Card Alert: Is your credit card being 'double-swiped'

Retailers in Singapore have been advised not to practice double-swiping – an act of swiping the credit card twice to avail of customers’ personal data.

That extra swipe by some merchants breaches data protection laws, reported AsiaOne. It is done after the credit card transactions have been approved.

Retailers usually resort to this practice to collect card holders’ personal data for marketing purposes such as loyalty programmes.

Depending on the cash registers, information ranging from a card holder’s name and credit card number to the expiration date can be collected, the report added.

Now, the new data protection law empowers clients to report against such retailers.

According to the spokesman for the Personal Data Protection Commission, retailers can collect personal data only with the consent of the customer.

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