Three Foreigners Arrested For Alleged Credit Card Fraud

[tombkk]

@ AsiaCheese & Zorro1

You both were very lucky or indeed a good manager at the bank. I have an ING Gold Eurocard (Mastercard).

I was in Thailand for 3 months and the bank, as well the CCco told me I had 1 month only to complain. They take the money from my bank account automatically. It is indeed at the back of the statements in very very small letters.

I did everything I could do by letters, calls and visits at the bank. A lawyer would cost me may be even more.

I am thinking of bringing the story to the press, may be that will help. It is a lot of money.

Yes, you have to report within a certain time. I do recommend to check your credit cvard statement every month. I once had a case where a hotel billed me twice for the same stay, and there were some emails back and forth between them and me, and they promised to pay me the second billing back. When they didn't, I contact the credit card company, who said that my claim had expired.

Fair enough, I'd say, to draw a time line. Of course, the customer wants to claim after 10 years, but if the company had to cover for that, what would the fees have to be?

[tombkk]

The money stolen is the credit card company's.

/.../

So, it's not some pensioneer that has lost some money, it's big corporations.

Wrong - the money might reside IN their pocket at the time of re-payment to your account, but all of their money comes from YOU, the customers, from the beginning.

How large fee's are you willing to pay just so others can help themselves to the coin-jar whenever they feel like it?

There is no such thing as a 'victimless crime' when it comes to theft.

You are correct. The credit company does not charge me but they charge the shop, and the shop will of course have added that to their selling price. I believe it's 3% with most credit card companies. I'm willing to pay that, I consider it an insurance premium. I don't like running around with cash money to pay everything, or having to run to the bank or the travel agency to pay for my ticket or hotel. The credit card offers a convenience which I enjoy. Of course, this convenience for me will offer opportunities for fraudsters too, so a kind of insurance premium has to be paid.

And the fraudsters don't just help themselves when they feel like it and everything is fine - the credit card companies have a vested interest in catching the thieves, because they are cutting into the profit margins. So I, as the customer, can relax for those 3% I pay.

[tombkk]

They should be treated as violent armed robbers (even if by some miracle these particular Turkish gangsters are peace-loving churchgoers), in my opinion.

They are stealing money from, amongst others, old age pensioners, people with pacemakers, people with seizure disorders etc.or people who are recovering from bereavement / alcoholism etc.etc.

Just the shock and then the beurocratic circus of recovering money, changing details etc. can infact do serious physical harm to those victims who are not 100% healthy youngsters. Its no different from using a cosh or a b-bat, if the victim is infirm.

I had my card hacked online, in a reputable online shop in UK, got sent to the Verified By Visa page. Unfortunately, during that month, one of their etech. employees had installed a fake Verified by Visa page that filtered card details & passwords, and then redirected you back to the shop page. Being as I'm epileptic & have m.s., I suffered health problems for a few weeks after, because its a shock to find your account cleaned out one morning. Got money back after 3 weeks on the phone, & the little **** is in prison now anyway, because he robbed like 500 other cards. Hope these turks go down for ages.

So, the point of your posting is that you got your money back? Thanks for your support in explaining they they did *not* steal from "people with pacemakers" but from the credit card company. They may have thought they were stealing from weak victims, but in fact they were hitting a large corporation that put them in jail for good measure.

Don't kid yourself: If you didn't sign the slip or confirm the online purchase with your IP address, you are not liable. The credit card company is. But you do have to report errors in the statement within the time frame outlined in the fine frint.

This applies to credit cards. You might be out of luck with debit cards, I'm not so sure with those.

[tombkk]

Does any one know how exactly the credit cards get copied and how to avoid it?

I mean when you use the card in a shop/store, it is scanned by the cashier, if it is copied there it must be in some background system "behind the scene" that is connected to the scanning system. You would expect the communication between the bank and the scanner would be encrypted?

Maybe it is when you visit one of those low end shops on the street it gets scanned by the staff behind the counter?

Not your problem, don't worry about that. If the connection is not encrypted, or for whatever reason out of your control the credit card data is copied, you are not liable. If the banks say, please watch out for this or that, they are asking for your cooperation in preventing fraud. I think it's fair to do whatever you can, but checking the encryption between the shop and the bank is certainly beyond your scope as a customer.

