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Friday, April 15, 2011

Credit card skim scams net $170 million - dailytelegraph.com.au - 15 Apr 2011


CREDIT and debit card fraud has tripled in just three years, with Australian consumers ripped off more than 657,000 times last year at a cost of $170 million. 

The multi-million-dollar profits have attracted organised crime, with Australia recently targeted by crime groups from Romania, Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka.

These gangs are involved in large-scale card skimming, the Australian Crime Commission revealed in a report released today.

Organised crime groups have also moved into superannuation fraud, using stolen identities to access savings or unclaimed superannuation funds.

"Evidence has emerged of groups targeting superannuation holdings," the report said.
One early-release scheme involving 121 clients netted crooked fund managers more than $685,000, which was moved out of Australia through low-value international funds transfers to the Philippines and Pacific Island nations.

The ACC warned that identity theft involving organised crime now posed a "critical" risk.
Last year there were 593,819 fraudulent credit card transactions worth $145,854,208, compared with 241,063 fraudulent transactions totalling $85,215,615 in 2006.

Debit card fraud last year totalled $24,471,348 from 63,894 fraudulent transactions.
When new chip and PIN technology becomes compulsory in Australia in 2013, so-called "card not present" fraud, when the card is used online or via the mail, is likely to explode.

The ACC warned that card skimming was now one of the main types of identity theft, with online fraud becoming the new front line in organised crime.

Details on a card skimmed in Australia can be sent immediately to another country to be used illegally, and the ACC said it had "intelligence" on large-scale identity fraud factories producing dodgy documents to order.
There have been no significant arrests to date.

The ACC said the popularity of wi-fi would make it easier to steal personal data, while high-speed broadband would make tracking criminal activity more difficult.

And Australians were still fall- ing for the old Nigerian scams, with many individuals and companies being tricked out of "hundreds of millions of dollars each year" by paying upfront fees or providing their banking details for promised windfalls they never receive.

Fraudsters have also moved into chat rooms, dating and auction websites, social and business networking sites and internet gaming, the ACC said.

 By Janet Fife-Yeomans

1 comment:

Merchant Services said...

With the advancement of technology that leads people to use them in their everyday lives, there is no doubt that the $170 million will increase yearly... Its frustrating that there are people who do fraudulent acts and it would be more frustrating if you become the victim.


~Tara