Card sharks’ £1.5m-a-day spree – on YOUR cash

FRAUDSTERS are going on a £1.5million a day spending spree – using other people’s plastic cards. These new fraud figures are published just as Financial Fraud Action UK steps up its Take Five campaign to help shoppers and householders beat the scourge.

The campaign encourages everyone to be suspicious of uninvited approaches and to keep personal financial details to themselves – taking time to think before they act on any requests.

The new strand, ‘My Money, My info? I don’t think so’ is designed to crank up shopper scepticism.

Card fraud accounted for 7.5p in every £100 of plastic spending in the first half of this year. Although an improvement on the same period last year, fraud experts warn the levels are still too high.

As spending on plastic increases, criminals are expected to intensify efforts to steal cards and hustle details and PINs from cardholders by phone or online. Tony Blake, of the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit, says: ‘The message is to stop and think before giving away any information.’

John Cannon, security expert at credit reference agency Noddle, says: ‘Consumers need to take preventative action. We found that a worrying number of people still write their PIN on the card or store it in their phone.’

There are numerous ways in which fraudsters will try to steal your hard earned cash.

CARD NOT PRESENT

A COMMON card con is to make a payment remotely using a cardholder’s details – rather than using a physical card.

With shopping by mail, phone and online escalating, it has become easier to commit this type of fraud. Fraudsters grab details in a number of ways, including buying them from other crooks or stealing them themselves.

Cannon says: ‘You may pay for something over the phone, such as a takeaway, where your card details including your all-important threedigit security code are taken down. These might then be stolen. Avoid purchasing this way by using an online service to book a takeaway or ask to pay by cash or card upon delivery.’

CARD CLONING

DEVICES can be attached to cash machines that copy card details and collect PINs. A popular method is the ‘Lebanese loop’ – a piece of tape inserted into a cash machine that catches the real card. You think it has been swallowed but a fraudster has watched you tap in your PIN and then retrieves the card when you have gone.

INTERCEPTION

USING stolen ID, a scammer applies for a card in your name. The card is sent to your home but the fraudster intercepts it, either through collusion with a postal worker or by hanging around outside your home or in a communal space such as student accommodation.

SOCIAL ENGINEERING

THIS involves tricking a victim into divulging personal details. It is achieved using phishing emails that fool the receiver into entering card details on a fraudulent website.

Another version is ‘vishing’ where scammers use convincing patter to persuade victims to reveal key financial details over the phone. Crooks do initial homework by scouring social networks such as Facebook for plausible information to hook you in.

Cannon says: ‘If you liked a particular charity, they might pose as someone signing you up as a donor.’

COURIER FRAUD

THIS involves someone impersonating a bank official or a police officer. They phone up and spin a line that a suspicious payment has been made on your card and that the problem must be resolved.

They suggest you phone the bank using the genuine number on the back of your card. But the scammer keeps the phone line open so you are connected back to the crook or an accomplice who then asks for your PIN. A courier arrives at your home later to pick up the ‘compromised’ card.

FAKE WI-FI

FRAUDSTERS collect money – and personal information – by setting up their own bogus wi-fi service.

One method is to set up outside a hotel and create a fake wi-fi using the hotel name. Residents sign in, pay a fee and provide a string of useful data for fraudsters including their date of birth, card details and email address. A variation is to

set up a fake website selling goods that do not exist.

CONTACTLESS

OLD-FASHIONED card theft is also a rich hunting ground. The rise in contactless spending where no PIN is required makes it easy for small-time crooks to shop undetected. This accounts for about 1 per cent of total card fraud. Losses are usually limited as the maximum transaction is £30 and after a handful of purchases in one day, a PIN will be demanded.

THE DARK WEB

CROOKS often purchase personal information from marketplaces on the ‘Dark Web’, parts of the internet where the hosts are hidden. Cannon says: ‘Once the crooks have enough data they can apply for a card in your name.’