What steps have they taken to protect that little magnetic strip? Don't forget, those very high interest rates you are charged are paying for these fraudulent purchases!

I can fully understand the temptation of those involved - it is easy money. The responsibility should fall back on Visa and the Banks to protect their customers a little more.

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Picture
Earlier today the Singapore Shipping Agency stated that terrorists are looking to attack oil tankers and other ships of significant value transiting the Malacca Strait. The warning was issued by the Singapore Navy Fusion Centre when they "received an indication that a terrorist group is planning attacks on oil tankers in the Malacca Straits." The report goes on to say that, "This does not preclude possible attacks on other large vessels with dangerous cargo."

Threats to shipping in the Malacca Strait are not new, nor are these threats solely in the domain of terrorism. In the late 90's piracy was a major concern which generated significant attention from regional powers such as China and Japan. The Malacca Strait is a important transit point for cargo and oil tankers moving Middle Eastern crude to energy hungry powers of the far east. A 2006 study estimated that 15 million barrels of oil transit the strait per day.

Photo: Singapore Navy patrol on the Malacca Strait
Credit: Associated Press

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Bali Bomber 03/17/2010
 
Bali Bomber Dulmatin Killed in IndonesiaBy William Tucker

On March 9 Indonesian security forces killed Dulmatin, a leader of Jemaah Islamiyah and the mastermind behind the 2002 Bali nightclub bombing. Dulmatin's death was confirmed by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono a day later. This successful raid by Indonesia's elite counterterrorist unit detachment 88 is one more in a string of arrests and killing of Jemaah Islamiyah operatives. Dulmatin was certainly a big fish (the U.S. had a 10 million dollar bounty on his head), but while Jemaah Islamiyah is being ripped apart a new group called al-Qaeda Indonesia is just getting started. Two weeks ago a video surfaced on the internet from the new group requesting that all Indonesian Islamist groups should cooperate in the fight to implement Sharia. The connection of this new group to bin Laden's al-Qaeda or the threats against shipping in the Malacca Strait is unknown at this time.

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Surveillance 03/17/2010
 
Surveillance (pronounced /sərˈveɪ.əns/ or /sərˈveɪləns/[1]) is the monitoring of the behaviour, activities, or other changing information, usually of people and often in a surreptitious manner. It most usually refers to observation of individuals or groups by government organizations, but disease surveillance, for example, is monitoring the progress of a disease in a community.

The word surveillance comes from the French word for "watching over".

The word surveillance may be applied to observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment (such as CCTV cameras), or interception of electronically transmitted information (such as Internet traffic or phone calls). It may also refer to simple, relatively no- or low-technology methods such as human intelligence agents and postal interception.

Surveillance is very useful to governments and law enforcement to maintain social control, recognize and monitor threats, and prevent/investigate criminal activity. With the advent of programs such as the Total Information Awareness program and ADVISE, technologies such as high speed surveillance computers andbiometrics software, and laws such as the Communications Assistance For Law Enforcement Act, governments now possess an unprecedented ability to monitor the activities of their subjects.[

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First Post! 03/17/2010
 
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