First Time Identity Fraud Victim
Jason Slat is an ardent user of credit cards and ATM cards but had never fallen victim to identity thieves until one day. It was around 6 pm when he received a call from a man who identified himself as a bank representative. He asked Jason if he had a credit card with them and he answered in the affirmative. He then informed him that there had been an activity a few minutes ago wherein a transaction online was used on his credit card. A charge of one dollar appeared on his credit card account and the bank representative was verifying if Jason indeed made that transaction before he could validate it. Jason felt uneasy. It seemed kind of odd for banks to be quick in detecting suspicious transactions but the guy on the other line did not ask any account information from him. He answered back in the negative.
The other guy went on to explain that someone had just attempted to charge his credit card with one dollar at an online store. The bank decided to call him before validating the purchase since it has been three months since his credit card had been used and they suspect that it is being used for fraudulent purposes. The representative explained that someone might be running a test charge on his credit card, as is the practice of identity thieves before they make any substantial purchases on a card. He then informed Jason that they would be putting a fraud block on his credit card. He also ordered him to go any branch of the bank the next day, inform a staff that one of his cards had been placed on fraud block so he could be issued a new card.
This was the first time in many years that he had been involved in such an incident and Jason was visibly shaken. He told the representative that he only used the card thrice in 20 years and only to access bank machines. The bank representative suggested that someone might have put a skimmer in a bank machine and captured his credit card information.
The next day he went to a bank branch as told and surrendered his card. He initially made a mistake as he turned over his debit card. He realized that the credit card that was in contention had been stashed away for years in a cabinet drawer. Later, a bank officer informed him that indeed a fraud block had been placed on his credit card and that someone attempted to use it the day before to make a purchase at an online retail store. He was then issued a new credit card.
In Europe, banks have already instituted new bank practices that would prevent identity fraud. One such practice would require an individual to punch in a PIN number before he could use a credit card. The United States however has not yet developed similar sophisticated systems and is said to be behind Europe in such technologies by three years.
