First it was clothes‚ then electronic goods and baby formula. Now it is meat. Retailers waging a battle against grocery store shoplifting are adopting unorthodox crime prevention measures by placing electronic security tags on expensive cuts of meat.

Global payments company Mastercard has announced the launch of Early Detection System, a new service that provides issuers with an advanced alert for cards and accounts at a heightened risk of fraudulent use, based on their exposure in security incidents or data breaches.

According to the statistics compiled by Sabric between January 1 and August 31 this year there have been 232 incidents reported across the industry. 

In the food industry, the opportunities for theft are many, whether they involve giving away food and drinks without getting authorisation, taking food home or consuming food on the premises.

As European authorities reel from a mass ransomware cyber attack that also infected Britain’s National Health Service (NHS), local cyber experts say South African companies and government departments must brace themselves.

In 2017, there was a 200% increase in credit card testing, a tactic used by fraudsters where they test stolen credit card numbers with small incremental purchases before making large-dollar purchases on the card. This was an increase compared to the same quarter in 2016, according to new data from Radial.

South Africans have lost almost R4.5 billion to credit and debit card fraud since 2010, the latest fraud data from Sabric shows. In 2016, gross losses due to credit card fraud increased by 13% to R374.4 million, up from R331.4 million recorded in 2015.

Bomb threats which targeted numerous shopping centres in Johannesburg did not come from a terrorist group, but rather a wealthy local family.

As you prepare to take a break this Easter‚ criminals are getting busy. And why wouldn't they when the country has R130 billion of cold hard cash in circulation at any one time?