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Credit Card Fraud/Shaving

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	City of Tigard 13125 SW Hall Blvd. Tigard, Oregon 97223	Press Release March 30, 2008
For Immediate Release
Contact:	Jim Wolf, Public Information Officer Tigard Police Department 503-718-2561 jim@tigard-or.gov

Credit Card Fraud/Shaving
In an article in The Oregonian on Sunday, March 30, 2008 concerning credit card fraud and the "shaving" of credit card numbers, you may have wondered if this is occurring in the City of Tigard. Although we've taken no reports recently, it has occurred and will undoubtedly occur again as we go into the summer months or get closer to the Christmas holidays.

Scammers are cutting the numbers off of good credit cards, or any gift card that has raised numbers on it (usually found at the check stand), or stealing credit cards out of mail boxes. In some instances credit card numbers have been copied from a credit card used to pay a bill at restaurants or local businesses where they work or friends of theirs work. These scammers use a razor blade and literally shave the numbers from the card then typically use super glue to put the numbers back on a new card in a specific sequence. The first 12 numbers are almost always the same for a specific bank or credit card company. It's the last four numbers that get changed.

All business owners who accept credit cards have a general 1-800 number to call to verify a credit card. The scammers have those phone numbers, usually obtained from their employment or friends who work at stores who take credit cards. It may take numerous phone calls before they are able to verify a number they've created but they have nothing but time on their hands to do it. They create these numbers at random, changing the last four numbers until they hit on one that is valid (accepted). That new number goes on a new card. The number could belong to your account; could be someone you know, could be someone from another State - and usually the card owner will have the card in his/her possession and doesn't know their account has been accessed until they see their monthly statement. Occasionally they will get a call from the bank or card company about "suspicious activity" which alerts them there is a problem. The scammers also disable the magnetic strip on the back of the card rendering it unusable so that the number on the front has to be entered manually at the check stand. When they present the card, the scammers will use any excuse you could imagine - "ran it through the dryer, my wife/husband did something to it, I dropped it and my dog dragged it across the floor scratching it, etc." and the clerk generally won't think twice about the reason given. They accept it if it sounds like a valid excuse and they enter the card number manually.

The advice we are giving you is to train all of your employees that IF they get a card that has to be entered manually - LOOK AT IT CLOSELY AND DON'T BE AFRAID TO QUESTION IT. IF IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S BEEN TAMPERED WITH = DO NOT ACCEPT IT!!! Please report any and all types of these incidents to the Tigard Police as soon as possible - (503)629-0111 if the suspect has left the store or 911 if they're still there!!