Watch Out!

The last time you dined out, did you follow the waiter to the cashier, ensuring that he did not fiddle with your credit card, writing down the card numbers for his personal use – probably not.
But it can be equivalent to handling your card to a well-dressed thief, says the Consumer Affairs Commission. In fact, the CAC-the government agency responsible for protecting the Jamaican consumers- says that more than ever Jamaicans are becoming victims of more sophisticated methods of identity theft.
Identity theft is assuming the identity of another, usually for financial gain.
No longer are identity thieves only stealing purses and breaking into homes. In an ever-automated world, your credit card number is all the information an impostor needs to pay telephone bills, buy goods on the Internet, and even secure loans in your name.
Additionally, if you are not vigilant u could be left with the bill, says National Commercial Bank of Jamaica (NCB). “One of the first things you need to do is contact NCB. The onus is on customers to immediately report the matter. Once we detect it, we put a block on the account,” says Sheree Martin, NBC spokeswoman.
“If it is a lost or stolen card and not reported then the liability is on the customers.”
NCB, the second largest bank in Jamaica, says that credit card fraud has cost it6 US$10,000 ($610,000) since the start of the year. That figure is 0.02 per cent of its credit card portfolio.
The bank says it has kept the figure low due to constant monitoring. Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica would not comment on this issue.
There is no stated estimate on the level of credit-card fraud in Jamaica or how wide-scale identity theft has become.

Store policy might increase risk
But some merchants, fed-up with getting burned, now require two forms of identification to validate a credit card transaction.
These stores, found the affluent shopping districts of Jamaica, will photocopy your credit card along with other form, of national identification.
Copying the information, they say, safeguards them against fraud. But it places consumers at a great risk, says Raymond Pryce, CAC director of communication, Information and research.
“The stores say that they are doing it to prevent credit card fraud but what they are doing is exposing the consumer to a greater likelihood of credit card theft,” he told Sunday Finance.
Additionally, businesses may post the photocopied information on bulletin boards in the store-office for future reference. If business or employees are crooked, then the chance of the cardholder becoming a victim of fraud increases.
It is for this reason that Pryce wants it made known to customers who have access to the information and at what point the information is destroyed.
“We are researching the legality of it. It is not that we are saying that the merchants are thieves, but that they are allowed the opportunity to record your card numbers for purposes separate and apart from business operations,” says Pryce. “Does any government agency know what they are doing with that information; do the banks know what they are doing with it; do the financial institutions know what they are doing – the answer to that is no.

New types of fraud emerging
Most businesses ask for a driver's licence as the second form of identification. But the driver's licence number and taxpayer registration number (TRN) is the same, which facilitates another form of identity theft – TRN impersonation. Persons use it to formalise their economic activities, especially if they owe or want to avoid taxes.
“If someone is not up-to-date with their taxes, for them to continue to do so, they have to gain access to another TRN number. They use that TRN as a screen to continue to operate,” He says.
He warns customers to be very careful in disclosing driver's licence/TRN information.
Other forms of identity theft include using utility bills, in part of seal, to steal appliances and furniture from retail stores. Stores require, at the very least, the last three utility bills in order to verify a customer's home address. If an impostor uses someone else's utility bills, has a cover address. “When the payments do not come, the store will send a reminder to that address and the individual (to which the utility bill belongs) would not have had prior knowledge of the purchase,” says Pryce.
Pryce warns that utility bills should be shredded before they are dumped. As persons will infiltrate garbage and use billing information and your address.
The impostor does not even need to change the name on the bill.
“Because if someone is a tenant, they can use a fake address,” he says.
Another method of identity theft is using dormant accounts to launder money.
“The issue is not whether they can take money from one's account, they can also lodge money into your account. They put money in a sleeper account so they can access it in the future,” Pryce says.
Sometimes the perpetrator of identity theft is not a stranger but a family member, using for instance a relative debit card and pin to access money.
“It is identity theft for they have positioned themselves as the legitimate owner of the card,” says Pryce.
“The most famous case was during Christmas when a daughter had a one-time spend of $10,000 on one pair of jeans. When the parent found out he could not get a refund from the vendor.”
But regular identity scams occur in e-mail form and on fraudulent web sites. They requests based on colourful scenarios, which offer money, but first require credit card or bank information. “People get caught in it. There is no set profile to people who get caught. That is the thing with identity theft,” says Pryce.