Credit card scams are on the rise, judges say
9/11/2008 13:16
Xu Fang/Shanghai Daily news
Worried over the rising
number of commercial frauds, Luwan District judges yesterday warned citizens to
be careful with their credit cards and safeguard personal information.
The
judges said hackers have been using sophisticated technology to extract
information. The court has dealt with a series of credit card fraud cases this
year but declined to reveal figures.
The court recently sentenced a man
surnamed Wei to one year in prison for fraud and fined him 20,000 yuan
(US$2,928).
On May 19, Wei hacked into a computer using a Trojan horse
program and stole the victim's credit card number and code. He then pretended to
be a bank clerk, called up the victim and conned him into revealing his name and
bank identification number.
Wei then reported the loss of the credit card to
the bank and applied for a new one, using the information he had picked up from
the victim. On May 22 and 23, Wei then used the new card to buy goods worth
9,390 yuan. However, he was later caught and tried.
The judges also observed
that many people were careless with their cards, leading to physical
theft.
On May 11, a man surnamed Jiang stole a credit card from the company
where he worked and used it to buy goods worth nearly 4,000 yuan. The next day,
Jiang got spent 44,220 yuan on an LCD TV set, gold jewelry and an air
conditioner. He was caught and sentenced to three and a half years in prison and
fined 30,000 yuan.
In another case, a local surnamed Chen offered to help two
of his friend fill out their credit card application forms. He then used this
information to apply for five credit cards in his friends' names. Between March
and May, he spent 78,822 yuan on the five cards. Chen was sentenced to three
years in prison and fined 20,000 yuan.
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