Police Warn Retailers Of Credit Card Fraud

Illawarra Mercury

Saturday February 9, 2008

By MICHELLE HOCTOR

THE region's retailers are being advised to be extra vigilant with credit card checks after a series of arrests for fraud in the past month.

A 34-year-old Port Kembla man will appear before Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday, charged with 17 fraud offences involving stolen credit cards in January.

It follows charges on Thursday night against two Strathfield males, aged 28 and 19, who allegedly bought more than $600 worth of goods using fake credit cards and fake driver's licences.

They will face court next month on charges of obtaining benefit by deception.

Wollongong Detective Senior Sergeant Brad Ainsworth said a region the size of the Illawarra was attractive to fraudsters.

"You do get a lot of these people. They come down with false identification, go for a spree, and if they get caught, they get caught and if not they try again somewhere else," he said.

Snr Sgt Ainsworth said he was concerned that banks continued to mail renewed credit cards to people's homes, which were being intercepted and activated by thieves.

He raised the problem in June last year after figures revealed the incidence of credit cards stolen from Wollongong mailboxes had doubled, with 100 cases of fraud investigated in six months.

Since then, he said, only Wollongong's National Australia Bank outlet had responded by asking customers to collect their cards from

the branch.

"(Most banks) seem to treat it as an acceptable risk," he said.

Not so acceptable, however, is the time spent investigating each case and the associated paper trails.

Wollongong City Centre manager Paul Fanning said although credit card fraud was not classed as a major problem for the 300 retailers of Crown St Mall, the best policy for everyone was to be on guard.

"It doesn't matter where you are ... everyone has to be vigilant at all times on transactions using credit cards," he said. "That means being aware of when credit cards are declined and dodgy signatures."

Mr Fanning said the mall security had an advantage in that the team included a special constable who had powers of arrest. Those powers were exercised on Thursday night when two Strathfield males were followed and then barricaded in the David Jones car park until police arrived.

Security officer Dennis Guerreiro said people who bought laptops, iPods or GPS tracking systems attracted special scrutiny.

FRAUD FILE

* March 27, 2007: Three men are charged with fraud offences after allegedly using false credit cards to buy more than $13,000 worth of goods at Wollongong's Crown St Mall and Westfield Figtree and Warrawong.

* May: Thieves target vulnerable, home-alone women in a brazen crime spree around Wollongong, whereby they enter homes, steal the women's handbags and call soon after, claiming to be the bank wanting to verify their credit card pin numbers.

* June 18: Wollongong detectives report the incidence of credit cards stolen from Wollongong mailboxes has doubled in the past six months with more than 100 cases of credit card fraud investigated.

* June 30: Barrack Heights woman Michelle McTiernan, 24, has at least eight driving offences and $2500 in fines recorded against her name, all of them committed by an identity thief who stole her driver's licence.

* July 10: Man arrested after using a stolen credit card to buy $5000 worth of goods including laptop computers in Crown St Mall.

* January 17, 2008: A 34-year-old Port Kembla man is charged with 17 fraud offences involving credit card theft. Bail was refused and he will appear in court on February 13.

* February 7: Two Strathfield men aged 19 and 28 are charged with obtaining benefit by deception after allegedly using fake credit cards to buy $600 worth of clothing from Wollongong's Myer department store.

© 2008 Illawarra Mercury

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