The bank calls you to inform you of a large transaction that has just occurred on your credit card. You find out that you have just purchased over four thousand dollars worth of songs from iTunes, but the irony is that you cannot remember the last time you bought anything from that site. How is this possible? You have just been victimized by credit card fraud. What is credit card fraud? Credit card fraud is defined by www.ehow.com as “.,. the use of a credit card with the intent to commit fraud. It can be committed with a person's personal card, with a business card, a stolen card or a counterfeit card.”
According to SC Magazines a recent two year investigation has resulted in the arrests of 178 people in 12 countries for involvement in an international credit card fraud ring. The arrests were a result of 84 raids that have taken place in: “France, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Romania, Australia, Sweden, Greece, Finland, Hungary and the United States”. This “ring” is just one example of how fraud stretches nationwide and is not subject to the United States alone. These people were running an underground operation where they would take credit card information through scams and manufacture counterfeit cards to make ATM withdrawals and retail purchases. SC Magazines reports that “the police have found over 5,000 counterfeit cards and over 120,000 stolen credit card numbers…[in addition] they have found 11 laboratories” that have specialized interest in creating the counterfeit cards. These people who have been placed under arrest are believed to have run many underground operations such as: “robbery with force, fraud, extortion, sexual exploitation, and money laundering, earning $24.5 million from illegal activities.” Even though 178 have been caught for this heinous act, there are many other scams, and scam artists out there that are trying to take advantage of the public’s trust in using a piece of plastic to pay bills.
An example of how a credit card number can be obtained through a scam and used for fraudulent activities is through some of our trusted corporations that we utilize monthly to pay our bills for cell phones, electricity, cable, car, insurance, and more. This can be as simple as a business that you pay every month contacting you and reporting that you forgot to sign the check, or your payment was never received and asking you if you would like to submit a payment over the phone using a credit card. This happened in Salt Lake City just this week; according to the article “Rocky Mountain Power Warns of Credit Card Fraud”, scam artists have been reaching their consumers and telling them that their checks were not signed and then they proceed to ask for the person’s credit card information. This is not how the company conducts business, they have a standard procedure of asking for a person’s account number to verify the identity of the consumer when dealing with bills. It’s important to remember how businesses usually verify account information and to recognize these procedures when you are being contacted in response to a bill that was supposedly never paid. If you have caller identification you can always check the number, and if the phone call seems phony you may want to try contacting the businesses headquarters to verify the transaction.
These acts of fraud are not always conducted by criminals, sometimes it can be friends or family members that have gained access to our accounts over time. Just recently a blind woman had asked a trusted friend to make an online purchase of a computer bag for her, and had given her the credit card to use for payment. The card never left the woman’s possession, but weeks later another friend had found that the same card had been used to make additional purchases that the blind woman could not have made without assistance. Not knowing who would target this helpless woman, she decided to ask her friend who had made an online purchase for her if she had used the card. According to the Eastern Arizona Courier the woman admitted that she might have used the card to pay some bills by accident thinking that it was her husband’s card. The blind woman contacted her bank and informed them of the fraudulent activity on the card and the company informed her that they intended to press charges on the blind woman for letting her friend help her with the online purchases. The blind woman then informed the company that the only reason that the woman was allowed access to the card was because she was legally blind, and the company’s response was that she should have bought the item over the phone then. A phone purchase can be just as bad as giving a card to someone you trust for help because you never know who is on the other end.
Years ago we invented this ideal way of making purchases through a plastic piece that we call a credit card for the convenience of not having to carry wads of cash around, to establish credit, and to make online business transactions more efficient. Unfortunately over time the use of this item has become abused. There are ways of circumventing credit card fraud and protecting yourself from being victimized. The FBI warns that when making a purchase with a credit card you should: always make sure that the company is reputable, if online make sure the site is secure, limit purchases to within the country, always check for the security icon on a site before making a purchase, and if you suspect that your card has been stolen or is being abused report it as soon as possible. Just like every other crime possible to man, anyone can be a victim, but if you take the proper precautions and make yourself aware to some of the current scams going around your more likely keep yourself and your account secure from predators.
Works Cited
Definition of Credit Card Fraud. (2010). Retrieved July 18, 2010, from ehow.com: http://www.ehow.com/about_5085291_definition-credit-card-fraud.html
Investigations, F. B. (2010). Internet Fraud. Retrieved July 19, 2010, from FBI.gov: http://www.fbi.gov/majcases/fraud/internetschemes.htm#credcard
James, A. (2010, July 19). Rocky Mountain Power warns of Credit Card Fraud. Retrieved July 19, 2010, from KSL.com: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=11627212&hl=12
Johnson, J. (2010, July 19). Blind woman victim of credit card fraud says friend took credit card information when helping her with an online purchase. Retrieved July 19, 2010, from Eastern Arizona Courier: http://www.eacourier.com/articles/2010/07/19/news/breaking_news/doc4c44d78639b98019652661.txt
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