What is credit card fraud?
Credit card fraud is usually an action by a third party intended to fraudulently extract funds from the credit card holder and sometimes also from business owners who provided a service or product in exchange for payment using the credit card.
In some cases, the person committing the fraud is not a third party but the credit card holder himself, and his goal is to receive a product or service and then report to the credit card company that he did not carry out the transaction (Denial of the transactionNeedless to say, this is an action that is against the law and a credit card holder who acts in this manner risks having criminal and civil proceedings taken against him.
In some cases, credit card fraud is the result of a more complex fraud in which Identity theft of the victim.
Legal provisions regarding credit card fraud
החוק שאוסר הונאות בכרטיסי אשראי הוא חוק שירותי תשלום, תשע"ט – 2019 והוא קובע אפילו סנקציות של מאסר בפועל. כדי להבין את משמעות החוק ומה זה הונאה בכרטיס אשראי צריכים להכיר את ההגדרות הרלוונטיות בחוק:
"אמצעי תשלום" – רצף פעולות שעל משלם לבצע לשם מתן הוראת תשלום, בין שהוא כולל שימוש בחפץ או בפרט אימות ובין שאינו כולל שימוש כאמור;
"שימוש לרעה", באמצעי תשלום – Use of a means of payment or an essential component thereof by someone who is not entitled to it under the payment services contract;
"רכיב חיוני", באמצעי תשלום – רכיב באמצעי התשלום, הייחודי למשלם, ובכלל זה החפץ או פרט האימות שנעשה בו שימוש כחלק מאמצעי התשלום, או צירוף של רכיבים כאמור, שבעל הגישה לרכיב או לצירוף הרכיבים כאמור יכול לתת באמצעותו הוראת תשלום, ובלבד שהרכיב או צירוף הרכיבים פורט בחוזה שירותי התשלום בין נותן שירותי התשלום למשלם ובין המשלם;
Section 40 of the Payment Services Law stipulates a prison sentence of 3 – 5 years in the following cases:
(א) בסעיף זה, "רכיב חיוני" – כהגדרתו בסעיף 1, ולגבי אמצעי תשלום שהוא כרטיס חיוב כהגדרתו בסעיף 11ב לחוק הבנקאות (רישוי) – הלוחית או החפץ שהם כרטיס החיוב.
(on) These are their sentences – three years in prison:
(1) A person who has taken or possessed an essential component of a means of payment Without the consent of the payer, בכוונה להשתמש בו או לאפשר לאחר להשתמש בו; לעניין זה, "נטילה" – כהגדרתה בסעיף 383(ג)(1) לחוק העונשין;
(2) A person who used an essential component in a means of payment, or later handed over an essential component as mentioned, knowing that he might use it, With intent to deceive.
(c) If an offense is committed under subsection (b)(2), under aggravating circumstances, the offender is liable to – מאסר חמש שנים; בסעיף קטן זה, "נסיבות מחמירות" – אחת מאלה:
(1) The act constituting the offense was committed against a large number of payers or against an elderly person, a minor, a helpless person, or another payer who is in a state of mental, emotional or physical weakness;
(2) The offender Produce significant profits or benefits from the act that constitutes the offense;
(3) The offense was committed with a sophistication that significantly facilitated its commission or made its detection difficult.
(d) A payment service provider who did not include in a payment service contract a simple and concise description of the essential terms thereof, contrary to the provisions of Section 7(b), is liable to six months imprisonment or a fine as stated in Section 61(a)(4) of the Penal Law, and if the offense was committed by a corporation – double the said fine.
(e) A payment service provider who does something that may mislead a customer in a material matter in a transaction for the provision of payment services, contrary to the provisions of Section 8, is liable to one year's imprisonment or double the fine stated in Section 61(a)(4) of the Penal Law, and if the offense was committed by a corporation - twice the said fine.
How to avoid becoming a victim of credit card fraud?
One of the problems that leads to credit card fraud (and similarly to fraud involvingTransferring funds from a bank account without authorization) is the ease with which one can obtain the credit card number from the cardholder today, or even the ease with which one can duplicate the credit card without the cardholder's knowledge. Duplicate a credit card is an operation that sometimes takes just a few seconds.
Credit card fraud at a restaurant/business where you actually hand over the card
Think about how you pay with a credit card at a restaurant or coffee shop. You usually hand your credit card to the waiter, who takes the card to the payment terminal. In practice, you don't see the credit card for at least a few minutes until it's returned to you. During that time, the waiter can easily duplicate your card without your knowledge.
In these cases, be sure to take your credit card directly to the cash register and ask for the payment to be made in front of you. Alternatively, in more modern restaurants or cafes, waiters are equipped with mobile payment devices and the payment can be made at the diner's table.
Credit card fraud while surfing the internet
Another very common case of credit card fraud is obtaining credit card information fraudulently by impersonating a legitimate sales website. In many cases, the scammers will replicate the website to a high degree and it may look very similar to the original website.
Let's take the Castro company website as an example:
This is a well-known Israeli site, and someone who wants to commit credit card fraud could replicate the site, advertise to people who are interested in making purchases on sites like Castro, and emphasize that it is a very attractive end-of-season sale and display particularly cheap prices on the site. A significant portion of the people who browse the site following the impostor's advertising will be tempted and make purchases on this site. It is enough to make one purchase for the impostor to gain access to the credit information and be able to misuse it.
