New credit card scam in Galway how does it work?

paddy19

I posted this here because I thought some of friends from the bank fraternity might know how this works.



Galway City Tribune today reported a credit card scam where a Dr. found that her card had €600 of transactions from several shops in the city which she had not visited.



The two scammers were convicted and sentenced to 17 and 20 months.


The report states that one scammer was caught on TV stealing merchants copies of receipts. He pleaded guilty to "to using credit and debit card numbers, which were shown on receipts, to obtain goods, services and cash back in a number of other shops and bars around the city."


I thought the cash back was really pushing it :mad:.



The modus operandi was to go into bar or restaurant and produce a credit card that was rejected, claim the card was acting up, then ask for the machine and enter the number from the stolen receipt. The guard said that staff readily handed over the machine time and again to the conman.



I always thought a merchants credit card receipt was no use because it didn't show the pin or the CVV number required to compete a transaction.



I assume they were no customer present transactions but how did he get the CCV number?

Jim2007

paddy19 wrote: »

I posted this here because I thought some of friends from the bank fraternity might know how this works.

This has nothing to do with banking or the credit card companies... it all comes down to human error. Merchants do not have to seek an approval for every charge, it is up to them. If they want to take the risk, so be it. If it goes wrong that the cardholder complains, then they are on the hook for it.

It's a confidence trick and setting the stage is very important:
- Choose a time when the customer queues are long, probably in the evening when staff are already think of home and rushing to get the customers out of the shop
- Keep the amount low with respect to the type of business - don't try and buy 600 Euro's worth in a newsagents...
- Then build confidence what the cashier by having the credit card fail first time.
- If the cashier does not let it slide, then it's a case of oh dear there is still a problem with my card, so I'll just forget about it and put the items back...

It is very rare to have a security breach that does not eventually come down to human error somewhere.

paddy19

Wow, that's interesting I mistakenly thought that every transaction required approval.
Why the hell shouldn't it be a major event when a transaction is not approved.
You'd expect a special sign off for an unverified transaction.

So the poor punter is left to clean up the mess because the bankers are happy that they can dump the problem onto the merchant.

Charming.

My faith in bankers has got even lower.

Feckin hell, I'm using Revolut all the time so I know instantly that my card or card number has been charged.

Jim2007

paddy19 wrote: »

My faith in bankers has got even lower.

It is not up to the banks, it's up to the merchant, if they want to take the risk that is there problem. You complain about a charge on your card and if the merchant did not get it approved, then too bad so sad, they are on the hook.

paddy19

"It is not up to the banks"

Of course its up to the banks and the credit card companies.

All the bank does is offload the liability to the merchant.
The customer is left to clean up the mess and prove that he did authorise the transaction.
This mess may only surface 30 days later when the statement arrives.

How do you go about proving that a charge in a pub at 2 in the morning was not yours?

Verification should be mandatory. Can't verify a transaction, payment should not be accepted.

I'd guess that the vast majority of people think this is the way it is already.