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Warik
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Someone I know recently paid (figuratively speaking, of course, this person will not be held responsible for the charges) for someone I don't know's Disney World vacation and eye doctor appointment. My question is, to those who know about CC fraud: How the hell?
The card was never lost, misplaced, or in someone else's possession aside from the standard merchant scanning business. Assuming that the card number and expiration date were acquired somehow, I still don't see how fraudulent charges could have been made - even online.
Think about it: Online, if the billing address doesn't match the shipping address, delays, presumably for identity verification, will occur. In store? Impossible to make a charge without the actual card. Let's even assume that the card was taken, used, and then returned to the cardholder without the cardholder's knowledge - almost all stores ask for ID now.
So, my only logical conclusion would have to be that the cardnumber and expiration date were acquired without the cardholder's knowledge (reasonable), and that the card itself was never actually taken (unlikely that it could be taken and returned at a later date without the cardholder's knowledge), and that some kind of duplicate of the card was made. But even if a duplicate were made, what about the 3 digit security code on the back of most credit cards? And the magnetic stripe? God knows what kind of data is on there. Could that be copied too? The card hologram?
It's puzzling.
Does anyone know how someone could have pulled this off? Really makes you feel confident about the store merchants who scan your credit cards every day, eh? Who knows if they would be able to tell the difference between you and some jackass using your card.
-Warik
The card was never lost, misplaced, or in someone else's possession aside from the standard merchant scanning business. Assuming that the card number and expiration date were acquired somehow, I still don't see how fraudulent charges could have been made - even online.
Think about it: Online, if the billing address doesn't match the shipping address, delays, presumably for identity verification, will occur. In store? Impossible to make a charge without the actual card. Let's even assume that the card was taken, used, and then returned to the cardholder without the cardholder's knowledge - almost all stores ask for ID now.
So, my only logical conclusion would have to be that the cardnumber and expiration date were acquired without the cardholder's knowledge (reasonable), and that the card itself was never actually taken (unlikely that it could be taken and returned at a later date without the cardholder's knowledge), and that some kind of duplicate of the card was made. But even if a duplicate were made, what about the 3 digit security code on the back of most credit cards? And the magnetic stripe? God knows what kind of data is on there. Could that be copied too? The card hologram?
It's puzzling.
Does anyone know how someone could have pulled this off? Really makes you feel confident about the store merchants who scan your credit cards every day, eh? Who knows if they would be able to tell the difference between you and some jackass using your card.
-Warik
