Credit Report Repair

Skimming May Be A Huge Worry To Your Credit Card

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Credit card skimming is causing an international problem which accounts for losses of over one billion dollars a year. It is more commonly used in Europe, Asia and Latin America, however, this particular type of credit card scam is starting to be used in the United States.

When you try to purchase something in a store, it is easy to run this type of credit card scam when you give your card to a store employee to scan at the register. Your credit card may not only be swiped at the register to pay for your purchase, but it also may be swiped with a little hand-held machine known as a skimmer. The skimmer can retain the information on hundreds of debit and credit cards and then it is used by unscrupulous people to print counterfeit cards.

The skimmer is capable of gathering the information on hundreds of cards; then information is downloaded into a computer to be emailed to skimming rings that are at work worldwide. About ten years ago it was not as easy to accomplish this fraud as it can be today, because the skimmers were large, bulky machines which had to be hidden under the counter in the store.

Some of the technological advances of the past few years has made it a possibility for these skimming machines to be hand-held and thus, invisible to the unsuspecting customer. These skimmers are easy to buy; they can be purchased over the internet at around three hundred dollars, but the machine needed to make counterfeit credit cards is a much larger investment; costing in a neighborhood from five thousand to ten thousand dollars.

This credit card skimming scam is done in another way; the credit card information is pulled directly out of the card terminals by inserting a skimmer bug and later taking it out with the credit card information on it. The older credit card terminals are the only type that can be violated in this kind of skimming process and since the newer terminals have been utilized the bugging scam has all but stopped happening.

As soon as the credit card skimmers have confiscated all of the information they need from your card, they will begin to make purchases of their choice with your credit card number. Credit card fraud over the internet has increased greatly with the popularity of online shopping because the credit card information can easily fall into the wrong hands through the web sites used. The cards validity is checked by the information thieves through their purchase of several low cost items from various websites to find out if the card is actually an active one.

The real victim in this crime may be the merchant who had the employee who did the skimming, because the cardholder is usually only responsible for up to fifty dollars of the total amount charged on his card. The merchant is at risk for the loss on his merchandise and is one hundred percent responsible for the skimmer’s activities and the fees charged for the investigation. The money used by the credit card companies to offset the cost of investigating charge-back claims by their customers, comes from the investigation fees paid by consumers using credit and businesses.

It is common knowledge of the criminals who perform these scams that a purchase of at least 00 must be made before an investigation is begun.

Visit JSNet.org for more information on the best credit cards available and also great deals on prepaid credit cards. JSNet.org also have more of Alisdair Cosgrove’s great articles including ‘Fight credit card debt‘, visit today to read more of these great credit card articles!

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