It’s on the cards

Shanghai man Lu was always careful. He never kept his credit card out of sight and he never disclosed his password to anybody. But his precautions and care didn't count. Suddenly one day recently he was informed that transactions worth 30,000 yuan ($4,763) had been made in Italy using his credit card account - while he was in Shanghai with the card in his pocket. The confused man was also devastated to find that it was uncertain whether he would be able to get this money returned to him. He faced a lengthy dispute with the bank and the merchants involved.

Lu had never ever dreamed of losing so much money without doing anything. He is now a member of the fast-growing club of victims of high-tech credit card fraud. Figures from the Shanghai police show that in the first eight months of last year alone 1,900 cases of fraud using cloned or stolen debit or credit cards had been reported.

More than 700 people had been arrested and more than 12 million yuan had been retrieved from the thieves.

"We have been making increasing efforts to crack down on card fraud in recent years," said Wang Xin, a police officer in charge of economic crime investigation from the Shanghai Public Security Bureau.

"We have launched special operations to target card crooks and we have been working with banks and financial institutions, trying to deliver a knockout blow to the fraudsters," Wang told the Global Times.

Modernization

Although credit card theft is not something new, the techniques used to steal the card details are being constantly modernized. Crooks can now clone debit cards and credit cards if they can access the data stored on the magnetic strip on the back of those cards along with the PIN number of the users.

Criminals can employ shop assistants and bartenders, who handle a great many credit cards every day. They are told to swipe the customers' cards through a small device that copies information from the magnetic strip. It can be done inconspicuously and only takes a few seconds.

Reportedly a pocket-sized card reader costs around 3,000 yuan and a blank card costs between 8 and 10 yuan. Other fraudsters buy their magnetic strip information from illegal websites. While prices vary from region to region, criminals can buy a card's details for as little as $30.

Some professional fraudsters get their information by hacking banks or online merchants. They can also install ATM skimmers and cameras at cash points to discover PIN numbers. Some send fake e-mails in the name of banks to trick customers into disclosing personal information.

"An increasing number of card fraud cases involve the Internet," said Wang Xin, adding that cases involving foreign criminals working abroad have also soared in recent years. Last year the Shanghai police caught a gang of 11 people, seven of whom were from overseas. More than 150 counterfeit cards were found in their possession, which could have been responsible for the loss of millions of yuan.

A Shanghai police officer surnamed Cao revealed last year that a sophisticated service chain had developed in the black market with people selling magnetic strip information, making cloned cards and using counterfeit cards in shops.

Last July the Shanghai police arrested a 28-strong gang responsible for card fraud in seven provinces across the country. They bought overseas card details from the Internet and then made and sold replica cards on the Chinese mainland.