Money is the target of most criminals. They may steal gold, diamonds, mobile phones, television sets, handbags and cameras, but their ultimate goal is to convert those stolen possessions into cash.That being the case, it would be a lot easier and more lucrative if they could steal cash in the first place.
Though a thief might steal a camera worth £300, he may only get £20 when he illegally sells it on. That means that he would much prefer to steal your wallet or purse and take the £85 you have in cash, giving a much higher reward and less effort.Hard cash isn’t the only way that money changes hands. Credit cards, debit cards, and store cards are also used to make purchases. Though they are used less frequently now, cheques are also used to make transactions. Alhough none of them are as good as cash, they are all valuable to a thief.
Credit Cards
Credit card fraud is a huge business globally and the UK is not immune. The figures involved are amazing. There are 65 million credit cards in use in the UK. Worldwide, billions of pounds are lost annually and the credit card companies are struggling to stop that loss. The total loss in the UK is estimated to be about £500,000,000. Cash card fraud has soared and is reported to be 85% higher than last year in the UK. The new Chip and Pin system is designed to reduce that level, but fraud using cards lost in the post rose 51% last year to a total of £61.2 million. Telephone fraud on credit cards reached £139 million. On top
of that one report claimed that a further £123 million was lost to counterfeit cards.
When the change to Chip and Pin is complete, it is expected that fraud levels will fall – at least they will fall until criminals discover a way of getting around the new security protocols. The biggest problem at the moment is careless credit card holders and users. Loss of cards, either on or after delivery, puts them in the hands of criminals and abuse of cards by dishonest shop retail staff adds a greater burden.
Lost Credit/Debit Cards
A card can be stolen while in the post so it never reaches the owner of the account. A card can be stolen from a residence on delivery, or fraudulent applications can be made to get cards delivered to a false address. If you don’t shred financial and personal documents, criminals can take them out of your dustbin and use them to commit crime against you, as well as committing crime in your name! Using your details and a gas bill, for example a criminal can get a bank account. With that he can apply for any number of debit, credit and store cards using your name and a phoney address.
Cards stolen from bags and wallets by pickpockets, muggers and sneak thieves in changing rooms and clubs find their way into criminal use. Cards are big business in every sense – there are reported to be an average of 75 cash withdrawals per second in the UK!
Dishonest Retail Staff
Because they handle them all day, dishonest retail employees are ideally placed to abuse credit and debit cards in a number of ways.
Clone. They have the technology to read the details off your card if you are not looking, so that they can create a clone – a duplicate of your card. They can then sell the duplicate card and the criminal who uses it can put his/her own signature on the card and use it. As your card has not been stolen, you don’t know anything is wrong until you get your statement in a month or so and find a lot of purchases for luxury items that you know nothing about.
Theft/substitution. This is a riskier undertaking for the waiter or assistant in the shop, because to use this trick they have to return a similar but different card to you. For example if you are Mr Jones and you pay by credit or debit card, the waiter or shop assistant gives you back a card, but the card he gives you is in the name of, for example, Mrs Green!
If you spot the switch they will apologise, tell you it was a mistake and give you your card back. If you don’t spot it, you put the card in your wallet or purse and leave, carrying a card which was originally issued to somebody else.
Meanwhile your card has been sold on and is already being used to buy electronics in the high street. You find out you’ve been carrying a card in the name of Mrs Green when you try to make your next purchase, when a sarcastic assistant asks Mr Jones if he has any proof he is Mrs Green!
If you don’t use your card very often, you might not find out until you get your statement in a month or so. By that time your card has become too hot to use, so it has been ‘recycled’. Another victim is now carrying your card and his/her card is being used by the criminal to make expensive purchases.
Double swipe. In this trick, the retailer swipes your card with the amount and gets a confirmation, but tells you it didn’t work. They swipe the card again either for the same amount or any amount they care to key in. That sum is debited from your account and the retailer slides the ‘profit’ into his pocket.
Customer not present. With all card details, a retailer can sell goods to a customer who is not present. This system was introduced for the convenience of customers – you call the shop and order a laptop computer or something over the phone. The seller takes the details of the card and registers the purchase. Your card is debited with the value of the purchase without your card being swiped or you signing anything. If the criminal can arrange to intercept delivery of the goods, they are his. Perhaps he asks the store when the delivery will be made and then simply turns up and waits outside for the delivery. He walks out of your gate, says, ‘I’m just on my way out, guys, give it to me,’ then off he goes with the goods.
Internet abuse. Just to indicate the size of the problem, one million UK citizens reportedly fell victim to fraudulent online transactions last year. With card details it is relatively easy to make purchases. With a card name, account number, expiry date, address details and security code you can order almost anything over the Internet.
By requesting that the goods are delivered to your ‘work address’, you collect the goods – not the card owner. Use that stunt 20 times in a day, set up in that temporary delivery address to collect the express next day deliveries, and then move on. You could even use an innocent address to receive goods that have been fraudulently obtained on a stolen or abused credit card. For example, by visiting an estate agent, viewing an empty property for sale, getting a key cut and then using that building for a while before moving on.