(Ecns.cn)--Every time you swipe your credit card through a point-of-sale (POS) terminal or an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) your account information is temporarily stored. Most of the time it's perfectly safe – but in some cases you may lose money without even noticing.
Criminals who hope to profit by credit card fraud often secretly plant a device in a POS or ATM which allows them to pilfer account information. With that information they can fabricate new cards to be used by hired "shoppers" abroad.
Such fraud now involves a sophisticated global industry chain, and in many countries like Malaysia, Russia and China, it is a growing threat.
Born in Central China's Hunan Province, Yu Wei was once a normal overseas Chinese student. Now he is a felon, serving time for his involvement in a cross-border credit card information embezzlement scheme.
Four years ago, Yu left his hometown to study accounting in Malaysia. Although he did not need the money, he found himself involved in the stolen credit card information game by accident. "In Malaysia and Hong Kong, this industry is very common," said Yu.
Yu was introduced to the racket through his girlfriend at the time. Since information about the industry is easily accessed online in foreign countries, the girl was able to search websites about credit card information trading. "If you enter keywords about the industry like 'dunp' on the Internet, you can find the information," said Yu.
Making a new credit card is not difficult, and the machines to make them are not expensive – the trick is getting the credit card information. Yu said he often got this from his Russian "friends."
"Most of the people who can get credit card information are hackers. They attack the online databases of banks, airports or shopping malls, and acquire peoples' card information," said Yu. "Then I would buy the information from them and find the right people to sell it to."
Yu served as a wholesaler, buying first-hand credit card information from hackers and sending it to card makers, who would in turn find people to use them to buy luxury items in other countries.
Through illegal sales of commodities via fake credit cards, virtual money was transformed into real money. And depending on how much the fraudulent cardholders consumed, Yu earned a certain amount in dividends.
"Generally speaking, the information comes mostly from Western people, and is sold to two major places: one is to China and the other is to Western countries, but most of the fake cards are used in Western countries for luxury goods," said Yu.
Unlike in China, foreign credit cards do not require a password to use. "If the real credit card holder cannot detect us when shopping, he will never know who used his card, so it is safer to do this 'job' in foreign countries," said Yu.
Usually, a fake credit card is used many times, and each time the user will not spend too much, so as not to exceed the limitation of the card. "These people will not buy things that are too expensive; in most cases they limit the amount to three to six thousand euros," explained Yu.
"If you don't use Chinese credit cards, it is hard to be recognized," he added. "Chinese credit cards require a user to input a password, and if an amount of money has been transferred, the cardholder will be informed by the bank."
Although Yu knew clearly what he had to do to protect himself, he finally stumbled and was caught for his connections in China.
On August 26, 2009, a retailer in Central China's Hubei Province was informed by the bank that an amount of money on his credit card account had been spent in Qingdao, Shandong Province, and soon reported it to the police.
The Hubei police went to Qingdao the next day, and after a series of investigations found that the credit card information had been embezzled by a group of domestic fraudsters. Although Yu did not belong to the group, he had left a record of contact with them.
That contact information indicated that Yu was involved in cross-border credit card information embezzlement, and the police formed a special team for the case. Through the records, the police discovered that Yu had been in an Internet bar, where they acquired a photo of him.
The police posted the photo online, and after a year they finally nabbed Yu. "It is my fault for having contacts with domestic people," he said.
In China, it has been widely found that people are engaged in cross-border credit card information embezzlement, but most of the victims are foreign people, said a policeman in Shanghai who has been investigating the practice.
"To prevent such cases, more supervision and measures should be taken," added the policeman, "and more parties like insurance companies and banks should be involved in the measures."
