Credit Cards UK

Fraud Using ‘Card Not Present’ On The Increase

The level of “Card not Present” fraud is on the increase and will more than likely rise even further when the Chip and Pin system is fully operational and becomes the norm, in the same way that the old metallic strip credit card was.

This will be down to the fact that the credit card fraudsters wont be able to get their hands on our credit card details through “Skimming” where they then use the details from this practice to make a counterfeit credit card to be used in shops and stores.

The introduction of the Chip and Pin method has already got the crooks looking to make up the cash that this new system is going to take away from them and “Card not Present” fraud is the chosen line that they are going down and it has already seen a rise in this type of fraud of 22% on this time last year.

The way that the crooks will use your details will to be make purchases over the telephone, make purchases from mail order catalogues, to more up to date forms of making purchases, the Internet and the increasingly popular T.V bidding stations that are becoming more and more available to the consumer.

The credit card thieves will then use your details this way in the knowledge that there will be no need for the four digit pin that is needed to make a purchase over the counter, they will then take receipt of the goods that they have ordered and will then sell then on for cash, which will then in turn be used to further other illegal markets such as drug dealing and porn.

The fact is we all have to more careful in our use of our credit cards to keep our hard earned cash safe from these leeches and just by checking out the Internet sites that we wish to purchase from, have either been recommended or are established, in which case these site will have a sign to say that it is a secured site, which will usually be a small padlock symbol somewhere on the web page.

Another tip is to buy a small paper shredder and use it to make sure that any mail such as bank statements, receipts and household bills that could have any information of a financial persuasion or name and address, is made unrecognisable, as the crooks will also pay people to rummage through your rubbish bins to get the information that they need, to then rip you off without a care in the world.

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