BleepingComputer.com: Credit Card Fraud

Just received this via email and thought it was worth passing on -
SCENE 1

A friend went to the local gym and placed his belongings in the locker.
After the workout and a shower, he came out, saw the locker open, and thought to himself,
'Funny, I thought I locked the locker.

Hmm, 'He dressed and just flipped the wallet to make sure all was in order.

Everything looked okay - all cards were in place.

A few weeks later his credit card bill came - a whooping bill of £14,000!

He called the credit card company and started yelling at them, saying that
He did not make the transactions.


Customer care personnel verified that there was no Mistake in the=2 0system
And asked if his card had been stolen.

'No,' he said, but then took out his wallet, pulled out the credit card, and yep
- you guessed it - a switch had been made.

An expired similar credit card from the same bank was in the wallet.

The thief broke into his locker at the gym and switched cards.

Verdict: The credit card issuer said since he did not report the card missing earlier,
He would have to pay the amount owed to them.

How much did he have to pay for items he did not buy?

£9,000! Why were there no calls made to verif y the amount swiped?

Small amounts rarely trigger a 'warning bell' with some credit card companies.

It just so happens that all the small amounts added up to big one!




SCENE 2

A man at a local restaurant paid for his meal with his credit card..

The bill for the meal came, he signed it, and the waitress folded the receipt and passed the credit card along.

Usually, he would just take it and place it in his wallet or pocket.
Funny enough, though, he actually took a look at the card and, lo and behold, it was the expired card of another person.

He called the waitress and she looked perplexed.

She took it back, apologized, and hurried back=2 0to the counter under the watchful eye of the man.

All the waitress did while walking to the counter was wave the wrong expired card to the counter cashier,
And the counter cashier immediately looked down and took out the real card.

No exchange of words --- nothing!


She took it and came back to the man with an apology.

Verdict:

Make sure the credit cards in your wallet are yours..

Check the name on the card every time you sign for something and/or the
Card is taken away for even a short period of time.

Many people just take back the credit card without even looking at it, 'assuming' that it has to be theirs..



FOR YOUR OWN SAKE, DEVELOP THE HABIT OF CHECKING YOUR CREDIT CARD EACH
TIME IT IS RETURNED TO YOU AFTER A TRANSACTION!


SCENE 3

Yesterday I went into a pizza restaurant to pick up an order that I had called in.

I paid by using my Visa Check Card which, of course, is linked directly to my checking account.

The young man behind the counter took my card, swiped it, then laid it on the counter as he waited for the approval, which is pretty standard procedure.

While he waited, he picked up his cell phone and started dialling.

I noticed the phone because it is the same model I have, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Then I heard a click that sounded like my phone sounds when I take a picture.

He then gave me back my card but kept the phone in his hand as if he was still pressing buttons.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking: I wonder what he is taking a picture of, oblivious to what was really going on.

It then dawned on me: the only thing there was my credit card, so now I'm paying close attention to what he is doing.

He set his phone on the counter, leaving it open.

About five seconds later, I heard the chime that tells you that the picture has been saved.

Now I'm standing there struggling with the fact that this boy just took a picture of my credit card.

Yes, he played it off well, because had we not had the same kind of phone, I probably would never have known what happened.

Needless to say, I immediately cancelled that card as I was walking out of the pizza parlour.


All I am saying is, be aware of your surroundings at all times.

Whenever you are using your credit card take caution and don't be careless.



Notice who is standing near you and what they are doing when you use your card.


Be aware of phones, because many have a camera phone these days.

FORWARD THIS TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN THINK OF.
LET'S GET THE WORD OUT! JUST BE AWARE


Never let your card out of your sight.......
check and check again!

That has been circulating on the internet for many years and Snopes.com has it classified as possible but not common. It also has a lot of misinformation, like the person being held liable for that amount money as the FTC has imposed a limit on fraudulant use of 50.00, even if the card had not been reported as stolen. Besides, as stated by Snopes, it would be rather hard to not notice that your credit card was not yours as most credit cards do not look alike, there are so many different designs for credit cards it would be very hard for anyone to get away wtih switching the cards. Snopes.com has many reasons why all of these scenerios are unlikely.....

http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/cardscams.asp

Fair enough, but the general idea of keeping an eye on your credit card has to be a good reminder to us all.

Where identity theft, not to mention unwanted charges, is concerned, one simply cannot be too careful. Anyone who has been the subject of either can tell you how difficult it is to repair the damage.
John

yes, but if say, a person worked at a restaurant, and ran a racket, all he would have to do is keep a handful of old credit cards around, at least of the popular varietys in the area and do everything legal, until he came across one that matched one of the copies he had, and switched it. It wouldnt be wise to switch out every one anyway, youd get caught to fast XD and if I noticed a checker taking photos of my card, not only would I be cancelling my card but complaining to management, and maybe even calling the cops. I mean serious!

The more common problem with handing your card to a cashier who walks away with it is them having a scanning device (a skimmer) in their pocket that will clone the cards strip. The same type of thing can be done when you insert your card into an ATM or any other machine. We had that happening here quite a bit for a while with ATMs and Redboxes.

In the event that someone may need these.........

How Do I Handle Possible Identify Theft, Internet Fraud and CC Fraud?

What Should I Do If I've Become A Victim Of Identity Theft?

Identity Theft Victims Guide - What to do

Thanks for providing those links boopme, that was very thoughtful of you. I'm sure they have good info in them.

I was having my mail stolen for a while and among other things, they got bank statements. While researching online about how to protect myself, I found a lot of tips but the best thing I found out about was puting a fraud alert on the credit reports. Having that put on helps a lot to protect one from anyone else being able to do anything with their credit. I was able to put it on my reports with all three bureaus with just one phone call. It has to be put back on every 90 days but that is a very small thing to do to get so much protection.

This post has been edited by Stang777: 02 May 2009 - 10:44 PM

the_patriot09, on May 3 2009, 01:31 AM, said:

"All he would have to do.."?

Where would he get this handful of credit cards from? They can't be taken from customers and the chances of finding an expired credit card after it has been thrown away seems a bit remote.

Email warnings are so lame. If there was a real problem with these type of scams then the police and government would get involved.

You're very welcome Stang777. I agree that that is also a good thing to do..

One more tip I have is ... that for all online purchases ,subscriptions etc...
I use one credit card for them all and it is only used for that.. hence in the event of an online issue. I kill one card only and it also stoops all the pain . I can still use my other card if needed.

This post has been edited by boopme: 03 May 2009 - 04:10 PM

m0le, on May 3 2009, 06:26 AM, said:

Um pretty easy actually, old cards he used or seriously, havent you ever gotten those credit card junk mail? they send you a credit card and all you gotta do is call in and activate it, I mean serious, I probably have gotten well over a dozen in the past couple years. Different name, different number, just dont work, and if the customer actually looks at the card, all the guy has to do is say hey, sorry I got your card confused with another customers.

That is an excellent idea boopme, I think I will do that too, thanks. I have a few cards that I never use so I can easily do that.