Even people who fight identity theft told everythinglubbock.com Sunday that it can happen to anyone, especially during and after the holiday season.
“With more people shopping, there are more opportunities to have information stolen, especially when shopping online,” Lubbock Police Spokesperson Tiffany Pelt said.
Vice President of First Bank and Trust Stephen Quisenberry said fraudsters start by making fake credit cards with randomized numbers. If they know the first part of a debit or credit card number (called a “bin number”), they can print phoney cards on hotel room keys, or any plastic with a magnetic strip.
“They take the cards they’ve made and they go to places that are not high traffic, like maybe a gas station with a credit card scanner on a coke machine and start testing,” Quisenberry said, “Once they get a good card, they’ll run to Walmart, Dillards, or some other large store across town and make a large purchase before moving on to the next card.”
Next, the person will resell the merchandise they bought or take it back to the store with a receipt in order to get a cash return. Quisenberry said it’s very difficult to catch the perpetrators.
“Most of the time the guys stealing your credit card information aren’t the guys using it. ‘Mules’ or ‘runners’ will receive the cards with stolen numbers and they are the ones using them.”
Online websites are the most high-risk places to share a card number.
“We’re having more of an issue with online fraud, we’re seeing a lot of online, out-of-state fraud and major retailer breaches,” Quisenberry said.
Both Lubbock Police Department and the Bank have a few tips for protecting your money, like using chip-enabled credit cards if possible, monitoring your bank statements, and even watching what personal information you share on social media.
“The biggest thing you can do is check your account constantly to make sure no fraudulent charges are on there,” Quisenberry said.