All about Skimming
Most cases of counterfeit fraud involve skimming, where the genuine data on your card’s magnetic stripe is electronically copied onto another card without your knowledge. Read this for further information and tips to prevent yourself from becoming a victim of skimming.
Skimming can occur at retail outlets – particularly bars, restaurants and petrol stations – when a corrupt employee skims your card with a small, hand-held electronic device before handing your card back. Sometimes skimming takes place at cash machines where a skimming device has been fitted to the card slot and a pin-hole camera fixed above the PIN pad to record the PIN entry. The information is then sold on higher up the criminal ladder, where counterfeit cards are made. Criminals then go shopping with a copy of your credit or debit card while you are unaware of the fraud until a statement arrives showing purchases that you did not make.
Tips to avoid becoming a victim of skimming:
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Guard your cards – treat them in the same way that you would treat your cash.
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Don’t let your cards out of your sight when using them to make a transaction.
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Check your receipts carefully against your statements. If you find an unfamiliar transaction contact your bank or building society immediately.
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Report suspected fraudulent use of your card account to your bank or building society immediately. The 24-hour emergency number is on your statement, or call Directory Enquiries for the number.
What is being done to combat Skimming?
Counterfeit card fraud is a serious problem in the UK. Skimming is responsible for most of the counterfeit fraud losses but these will be drastically reduced by the introduction of chip and PIN.
The magnetic stripe on plastic cards first appeared in 1972 and has been ensuring cards are genuine since then. However, in recent years, with advances in technology, criminals have developed the means to copy the magnetic stripe and produce a fake card that contains your details.
In the UK cards are now being issued with a microchip that stores the data so securely it cannot feasibly be copied or altered. Already there are more than 76 million chip cards in issue in the UK and by mid-2005 there were over 36 million people with chip and PIN cards.
Various other initiatives are in place to clamp down on the organised criminal gangs who are behind the recent increases in counterfeit card fraud losses:
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A specialist police unit was set up in April 2002 to tackle the criminal gangs responsible for counterfeit card fraud. Between then and April 2005 the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU) busted several plastic card counterfeiting “factories” and recovered more than 3,400 counterfeit cards and 39,600 compromised card numbers, resulting in an estimated fraud loss savings of more than £100 million.
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Banks, building societies and card schemes are continually increasing the sophistication of intelligent detection systems that can identify fraudulent transactions before you have reported your card’s loss or misuse. If unusual spending is detected your card issuer will contact you to check if the transactions are genuine and, if not, an immediate block can be put on your card. The majority of card issuers use these systems with considerable success.
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Fraud-prone retailers and geographic areas are identified, and tactical programmes introduced, to increase the likelihood that retail staff will detect the use of counterfeit cards when criminals present them at the sales point.
These measures are already providing benefits.
