A CREDIT-card fraud victim saw a yacht being delivered to his street and then later found out he had been the victim of the crime, according to fraud specialist John McVitie.
McVitie said the fraudster had used the victim’s credit card to order the yacht and asked that it be delivered at a certain time on the delivery date to a London address. “The fraudster was waiting on the pavement when the yacht arrived. Nobody saw him or the yacht again,” said McVitie.
The retailer had to bear the cost of the fraud and received a chargeback from the card issuer. He warned operators to be vigilant during transactions when cardholders were not present and added that getting an authorisation from a card issuer does not insure against a chargeback.
He said plastic-card fraud is on the increase again after dipping from its height in 1992 when there was £161m of fraud.
Last year credit-card fraud cost the industry £133m.