Internet Gambling Sites Spark Rise In UK Credit Card Fraud
Just when UK credit card issuers thought that they had started to win the battle against credit card fraud a new menace arrives to plague them – internet gambling sites. Although mostly banned in the United States, UK-based internet gambling sites generate huge business - and not just from the UK itself, but from elsewhere in the world (most notably Asia). Given, however, that the number one means of crediting an internet gambling site is via an online credit card payment, these websites are also rapidly becoming the cause of credit card issuers’ latest headaches.
 Unlike the case with the relatively new innovative Chip and PIN technology, where fraudsters need to be especially creative in order to attempt a fraudulent transaction on your UK credit card, with internet payments all the information the fraudster needs to have is access to your UK credit card account number, the expiry date and the security pass-code. They do not even need to have the credit card in front of them. As some have learnt to their cost, as soon as a fraudster has these details, debts can rapidly be run-up in minutes until the credit card limit is full.
With UK gambling websites turning over hundreds of millions of pounds, websites such as these have a special appeal to credit card fraudsters. Primarily, because of the sums being transacted daily on these websites, the reason why this is the case is because it is generally easier to hide that a fraud is even taking place. Secondly, credit on a gambling website usually has a real pounds and pence monetary value. This makes it much easier for the fraudster to transfer money off the account than would be the case if they had to purchase an item on the internet from an online retailer which they than had wait for physical delivery before they could actually make a sale and get their hands on the real cash value of the fraud.
As UK credit cardholders, the lesson being learnt time and time again is not to give your UK credit card details to persons who are unknown to you. Also, if you want to try and avoid a fraud occurring on your credit card, you need to ensure that you protect your personal identity details as best you can. Whatever happens, even if you think there may have been an occasion when someone might have had the chance to look at your UK credit card account details, you should immediately inform your credit card issuer of you suspicions so that they can take the appropriate steps to combat any online internet gambling fraud transaction on your card.
Richard Smith
9th August 2006
More Information:
More UK Credit Card News
Try our  feed
|
BluePink 
