Credit Card Scam Basics:

In 2003 £402.4 million was lost in credit card scams here are several ways that you could be scammed, please keep your eye out:

I. The Skim: You hand over your card and it is taken away where a crooked member of staff uses an electronic devce to copy your card including the details encoded in the magnetic stripe on the reverse. They will then spend on your account using the copy. The first you will know of it is when you receive a horrendous statement listing purchases that are nothing to do with you.

II. The Copy Again: when your card is out of your sight your details are copied down or the details are taken from receipts you dispose of. The crooks then go on a spending spree by ordering goods over the phone.

III. Identify Theft: A terrifying new development where documents such as utility bills and bank statements are stolen from your rubbish bin and used to open new accounts or take out loans in your name. A variation of this is Account Take-over where a crook gets hold of a card statement and calls your card issuer and asks for statements to be forwarded to a new address. Later he reports the card stolen and asks for a replacement which then can be used at will. The fraudulent opening of accounts in other people's names and the unlawful taking over of existing accounts led to losses of £29.7 million in 2003 - an increase of 45%.

IV. Shoulder Surfing: Someone looks over your shoulder at a cash machine to learn your PIN number or even uses a minuture camera to capture it. They then pick your pocket or somehow distract you to steal your card and away they go - better than a license to print money!

V. Card Trapping: A loop of plastic is inserted into the slot in the cash machine that traps the card and also stops cash being issued. You get frustrated and the conman comes up to help and suggests you input your PIN again. When you have given up and gone away he is then free to retrieve your card and use it to raid your account. A more sophisticated version uses an electronic device magnetic stripe, whilst at the same time a tiny pin-hole camera outside the machine films your pin number. A twin card can then be produced in minutes to raid your account. Cashpoint fraud has increased by 85% in the past year amounting to a massive £66.1 million. Advice - do not use machines that are situated in dubious positions.

VI. Straightforward Theft: A £110 million's worth per annum of fraud is committed using stolen cards. Debit cards are popular to use making a string of low value purchases and asking for cash back each time.

VII. Stealing in the mail: sometimes by dishonest postman. So you never even receive your card before the conman starts cheating you.

VIII. Spoofing or Phishing: Used by computer hackers to obtain passwords and other card details when Internet purchases are made. Another variation is that you receive an email or a phone call from your bank or other reputable organisation asking you to confirm your personal details to them. Problem is that the crooks are sending you a forged email that looks very genuine.

IX. Phantom withdrawals: A lot was made of this a few years ago but it was often a form of fraud. The card-holder would go on holiday far away but money would be taken from their local machine so they would claim that they could not possibly have taken it and try to claim compensation from their provider. Usually however they had willingly given the card to a friend or relative to set up the scam.