Do observe the time limit for claiming wrong amounts billed to you. Do check your credit card statement every month.

[ovaltina]

So, the point of your posting is that you got your money back? Thanks for your support in explaining they they did *not* steal from "people with pacemakers" but from the credit card company. They may have thought they were stealing from weak victims, but in fact they were hitting a large corporation that put them in jail for good measure.

Don't kid yourself: If you didn't sign the slip or confirm the online purchase with your IP address, you are not liable. The credit card company is. But you do have to report errors in the statement within the time frame outlined in the fine frint.

This applies to credit cards. You might be out of luck with debit cards, I'm not so sure with those.

My point was that so-called 'gentleman criminals' who use credit card fraud, identity theft etc. are infact not charming 'lovable rogues', they are guilty of violent armed robbery if the victim is left with physical damage. By the same token, a burglar who breaks into a old ladies house at night, and never meets her, but she dies of a heart attack from the terror & shock, the burglar becomes a murderer. That is in actual fact, if not in actual law.

In my case, it was one of the UKs most reputable online furniture stores with loads of awards dating back to 1990 etc. and security padlocks allover the site, and I was redirected by the shop site to a 100% accurate-looking VBV site, minus the slightly different http address obviously. I checked the website was reputable and I clicked the verified by visa link it sent me to, but I was in a hurry so I didnt check the http address.Neither did 500 other customers who got their details stolen.

Your whole ' you got your money back' , 'its a crime against credit card companies' is totally absurd, you are either missing the point completely or you are joking. The person who discovers their money has been stolen, and has to change bank card numbers etc. is suffering shock & stress and if that person is ill to begin with it is actually a physical assault.

[tombkk]

So, the point of your posting is that you got your money back? Thanks for your support in explaining they they did *not* steal from "people with pacemakers" but from the credit card company. They may have thought they were stealing from weak victims, but in fact they were hitting a large corporation that put them in jail for good measure.

Don't kid yourself: If you didn't sign the slip or confirm the online purchase with your IP address, you are not liable. The credit card company is. But you do have to report errors in the statement within the time frame outlined in the fine frint.

This applies to credit cards. You might be out of luck with debit cards, I'm not so sure with those.

My point was that so-called 'gentleman criminals' who use credit card fraud, identity theft etc. are infact not charming 'lovable rogues', they are guilty of violent armed robbery if the victim is left with physical damage. By the same token, a burglar who breaks into a old ladies house at night, and never meets her, but she dies of a heart attack from the terror & shock, the burglar becomes a murderer. That is in actual fact, if not in actual law.

In my case, it was one of the UKs most reputable online furniture stores with loads of awards dating back to 1990 etc. and security padlocks allover the site, and I was redirected by the shop site to a 100% accurate-looking VBV site, minus the slightly different http address obviously. I checked the website was reputable and I clicked the verified by visa link it sent me to, but I was in a hurry so I didnt check the http address.Neither did 500 other customers who got their details stolen.

Your whole ' you got your money back' , 'its a crime against credit card companies' is totally absurd, you are either missing the point completely or you are joking. The person who discovers their money has been stolen, and has to change bank card numbers etc. is suffering shock & stress and if that person is ill to begin with it is actually a physical assault.

They are not 'lovable rogues', I never said that. But as a credit card user out there on the internet, you *will* be hit. That's a fact of life. However, it is your choice whether to be the victim and whine about it, or to just use your rights. That's all I was trying to convey.

If you have shock & stress when confronted with the real world, maybe you shouldn't use your credit card on the internet. That's all I have to say, as I cannot change the real world out there. I am sorry if that is a problem for you but once again, please deal with the real world and don't blame anybody as being absurd or joking for pointing it out to you. No, it is not ideal or even desirable, but it is real.

I am very sorry to hear about the stress it caused you to change your credit card numbers. I have been through that a few times. Actually, it's not a big deal. Get a grip, or don't use credit cards on the internet again. Sorry for being frank and honest with you.

[HerbalEd]

Just what have they been buying in 14 days which can add up to Bt20m and is presumably small enough to be traded on ? All Rolex ?

It doesn't take that long to spend that kinda money on jewelry and gold.