NESTA Crime Online - University of Brighton Repository

Upon receipt of the card and the pin the fraudster uses the card. The transactions are
not immediately detected because the statement is sent to another address and the
victim is unaware of the loss of the card. Only when the transactions become too
obvious or high in value will the rightful owner realise that the card has been used
fraudulently. “We’ve got it down to a fine art over the years,” boasts an un-convicted
credit card fraudster. 206
Easy, easy, easy
“So I get bank info from purchasers and sort out duplicate cards, either me or the wife
goes out and uses the cards to buy anything we want or that we’ve got orders for and
then we just buy stuff that sells well on “auction websites.” You learn what goes well by
trial and error. My missus does the selling. Then she’ll tell the buyer that she needs
payment by cheque because of bank problems and offer them a discount for the
inconvenience of not using PayPal. The cheque comes and gives us bank details and the
name and address of the buyer so it’s easy to use that to get duplicate cards and so it
starts again… It was a bit of a sideline at first but it’s so lucrative that we do it full-time
now.”
Source: An unconvicted fraudster interviewed by 192.com Business Services, in
102.com Business Services, The Fraudster’s Modus Operandi, p. 8.
Use of cyber skills to exploit the information.
It is now possible for people with comparatively low technical skills to steal thousands of
pounds a day sitting comfortably at home. Credit card fraudsters only need to leave
their PC to collect the payment. Sometimes they don’t even need to do that if they use
wire transfer or e-gold. 207
206 192.com Business Services, (2008), , p.9.
207 ‘e-gold’ is a digital gold currency operated by Gold & Silver Reserve Inc. under the name of e-gold Ltd. This
company runs a legitimate system which allows the instant transfer of gold ownership between users. e-gold
Ltd. was originally registered in Nevis (West Indies) in 1999, but was removed from the register in 2003, due
to non-payment of fees. The company claims to have cooperated with the FBI, among other law enforcement
agencies in the U.S. Nonetheless, it is apparently an unregistered entity and beyond the jurisdiction of Nevis.
Page 70