Modus Operandi by Mauro Corvasce (universal ebook reader txt) 📕

established by the issuer. Funds spent are charged to the cardholder's account. The cardholder is then billed at a later date.

Bank credit cards A card issued by a bank offering revolving extended credit to the cardholder. The cardholder has the choice to pay in full to save interest charges or to pay a lesser amount and have interest charged on the outstanding balance. A cash advance can also be obtained, and interest is charged from the day the cash is received.

Travel and entertainment cards A travel and entertainment card (commonly referred to as a T&E card) provides credit between purchase and billing, at which time the cardholder is expected to settle the account balance. A charge is also made to the merchant calculated on the value of sales made with this card. Examples of this type of card are American Express and Diner's Club.

Retailer cards A retailer card is commonly referred to as an in-house or in-store card and is issued by or on behalf of merchants. It is generally used only at the merchant's outlet. An example of this is a Sears or a J.C. Penney's card.

Gas and oil cards A form of retailer charge card the use of which is usually restricted to the purchase of gasoline, diesel fuel oil and accessories.

Debit card A debit card is an instrument of payment that can be used to obtain cash, goods and services and is linked to the cardholder's bank account. A debit card is different from a credit card in that the cardholder's account is electronically debited at the time of the transaction. There is no credit. An example of this type of debit card is the MAC or Plus Cirrus cards, which enable you to make cash withdrawals at automatic teller machines at banks, convenience stores or supermarkets.

Altered card Initially a payment device that was manufactured by an authorized issuer but which was lost or stolen and re-embossed, re-fabricated or otherwise modified to reflect a name, account number, expiration date and/or signature other than that of the valid cardholder.

Counterfeit cards A payment device that has been printed, embossed and/or encoded to represent a valid card, but which is not valid because an issuer did not authorize its manufacture.

White plastic card A blank, credit card-sized piece of plastic embossed with a valid cardholder name, account number and expiration date. This card is to imprint a sales draft which is presented for payment to the institution that supposedly issued the card. The term white plastic is generic since the card may be of any color, including blue, white, gold and red.

Authorization A process by which approval for a transaction is required when the merchant accepts a card as a means of payment or when a financial institution accepts a card as a means of payment or of a cash disbursement.

Card recovery bulletin A list of account numbers (first published by Visa) that have been blocked from further use; this bulletin is referred to genetically as the hot card list. It is used by most major credit card issuers.

Cardholder An individual to whom a credit card has been issued or one authorized to use such a card.

Interchange The exchange of paper between approved Visa and MasterCard members.

Fraudulent application instrument containing false cardholder information upon which an issuer of a payment device relies for the extension of credit or debit accounts to a cardholder.

Criminals of credit card fraud usually have certain qualities about them that should be reflected in your works:

1. The criminal will usually make indiscriminate purchases without regard to size, color, style or price. An example of this would be a criminal who would go into a stereo or audio-video store and immediately buy an expensive stereo system without listening to the speakers, looking at the placement of the woofer and tweeter or evaluating the power of the amplifier.

Just imagine if you or I were to walk into a store and decide to spend one or two thousand dollars on a stereo system. We would usually ask to test a CD or cassette so we could listen to the different types of speakers on display. Slowly, we would settle on a few speakers that sounded good and we would eventually narrow our choice down to one set. Speakers are typically the most important part of a person's stereo system, and the component they are most selective about. Unfortunately, many salespeople who work on commission are eager to close a sale and will not question a person who comes in and quickly orders a large item without appearing to think about the purchase.

2. The criminal may instead be talkative or will delay a selection repeatedly until the clerk is upset. The reason for this is to make the clerk rush to close the sale and get rid of this annoying customer. This rush may keep the clerk from checking the signature on the sales slip with the one on the back of the card.

3. The criminal may also pose as a customer who appears just before quitting time. This is a very common technique that criminals use. Often times salespeople work ten- to fourteen-hour days and the last thing they want is to hassle with a sale (regardless of the commission) in the ten minutes before closing time. Both of us have experience in retail sales, and we know what it is like to be in a store for fourteen hours and to be trying to unwind at the end of the day with a cup of coffee or by taking a peek at the day's newspaper when a customer rushes in. Of course salespeople figure a late arrival is not a very serious customer and instead is simply rushing in to pick up a small accessory. The smart criminal will hurry a clerk at quitting time and thereby cause the clerk to not be as careful with checking the card.

4. Criminals often purchase large items such as a color television console and insist on taking the item immediately instead of having it delivered.

5. Criminals refuse