CHINGFORD: Mother and son targeted by credit card fraudsters
1:32pm Friday 16th May 2008
A CHINGFORD mum is warning shoppers to remain vigilant about credit card fraud after she and her son had hundreds of pounds stolen from their accounts.
Linda Driver, 55, an office worker in Chingford, was annoyed to discover that had her card had been "skimmed" and someone was spending money from her account in Thailand and Dublin.
Then her son was targeted several weeks later and had £370 stolen from his account by someone in Azerbaijan.
She said: "People should be very weary of using the card. My bank gave me the money back, but my card had to be stopped. It is a massive inconvenience and what is it costing banks, and in the end will be have to start paying?"
Mrs Driver said the perpetrator withdrew £360 over several days in small amounts so she didn't notice, but her building society was alerted to the fraud when they noticed she was shopping at Morrisons supermarket in Chingford when someone was using it in Thailand on the same day.
Several weeks later, her 26-year-old son Edward, a Loughton postman, was shocked to have his card declined in Coscos cash and carry after fraudulent withdrawals exceeded his overdraft limit.
Mrs Driver believes that their cards were swiped at petrol stations because that is where they most commonly use it, but she has not had this confirmed.
She added: "Now I use cash at petrol stations."
However, consumer advisor Cardwatch suggests there is no reason for petrol stations to be targeted more than any other type of business, but they are "attractive" for fraudsters because of the high number of card transactions carried out.
Cardwatch advises: "A proportion of fraudsters' efforts to steal magnetic stripe data and PINs has been taking place at petrol stations, but fraudsters could equally target other shops and businesses.
"This type of compromise also needs to be put into perspective. Card fraud losses are decreasing and you are much less likely to be a victim of card fraud now than you were three or four years ago."