Credit Card Fraud Reports Rise in Loveland

Just this morning a co-worker came in and reported that he and his wife had both received calls from their separate credit card companies asking if they had authorized large purchases at California businesses over the weekend.

They had not.

Fortunately, the credit card companies fraud departments had caught the transactions before allowing the charges.

Credit card experts say that the most likely way their credit card numbers were gathered was by an unethical employee,at a local business, using a skimmer, go their numbers.

This past week Loveland police received a spkie in calls of fruad as reported in The Reporter-Herald.

Loveland police are asking residents who use credit and debit cards to keep a close eye on their accounts.
On Friday, police took an unusually large number of banking fraud complaints from residents. The complaints had a similar theme: A card owned by a Loveland resident was being used to make large transactions. Sometimes, the purchaser would hear from the credit card company itself, said Lt. Tim Brown. Other times, it was only after a viewing of the card statement or online account information that the unauthorized use was discovered.
So far, police are still gathering information from the victims, and no common thread has been established. However, it’s likely that someone in the community is using a “skimmer,” which can capture a card’s identifying information, to use that information illegally.
Part of the challenge will be to find a common location where such a capture could have occurred.