New Twist in Credit Card Theft

A new type of credit card fraud is occurring by telephone in which a phone caller asks for only the three-digit card verification number now used on the back of most credit cards. The fraudsters tell a cardholder that they are calling to verify that the cardholder still has a certain credit card. The credit card customer thinks that because he or she is not giving out a full credit card account number, the request for the code is reasonable. What they don't know is that the criminal doing the calling already has the full number and needs the verification code to make fraudulent purchases.

An unpleasant side effect of this type of fraud is that when customers see potential fraudulent purchases on their card account statements, they often think their credit card companies are already looking into the matter.

Copyright © 2005 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 15, No. 1, 2/05