Re: Credit card fraud

[P3D Marvin Jones <72657.3276@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Yes, email is *not* secure by any stretch of the imagination, and it
> isn't recommended that credit card numbers be sent by email, and if
> one insists on doing so, it should be broken up into several separate
> messages spaced maybe an hour apart.  There supposedly are mail-filters
> in the network that look for numbers going by.  Fortunately, it's mostly
> the charge card companies that get ding'ed for fraud... although a little
> of that shows up in interest rates.
> 
Sorry to go off-topic a little here, but as a small home-based merchant, I had
to answer the idea that credit card fraud is "fortunately" absorbed by the card
companies. It most definitely is NOT, and it's this kind of thinking that makes
so many of the credit card thieves so complacent. Here's the way it really
works: some kid steals a credit card number and orders a few hundred dollars in
merchandise. It gets sent to him and charged to the number. The owner of the
number contacts the card company and says they didn't make the charge. The card
company then immediately debits the merchant, who ALWAYS eats the bill. The
merchant has no recourse. A bill sent to the thief usually drawsa highly profane
response, if any. And lawsuits must be filed in the home town of the thief, who
inevitably lives thousands of miles away. The thieves know they can't be
touched, and that they can even retaliate and cost the merchant several thousand
dollars more in legal fees by just filing a phony complaint against them with
the postal authorities. My company loses anywhere from $500 to $1,000 a month to
credit card fraud routinely.


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