June 22, 2010
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News: Advice To Canadians On Credit Card Fraud
Over the past five years, MasterCard and Visa has generated more than $200 billion a year from credit card payment transaction fees across Canada. Statistics show that more than $3 million a year was lost due to credit card fraud against MasterCard and Visa alone. Overall, Canada losses over $500 million a year to credit card fraud. Have you ever wondered exactly who pays for the loss? You got it. Every Canadian. The cost of goods for all products and services include the cost of card fraud thereby passing the cost on to all consumers. Although new technology has made it easier to prevent fraud, it has also made it easier for thieves to commit fraud. A popular form of card fraud is in counterfeiting cards.
The typical counterfeiter uses fake or stolen id's to obtain credit cards which are in turn used to produce counterfeit cards. These cards account for nearly 40 percent of Canada's annual card fraud. Criminals make counterfeit cards by using skimming devices that scan an individual's card to access the security information embedded in the magnetic strip. Thieves also use lost or stolen credit cards to make counterfeit cards. Lost or stolen cards contribute to approximately 25 percent of card fraud. Thieves steal cards from a variety of places including church, work, school, gyms, unlocked vehicles, and even stores. Sometimes thieves max out available credit on stolen cards and then discard them leaving the cardholder to clean up the mess.
No card fraud which occurs when the thief does not have physical access to the credit card represents approximately 10 percent of card fraud. Typically, this type of fraud is conducted over the internet and telephone. This type of fraud is the fastest growing of any of the other categories. Non-receipt fraud occurs when card companies send out new cards that soon to expire or newly issued cards are intercepted by the thief. New security systems have greatly reduced both of these types of fraud.