Fraudsters are bribing and threatening Croydon's shop, hotel and restaurant staff into supplying them with their customers' credit card details, according to a study published today.
So strong is the counterfeiters' hold on Croydon that the study by the Association for Payment Clearing Services puts the borough among the eight worst-hit places in the UK.
A record £900,000 was spent in the borough by counterfeiters in the year ending August 2001, and a total of £2.5 million was lost on general card fraud.
Although APACS stresses the rise - a massive 41 per cent - is due partly to a general surge in credit card use, the association also warns that staff are being bribed into using increasingly discreet 'skimming' devices to extract credit card details for their use.
Melanie Hubbard of Card Watch, APACS' fraud prevention programme said: "Highly organised criminals bribe or threaten people working in petrol stations, restaurants and shops to skim customer cards for them."
Police, banks and retailers are setting up a national police and fraud squad. But shoppers and staff can help by reporting fraud to Crimestoppers.
Banks and credit card companies hope a new method of data storage involving a hack-proof chip, will have been issued to all shoppers by the end of 2002.
A neural network' also alerts banks when it detects un-usual spending patterns which happen when several people are using the same stolen credit card details, such as a customer spending in Croydon then again half-an-hour later in Glasgow.
APACS claims that by 2004 rates of card crime will be slashed because by then pin numbers will be used to identify cardholders.
A spokesman for Croydon Marketing & Development (CMD), which recently provided anti-fraud training for retail staff in conjunction with APACS, has urged retailers, particularly smaller traders, to contact them on 020 8686 2233 with a view to setting up further sessions.
To report card fraud call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. A reward of £500 will be given for information leading to arrest and conviction.
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