Fraud for thought

You may remember me writing about how we’d been the victim of a fraudulent credit card purchase. Well, my hapless boss has gone and done it again.

A customer called and gave him a load of spiel. When my boss smelled a rat, he should have walked away, but that’s easier said than done when sales are slow. He took the card details over the phone, aware that the card might bounce.

Sure enough, it did. But the second card went through for the full amount with no problems. Learning from the last time, my boss insisted the customer collect the vehicle in person, which he did. We’d not fall prey to distance-selling again.

The customer rocked up in a taxi and drove into the sunset. Roll forward six days and we’ve got the card processing company on the phone crying fraud.

We call the 5-0s, who took away our CCTV footage of the fraudster and the minicab after scribbling a statement. All credit to the police here: they traced the cab, traced the fare, then traced and arrested the perpetrator… who, by this time, had sold the car on to a member of the public. Said member of the public had HPI’D the car, which naturally showed up as clean. I’m not sure what excuses were given about the V5, mind you. What happened to the slogan ‘a car’s not legit without it’?

So the car was eventually located, uplifted and impounded. The card company wants its money back, but we’re not keen on obliging. Furthermore, the car is way down country, impounded by a different police force.

I’m not sure what the resolution to this is going to be, but I’ll report back in due course. Will the bank take the hit or will we be landed with the bill? I’ve a feeling I know the answer and I don’t like it.