Modus Operandi (13 page)

Today, there are basically three types of counterfeit cards being used: Kimble Stolen Plastic, Silkscreen and Lithographs.

Kimble Stolen Plastic

Kimble cards are the Bank of America cards that were taken in an armed robbery in 1981; they are named after the executive who made the cards at Bank of America. These cards are perfect because they are embossed with valid names and account numbers, and are difficult to detect as counterfeits because the card is flawless. These cards can be detected as counterfeit after they are embossed by the following irregularities:

1. Some will have small square outlines around the letters or the name. This is because the same embossing pressure was applied on the letters as the numbers.

2. All Kimble stolen cards counterfeited to date have no star. The Bank of America star has five points, but counterfeiters are embossing a six-point star that looks like a daisy flower. Some cards have been recovered with a dot in place of the star.

The only positive way to tell if the card is a Kimble stolen card is to photocopy the back with the signature panel (for the signature record), then scrap off the center with a sharp knife. If the number 03 781-7-81-682 appears under the panel, this card is a Kimble counterfeit.

Kimble counterfeit cards will not have any information recorded on the magnetic stripe on the back of the card. Valid Bank of America cards will contain the following information in the magnetic stripe: card number, name of the cardholder, expiration date, number of valid cards issued, and the reason for re-issue. Counterfeiters have digital machinery that can match the magnetic strip to the card.

Silkscreens

Here are some ways to identify counterfeit credit cards that have been created using silkscreening:

1. They are always on blank white plastic cards.

2. The pin code is very smooth and even looking.

3. The edges of the letters are jagged like sawed teeth. This can be detected with a magnifying glass.

4. You can feel the paint on the smooth plastic. This is due to criminals using the wrong type and mixture of paint. Valid cards are sprayed front and back with clear plastic, this gives the card a shiny appearance. Altered cards will contain air bubbles in the plastic, which can be detected by scrutinizing the card.

5. The edges of the card are rough because of the way they were cut. The roughness can be detected with a magnifying glass. Valid cards are always smoothly cut.

Lithographs

1. They are made on white plastic sheets.

2. Irregularities in the paint texture and color are due to using the wrong type and mixture of paint. The paint color is dotted or uneven, which can be detected by using a magnifying glass.

3. The faintness in the detail of the card is caused by the wrong amount of heat applied to the plate when burned. Normally the plate is burned with a 2,000- or 4,000-watt lamp for two to four minutes. Direct sunlight can also be used to burn the plate, but this is hit or miss.

4. Cards are sprayed with clear plastic to give it a shiny appearance. When this is done you can see air bubbles on the card by carefully scrutinizing the card.

5. When the card is embossed some of the paint will fall off the numbers and the letters. This happens because the card was not covered with clear plastic.

Signature Panels

Signature panels can be altered in two ways:

1. By covering the old panel with a false one made of glued-on paper, adhesive tape, white paint or white fingernail polish. To detect these alterations one must examine the panel closely. If the panel has been damaged or is missing this could indicate an altered card. False panels often show other signs of alteration: paper or tape panels may have edges that can be lifted off, paint or nail polish panels are easily chipped and may show brush marks or light erasures. Often the edges of altered panels are irregular.

2. A mixture of red wine vinegar and rubbing alcohol, ninety percent vinegar and ten percent, alcohol, will erase the signature without damaging the plastic.

To write consistently and accurately concerning credit card

fraud, you must have a suitable definition of terms used by

the industry and criminals in these enterprises:

Credit card
A plastic card empowering the holder to buy or borrow against credit 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 alterations on wearing apparel even though the alterations are included in the selling price.

6. A customer making purchases, leaving the store with the merchandise and then returning to make additional purchases may be using a stolen card.

7. Criminals are sometimes customers who do not appear to be well dressed but who are purchasing expensive items.

8. A customer who pulls the credit card out of his pocket, not his wallet should raise suspicion. This is a common technique that is not usually caught by younger salespeople. However, the older and more experienced a salesperson, the more this is a tip off that the card is actually stolen.

Other Documentation

Money orders, traveler's checks, store coupons, stock and bond certificates and letters of credit can all be duplicated. The method is again the theft of an original, which is then duplicated on a copy machine or a personal computer sys-tem. Fraudulent stock and bond certificates are often used to obtain credit or a loan from a bank.

Marketable Goods

You name it, they make it. Whether it is the latest CD, videotape, or computer software program, it is probably being pirated somewhere. This could be performed in a small operation or in a large factory, often in a foreign country. This process is profitable because no royalties are paid, the inferior merchandise used is cheap to manufacture, there is no middleman, and they pay no taxes.

Basically, the item, which could be anything from a sneaker to a watch, is examined by a manufacturer. The duplicate will look the same as the originals, but will be made of the cheapest possible materials.

Forgery

Forgery is the alteration of a written document with the intent to defraud a person by representing the document as genuine. The alteration could be signing a blank check or reproducing the original and representing it as the original.

Literary Forgery

Counterfeiting manuscripts and other printed materials is a profitable business. William H. V. Ireland, who was taught the engraving business by his father, reproduced several Shakespearean pieces of literature. Ireland even wrote an entire play attributing it to Shakespeare. Eventually, Ireland told the world and even demonstrated how he manufactured the writings, which included making the inks, paper and Shakespeare's signature.

Most recently, the magazine
Stern,
which is published in West Germany, reported having obtained a number of diaries written by Adolf Hitler. This hoax was discovered through scientific laboratory analysis of the materials present in the diary, and testing by a highly-trained handwriting expert. The contents of the diary contained misinformation that was easily refuted by historians.

The ever-increasing demand for autographs of the famous, such as movie stars, national heroes and sports figures, generates high price tags. Autograph forgers will, through both artistic skill and practice, duplicate the signatures of the famous. When the autograph is from earlier times, the inks and the writing utensils must match the time period. Failure to use authentic inks and tools is one of the main reasons that unskilled forgers meet their demise.