Yahoo Finance The weirdest cases of credit card theft
Identity theft has become one of the fastest growing crimes, ranging from a few shopping purchases to landing on an international crime watch list.
Recent estimates by the Australian Attorney General’s Department indicate that identity crime costs Australia upwards of $1.6 billion each year, with the most common forms being credit card fraud, identify theft and scammers.
Over the years there have been some weird instances of credit card theft, here are a few that may make you want to cancel all your credit cards and start stashing cash under your mattress.
A Chinese man named Li Ming ran up charges on his own credit card, then faked his death, and then had the nerve to apply for a drivers licence in his own name later. He thought because of his name being common in China that no one would notice.
A man who didn’t want to bother with the credit cards of regular Joes and went straight to the top. Through some clever research, he attempted to use the credit card details of Oprah and Steven Spielberg to buy expensive goods. It wasn’t long before he was found.
A case of a person receiving bank statements for the previous 91 year old owner of their home who died, then opening a credit card account in their name. Spending big on items a 91 year old wouldn’t normally buy what was alerted security to the situation.
And lastly, a sad case involving thieves stealing possessions from the Malaysian Airlines 17 crash site. Thieves used the victim’s identities to gain access to their accounts. A journalist covering the story said that every bag he saw at the site appeared to have been opened and rummaged through.
Identity theft isn't always in the forefront of people’s minds. But sadly, many of us will experience some form of identity fraud at one point in our lives, if not already.
Related: How to protect yourself from cyber hackers
Credit card fraud is big business in the black market. Thieves steal your details by hacking into banks, card skimming, or buying credit card information, and then creating clone credit cards that work like the real thing. It is easy to buy blank credit cards and card encoding machines online and then sell them underground.
Of course, there are things you can do to protect yourself. Always take heed of the warning signs such as; any transactions on your statement that you don’t understand, you have given your card details to someone you suspect may be untrustworthy, you have lost your card or you have kept your pin and access code near your card and it has gone missing.
Related: Five tips to better organise your bills
If any of this has happened, contact your bank immediately and they will give you advice. If you want to be extra thorough, it’s also a good idea to keep checking for the latest on scams through the Government website ScamWatch.
