Types of card fraud

IDENTITY THEFT: Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information such as your name, Social Security number, credit card number or other identifying information, without your permission to commit fraud or other crimes.

LOST CARD: A criminal finds and uses a card that has been lost or misplaced.

STOLEN CARD: A criminal steals a card and then uses it. Typically, this card has been activated and previously used by the cardholder.

NOT RECEIVED ITEM (NRI): A criminal steals a card from the mail and then uses it.

FRAUDULENT APPLICATION: A criminal falsifies his/her identity or uses parts of the victim's personal information (Name, Social Security Number etc.) to obtain a card and then uses that card.

COUNTERFEIT CARD: A counterfeit card is fabricated or an actual card is altered using a valid card data and is used to commit fraud. 

ACCOUNT TAKEOVER: A criminal gains access to a card account by obtaining the cardholder's personal information and then poses as a the cardholder to change the address on record, request a replacement or additional card and/or changes the PIN number. The criminal then uses the card.

UNAUTHORIZED USE: A criminal obtains the account number of a valid card from a discarded transaction receipt, merchant records, or from an account generation program. The criminal then uses the stolen account number to purchase goods and services from a legitimate Mail Order, Telephone Order or Internet merchant. 

MERCHANT PERPETRATED FRAUD: A merchant or merchant employee captures and stores the card number or cardholder information from legitimate customers transacting with the merchant. The information maybe sold to criminals who can create counterfeit cards.

SKIMMING: Skimming takes place when a criminal secretly swipes a card through a small card reader which copies the information from the magnetic stripe on the card. These details are then used to make counterfeit cards. These card readers are sometimes attached to ATM machines. ATMs that have swipe readers (you swipe your card through a raised slot) are the easiest to skim. Swipe readers are more likely to be found at non-bank ATMs. The dip or manual insert ATM tend to be more secure than ATMs with swipe readers

PHISHING: Phishing is a high-tech scam that uses spam or pop-up messages to deceive you into disclosing your credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security number, passwords, or other sensitive information. Criminals create emails that appear legitimate and are from recognized brands such as a bank, credit card companies or retailers in order to bring consumers to a website that resembles the original. The consumers are then tricked into divulging financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames, passwords and social security numbers. Click here to learn more about about avoiding phishing.

PHARMING: Pharming is redirecting users from the legitimate commercial websites they intended to visit and lead them to malicious ones. The bogus sites to which victims are secretly redirected will look very similar to the original site. When users enter their login name and password, the information is captured by criminals. DNS poisoning, where one of the DNS directories is altered, is or particular concern as it can trap a large number of users.