News: Come To Australia, Skim Central

By | July 25, 2003

Looks like Australia is becoming a haven for credit card fraud, or at least a part of the business. An article on News Interactive says that losses by Australian banks to credit card skimming have risen by more than 400 per cent in the past year, according to The Australian Crime Commission (ACC). Organised groups have used portable card skimmers to obtain credit card data at gas stations, restaurants and in taxis, before selling this data to gangs in Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Thailand, where it was transferred to plastic cards bearing the logos of Australian banks, before making fraudulent purchases.

Credit-card skimming involves the unauthorised copying of electronic data from a legitimate card. It is often done by dishonest shop assistants. Stolen data can then be encoded onto a counterfeit card, with the original card holder none the wiser until details of unauthorised spending start appearing on his or her statement. Current laws still allow the importation of skimmers, embossing machines and credit card blanks, but the ACC is calling for closer co-operation with police.“From some of the material [the ACC] has gathered so far, it would seem that since 2001, the problem of card skimming and card fraud has migrated to Australia”, ePaynews.com quoted cybercrime co-ordinator Scott McLeod as saying.

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