CREDIT CARD SUBSTITUTION FRAUD

An all too common and overlooked fraud is credit card substitution. In this fraud your credit card is taken for a given transaction and a substitute card of similar appearance returned to you. It may be a fraudulent card or an expired card.

The fraudster hopes you will not notice that the card has been substituted, and most people don’t really look at their card when it is used to process a transaction. This gives the fraudster both your card and valuable time to use the card for fraudulent transactions. If you notice that the card was substituted the sales clerk will claim an error, feign embarrassment, and then find your real card.

It’s always wise to take a quick look at credit cards, ATM cards, and debit cards when returned by a merchant to ensure that the card has not been substituted or for that matter that the merchant during a busy Christmas season has not mixed you card with another.