Interesting story about credit card fraud

[Richard M]

http://www.livejournal.com/users/pub...us/111672.html

"Being a bit of a hypocrite, I sometimes whine about privacy in my blog. I do, however, try to be careful about not letting anyone get information about me they shouldn't and I rarely, if ever, use a credit card online. This is why I was surprised to find out one morning that identity thieves had racked up thousands of dollars one two of my credit cards. By early afternoon, I caught them and the police arrested them."

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/05/03/26...?tid=158&tid=1

[ZrByte]

Originally Posted by Richard M

http://www.livejournal.com/users/pub...us/111672.html

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/05/03/26...?tid=158&tid=1

Kinda gives you a warm fuzzy feeling inside when the good guys win for a change.

Originally Posted by ZrByte

Kinda gives you a warm fuzzy feeling inside when the good guys win for a change.

Indeed ot does, mark one up for the Gipper.

Happy ending.

I get very annoyed by Barclaycard's habit of sending blank cheques in the post, I've written several times to tell them to stop this and indicated thay are responsible if these fall into the wrong hands, but still they come, one wonders how often these blank cheques are a source of crime, although in this case they were not the initial cause but could have been.

Originally Posted by Gogogo

Happy ending.

I get very annoyed by Barclaycard's habit of sending blank cheques in the post, I've written several times to tell them to stop this and indicated thay are responsible if these fall into the wrong hands, but still they come, one wonders how often these blank cheques are a source of crime, although in this case they were not the initial cause but could have been.

Totally with you there - Co-op does this too. Crazy. And as for chip and pin.... don't get me going. Too late. It's just a ruse to shift responsibility for card fraud onto the cardholder. You watch. Punters are going to get accused of compromising their numbers. Bloody banks.

[Xaccers]

Your card companies send out blank cheques???

[bmxbandit]

good for him, taking the initiative with a bit of luck and getting a result! sadly i doubt most fraudsters are as stupid as those guys...

Originally Posted by Xaccers

Your card companies send out blank cheques???

Yes

[Richard M]

Can I have one?

Originally Posted by Richard M

Can I have one?

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by Gogogo

Yes

Pre-signed? or with an easily copiable of your signature enclosed?

Originally Posted by Xaccers

Your card companies send out blank cheques???

Yes. They're actually pretty much a scam by the card company because although they *look* like a regular cheque, if you use one to pay for something it counts as a "cash advance" on your credit card which means that unlike a regular card transaction where you might have up to 56 days before it starts running up interest, these accrue interest *immediately*!

They are also rather too easy for someone else to abuse and consumer organisations are trying to encourage card companies to stop sending the things out.

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by Graham

Yes. They're actually pretty much a scam by the card company because although they *look* like a regular cheque, if you use one to pay for something it counts as a "cash advance" on your credit card which means that unlike a regular card transaction where you might have up to 56 days before it starts running up interest, these accrue interest *immediately*!

Ah those ones, I know about those, as clearly stated in the documentation which came with my credit cards.

Sorry, I was worried from what gogogo was saying it sounded like barclaycard were sending out presigned blank cheques.

Originally Posted by Xaccers

Pre-signed? or with an easily copiable of your signature enclosed?

No, not pre-signed. Any potential thief will see your printed name and therefore style their own. They are a gimmick for the bank to get more money from the customer, a poor deal, never use them, never will, just wish they would stop sending them.

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by Gogogo

No, not pre-signed. Any potential thief will see your printed name and therefore style their own. They are a gimmick for the bank to get more money from the customer, a poor deal, never use them, never will, just wish they would stop sending them.

How's sending credit card checques through the post any less risky than sending an entire book of bank account cheques? Especially without your signature