Who’s Stealing Your Credit Card? Five Quick Portraits of Identity Thieves
Credit card thieves. We know they’re out there. We know we’re supposed to fear them, be ever vigilant against them, and, if given the opportunity, finger them so the authorities can haul them into prison. But who are these people who are stealing your credit cards everyday? It turns out that the vast majority of credit card and identity thieves fall into five main categories:
The Criminal Mastermind
This fellow is rare, but often gets lots of screen and airtime because of his obvious Hollywood appeal (we love a good 21st century cat burglar). The other issue with the criminal mastermind: when he steals your credit card, it’s not your fault. He’s so damn slick that no one saw it coming. There’s even a grudging admiration from the public and law enforcement when they get gracefully grifted by one of these smooth operators.
Example: Gerald Blanchard, the sticky-fingered super thief who lifted the prize Sisi Star–a diamond encrusted royal jewel–from the Schloss Schönbrunn in Austria and never got caught. He also dabbled in credit card theft, tapping into the digital networks used by credit card companies to process payments and intercepting the credit card informatino. He and his team then manufactured counterfeit credit cards with the stolen credit card numbers and started withdrawing bags of money from ATMs. No one saw it coming.
The Amateur Opportunist
You read about this breed of credit criminal in the papers quite often as well. That’s because they are so dang good at getting caught. Far from calculating masterminds, these hard up individuals will dip their hands into any unattended purse as long as no one is looking. These moonlighting credit card thieves usually get busted on security cameras or because they’re completely inept when it comes to covering their trail. They don’t get beyond two or three credit cards before its curtains for them.
Example: There are too many to count. A 19-year old woman who waltzed into a hospital employee break room and started rummaging through purses. Two teenagers who took some credit cards out of some parked cars and then hit up Chuck E. Cheese’s. A young couple who pulled a poor man’s Bonnie and Clyde and went on a burglary spree and wound up in jail for 15 years after blowing it all on condoms and dog food. These two-bit criminals underwhelm with their lack of guile and it’s almost sad to see them in jail. That is, unless it’s your Ford Focus that they broke into to pay for beer and pizza.
Your Family
When your family breaches your trust, it can often be tense and heartbreaking. But it happens. They live in your house, they know your mother’s maiden name and they can even intercept your mail with ease. When the bank accounts begin to mysteriously dwindle, it may be a good idea to start asking questions under your own roof first.
Examples: The 26-year old man and his girlfriend who was kicked out of his mom’s house because of drug use. Homeless, he was later let in to take a shower from time to time–but while he was there, he snagged his mom’s debit card. And the 28-year old guy who stole nearly $10,000 from his own grandparents, including a credit card. Oh, and don’t forget the 60-year old woman who opened up a credit card account in her ex-husband’s name after divorcing him almost 20 years ago.
Disgruntled Employees
When you hand your credit card over to a convenience store clerk or cashier, you’re putting your trust in their hands. And if he or she is hard up or in a bad mood, there’s a chance he’s going to stick it to The Man (you) by taking a little something something for himself on top of your bubble gum or gas purchase. Some ambitious corrupted clerks turn out an entire side business of credit card thievery by using makeshift devices capable of stealing hundreds of credit cards each day.
Examples: A gas station employee in Sacramento stole over 2,000 credit card numbers, who purposefully “broke” the card reader at the pump so he could help customers “process their cards” manually. Three servers at the Cheesecake Factory were part of a crime ring that skimmed hundreds of credit cards while “ringing that up” for you. Also, an office worker racked up thousands of dollars worth of illicit purchases and gave the tab to his employer–the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority.
Spammers and Hackers
This one is tricky and proves that it’s still a jungle out there on the Web. Hackers aren’t as much a threat as they once were, but now, phishing is in. That is, unsuspecting card holders get emails that are supposedly from their bank asking them to log in or verify their information but in reality, they are just handing over their sensitive personal data right over to the criminals.
Examples: A Canadian woman who filled out a questionnaire in her inbox and then got a call from her bank the next day informing her that her card was being used in Peru. Soupnazi, the hacker who stole credit card numbers by hacking into WiFi networks. And Jim Breyer, the Accel Partners venture capitalist who was roped in by the FBDigits phishing scam.
Conclusion
From the klutzy would-be criminal busted on his first time to serial criminal masterminds who elude the grasp of God himself, credit card thieves come in many shapes and sizes. But the key to protecting yourself from thousands of dollars of liability from fraudulent purchases is the same for each one. It’s dead simple: read your statement. Log on once a week or once a month and go through your statement looking for any suspicious charges. See something fishy? Report it. That’s all there is to it.
Of course, there are more measures you can take, but careful monitoring of your financial activity is the best way to go. If you’re interested in reading more tips on preventing identity theft, check out some of our earlier posts:
- Identity Theft Part I: Tricks of the Trade
- How to Protect Yourself from Credit Card Skimming
- 5 Steps to a DIY Lifelock
Got another tip? Identified another breed of credit card thief? Share with us in the comments.
Img c/o ARTS
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Wow your own family – that’s scary and hard to protect against. What’s the world coming to if you cannot trust your own family!