To avoid credit card fraud online, before making any purchase or entering any credit card information, it is important to check the website address to make sure that you are indeed on the correct website and not a fake one, and that the website address begins with HTTPS. This is a security and data encryption protocol so that when you enter your credit card information, it is encrypted and not visible to third parties. Do not make credit card transactions on websites that only start with HTTP, as these sites may expose your credit card information.
Credit card fraud over the phone
Another case of credit card fraud is when the fraudster calls the victim and pretends to be a person or representative of a well-known company (Telephone fraud or Telephone sting). For example: The scammer can call and tell the victim that he is calling from the Israel Police, and that the police have identified that the victim's credit card has been duplicated. The scammer posing as a police officer will ask to verify the credit card details and ask the victim to repeat the credit card details. You would not believe how many cases the victims will provide the credit card details in this situation, thus the scammer will obtain the details necessary to misuse them (Receiving something fraudulently).
More cases of credit card fraud
In every case of credit card fraud, there is a common denominator - the victim voluntarily provides credit card information but without knowing that he is providing the information to a party that intends to defraud him.
ברוב המקרים הקורבן מגלה לראשונה שהוא "נעקץ" רק כאשר מתחילות להגיע הודעות מחברת האשראי על חיובים שהקורבן לא מכיר. במקרים מסוימים זה עשוי להיות מאוחר מדי.
How do you deal with credit card fraud?
Immediately report credit card fraud to the credit card company
As soon as you suspect that you have been the victim of credit card fraud, you should immediately contact your credit card company so that they can block any future transactions on your card. You should also request a replacement card so that you can continue to use your card in the future without fear that the fraudster will continue to use your card at your expense.
In this situation, future fraud will no longer be possible and all that will need to be arranged is the return of the funds that were fraudulently taken from you. In certain cases, the credit card company will compensate you for uses of your credit card that were made without your knowledge and authorization, by virtue of Section 24 of the Payment Services Law, which states:
(א) בסעיף זה, "הודעה" – הודעה של המשלם לנותן שירותי תשלום למשלם על גניבה או אבדן של רכיב חיוני באמצעי תשלום או על שימוש לרעה באמצעי תשלום.
(b) The payer shall not be liable for misuse of the means of payment made after notification has been given.
(c) The payer will be liable for misuse of the means of payment made before notice was given, according to the lower of the following amounts:
(1) A fixed amount of 75 New Shekels plus 30 New Shekels for each day from the date on which the payer became aware of the theft or loss of the essential component of the means of payment or of the misuse of the means of payment, until the date of delivery of the notice; notwithstanding the foregoing, if the payer delivered the notice within 30 days of the date on which the misuse was first committed, he shall not be liable for an amount exceeding 450 New Shekels; the day of the notice shall not be included in the number of days under this paragraph, if the notice was delivered on the same day on which the payer became aware of the theft or loss of the essential component or of the misuse of the means of payment; the Minister, with the consent of the Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Bank of Israel and with the approval of the Economic Affairs Committee, may determine, by order, amounts different from the amounts set forth in this paragraph;
(2) The amount of payment transactions actually carried out during the misuse.
(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (c), the payer shall be liable for misuse of the means of payment made before notice was given, and the limitation of liability under the said subsection shall not apply to him, if the use of the means of payment is made after the payer has made the essential component of the means of payment available to another person, and all this whether the use is made with the payer's knowledge or without his knowledge; the provisions of this subsection shall not apply if one of the following occurs:
(1) The essential component was made available to the other person under reasonable circumstances for the sole purpose of safekeeping or was made available to a beneficiary for the purpose of issuing a payment order through the beneficiary;
(2) The misuse occurred after the essential component that was made available to the other person was stolen from that person or lost to him.
(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (c) and (d), the payer shall not be liable for misuse of the payment instrument under the aforementioned subsections if the payer's payment service provider did not allow him to provide notice or cancel the payment instrument, at any time, in a reasonable manner.
Please note that the credit card company is not always responsible for returning all amounts fraudulently collected from the victim.
Filing a complaint with the Israel Police for credit card fraud
Credit card fraud warrants filing a complaint with the Israel Police so that they can investigate and try to locate the fraudster. However, it is important to understand that the Israel Police will not always be able to assist you due to severe staff shortages and because they will often have more pressing matters to attend to.
Reality shows that in the vast majority of cases, these complaints will be closed without result for the victim, but the mere filing of the complaint may be important to show that you acted and tried to locate the scammer.
Contacting a lawyer who deals with fraud and deceit
Fraud and deceit lawyer He is a lawyer who specializes in dealing with fraud cases and filing Lawsuits against fraudstersTo the extent that the identity of the fraudster is known to the victim, it will be possible to file a complaint. Civil lawsuit or Financial claim Against the fraudster for all damages caused to the victim.
To the extent that the identity of the scammer is unknown to the victim, there may be no escape from hiring the services of a private investigator who will attempt to track down the scammer using the phone numbers through which he contacted the victim, or by other means.
Even an experienced private investigator will not always be able to track down an experienced and skilled crook.
In conclusion
Credit card fraud is very common these days and is not always easy to deal with.
The simplest way to deal with credit card fraud is to prevent it in the first place. Always make sure to keep eye contact with your credit card so that someone else doesn't duplicate it, don't make purchases on questionable websites, and don't give your credit card details over the phone to someone you can't identify.
If you are a victim of credit card fraud, you should immediately report it to your credit card company so that they can block the card. It is also recommended to file a police report.
If this is a case of fraud involving a significant amount, it is also worth contacting a fraud and scam lawyer who will examine whether it is possible to file a lawsuit against the fraudster so that you can get your money back, plus financial compensation for the The anguish of the soul That happened to you.
