Beware credit card cloning

Search: Protect yourself from credit card fraud

- Check your credit hasn't been tampered with
- Tips on avoiding identity theft

The introduction of Chip and PIN in 2006 has certainly helped to combat credit card fraud. However, recent APACS figures suggest that card fraud is still a major issue for consumers and the retail financial services sector alike.

Leading instant online credit information provider, Equifax, is warning that the methods by which this crime is perpetrated are becoming more sophisticated, with a number of cases highlighted to the company in the last few months with cloning being particularly prevalent.

Credit cloning is a retailer's nightmare with, in particular, a number of incidences involving petrol stations.

Recent cases

Equifax is warning consumers to look closely at their credit card and bank statements for signs of unusual activity and it cites the case of Sarah McBride, a 19 year old administration assistant from Teddington, who found out about credit card cloning the hard way.

Sarah received a call from her bank mid September, asking if she had been to Italy. She had recently been on holiday there, but she hadn't taken her credit card so was puzzled by a transaction from Italy that the bank was calling about.

It transpired that the bank believed her card had been cloned at a local petrol station, which was a problem they were seeing on a regular basis. The bank cancelled the card and advised her to only use cash at garages.

Sarah is usually quite wary with her money and takes care when entering her PIN. She doesn't use her credit cards to pay for many things as she prefers to monitor her spending by withdrawing cash. However, despite this care and attention, she became victim to the cloners and it has made her think more about card security and ID fraud.

She has applied for a copy of her Equifax Credit Report and is considering shredding her personal details from now on.

Sarah also recently moved house, so she has set up post redirect to ensure that none of her post goes to the old address.