For years, American consumers have waited for safer credit cards with embedded chips that make them more difficult to clone, and which can require a unique PIN or a signature to use. Now that these cards are finally in widespread use, and retailers are begrudgingly shifting over to new card-readers, why is identity fraud still on the rise? [More]
credit card fraud
Cops Using GPS To Track Credit Card-Skimming Devices Back To Scammers
By 5.4.15
For years, we’ve been telling you about credit card skimming devices that collect the information on your card when you swipe at places like ATMs and gas pumps. The common-sense thing to do when finding a skimmer is to remove it. And while that prevents anyone else from being victimized, the scammers who hooked up the illegal device are rarely caught. That’s why some police are now leaving gas pump card skimmers in place but adding a GPS tracker to follow the skimmer back to its criminal creators. [More]
Report: Stolen Credit Card Information Used By Fraudsters To Make Purchases With Apple Pay
By 3.6.15
A rash in data breaches at national retailers may have led fraudsters to use Apple Pay to make big-ticket purchases with credit card information stolen during national data breaches. [More]
New Visa Feature Uses Smartphone Location Tracker To Prevent Fraud By Knowing Where You Are At All Times
By 2.18.15
Forgetting to tell your bank that you’ll be traveling far outside of your normal spending zone can often lead to frustrations like having transactions rejected out of concern that your card is being used fraudulently. In an attempt to make the lives of frequent travelers easier – and prevent fraud – Visa plans to launch a new service this spring that automatically informs banks where you are. [More]
Police Investigating Credit Card Thefts After 125 Stolen Cards Found At Walgreens
By 2.10.15
Usually consumers only have a few credit cards on hand when making a purchase at Walgreens. So when three people came into a New Jersey store with 125 credit cards between them, employees got a little suspicious – and rightfully so. [More]
Credit Card Fraud Suspect Doesn’t Have ID, Poses For Picture With Card Instead
By 8.6.14
A suspected credit-card thief was caught thanks to the quick thinking of a cashier at a beauty-supply store in Florida. He didn’t quite feel comfortable with the purchase, and the customer didn’t have any photo identification on her that matched the name on the card. Instead of turning the customer away, he asked her to pose for a photo while holding up the card. She did. [More]
Credit Card Breach May Have Hit Goodwill Thrift Stores, Could Go Back To 2013
By 7.22.14
Banks can figure out the source of a major credit card breach long before the targeted company announces that something went wrong, and that site shares the scary news with the rest of the world. Have you used your credit card at a Goodwill Industries store lately? Bad news from that not-for-profit thrift store chain. [More]
Walmart Lets Alleged Credit Card Thief Try 9 Different Cards
By 5.21.14
You don’t have to steal someone’s actual credit card to defraud them: all you need is their card number and a magnetic-encoding machine. Then you can take your new cloned card shopping, and hope that the victim hasn’t shut down their account yet. Last month in Virginia, a Walmart store let a customer try nine different credit cards before his transaction was approved. Nine? [More]
Got The Wrong Credit Card Returned To You At A Restaurant? Maybe Don’t Go Buy Stuff With It
By 8.13.13
One night I was momentarily blinded by the exceptional handsomeness of a bartender and walked out of an establishment with a credit card that was not my own. Aghast, embarrassed and in need of my own property/funds, I immediately called the bar to admit my mistake and promised to return the stranger’s card and swap it for mine. I did not, as one woman is accused of doing, use it to go buy stuff. Because that’s fraud and you’ll get arrested, see? [More]
Here’s Everything We Know About The Rakuten/Buy.com Credit Card Breaches
By 6.6.13
Starting about a month ago, rumblings began on the SlickDeals forums among people who had recently made purchases from Rakuten Shopping, the new brand name of the marketplace Buy.com. The purchases made were diverse, ranging from time clocks in Colombia to newspaper subscriptions in Cleveland to plane tickets in Germany. Something is very, very wrong here: hundreds of victims from recent months have come forward on Slickdeals alone. [More]
High Bid Of $605K For Coffee With Tim Cook Rejected Because Bidder Used Stolen Credit Card
By 4.29.13
The Internet was all abuzz last week when Apple announced it was auctioning off a coffee date with CEO Tim Cook for charity. But whoever submitted last week’s high bid of $605,000 is likely going to get a date with law enforcement instead — the charity says the bidding is back at $600,000 today after discovering the high bidder used a stolen credit card. [More]
Grocery Store Chain Tied To 400+ Credit Card Fraud Reports Since Jan. 18
By 2.6.13
Customers of Arizona-based grocery store chain Basha’s should be checking their debit and credit card accounts. Authorities say that, just since Jan. 18, there have been more than 400 reported cases of fraudulent charges being made to accounts of people who had shopped at Basha’s. [More]
Feds Charge 18 People With Ringing Up $200 Million In Fraudulent Credit Card Charges
By 2.5.13
Credit card fraud is nothing new — identity theft is common enough — but managing to make up enough identities to steal $200 million from credit card companies? That’s a staggering feat, and yet 18 people managed to pull it off. At least, until the U.S. Department of Justice managed to crack the case. [More]
Stealing A Credit Card To Get A Nose Job Might Work If The Doctor Doesn’t Take Pictures
By 11.16.12
One Pennsylvania man knew he didn’t have a new nose, but someone else was apparently aiming to improve his appearance because the victim’s stolen identity and subsequent fraudulent credit card paid for a $6,000 nose job. Cops were able to locate the suspect because the medical practice that did his nose had taken photos of the patient before the procedure. Oh, vanity! You are a cruel mistress. [More]
Keep An Eye On Credit Card Charges To Sniff Out Fraud
By 11.29.11
If someone swipes your credit card info and goes on a spending spree, there’s a decent chance the company will catch the fraud, freeze your account and refund your money. Things can get trickier when the thief is more careful about his purchases, buying low-cost items at irregular intervals. [More]
Senator Is Victim Of Credit Card Fraud, Thieves Rack Up $12,000 At Walmart
By 10.28.11
It’s a measure of the brazenness and ubiquity of identity theft that a U.S. Senator has become the latest victim of credit card fraud. Thieves stole the credit card numbers belonging to Senator Daniel Inouye (D) of Hawaii, embedded them on the magnetic strip of a fake credit card, and went on a $12,000 Walmart shopping spree. [More]
Shell Gas Station Uses Stickers To Prevent Credit Card Skimming
By 9.5.11 — Updated: 12.5.13
As gas stations with pay-at-the pump, ATMs and other unattended machines where you scan your credit card get hit by skimmers tampering with their equipment, some businesses are taking preventative measures by way of a simple sticker. [More]
Check Out This Nearly Undetectable ATM Skimmer
By 8.18.11
Reader Andrew noticed this picture of an an incredibly high-end professional ATM skimmer that is virtually undetectable. [More]
