Sophisticated criminal organizations operate that specialize in copying the electronic details of the credit card. When someone pays a restaurant bill it rarely occurs to him or her that while the restaurant is getting authorization a restaurant worker is copying the details of the card. Low paid service workers can find this a useful supplement to their wages, provided the risks are low. This can be done using an electronic reading device about the size of a cigarette packet.
A more sophisticated development involves breaking into a point-of-sale device and placing a more advanced reader into the device. The reader is left in place for a period of time and then removed allowing details of all of the cards that have been used for purchases to be extracted. These details can be sent electronically anywhere in the world and then transferred to cloned cards. These cards can then be used until the skimmed cards are identified and blocked. Banks also have to cope with remote scanning devices placed in proximity to ATMs and used to attempt to obtain details of cards and related passwords used in these machines.
- Theft. The simplest form of fraud involves simply stealing someone’s card, impersonating the cardholder and faking his or her signature to make a purchase.
- Interception. Some fraud is carried out by interception of credit cards sent through the post to customers. This may involve an inside agent, a postal worker, for example, or may involve theft from a post box. The latter is most common in apartment blocks with communal post boxes.