Report reveals extent of online credit card scams

The lengths to which cybercriminals will go in an attempt to obtain consumers' credit card details and other pieces of personal information have been revealed in a new study, it has emerged.

In the Typologies and Case Studies Report from AUSTRAC, which contains details of 40 investigations into such crime, fraudsters have been revealed as pretending to sell a product - often at a bargain price - in a bid get credit card and bank account details.

Furthermore, it was revealed that two men had been arrested after selling some $4.5 million worth of items purchased using fake credit cards bearing account details stolen from legitimate credit card customers.

A significant number of internet-based scams were revealed to have taken place without the victim realising, as online dating is also a common theme for such credit card crime.

"This report puts the magnifying glass on emerging techniques such as card skimming, early release super schemes and share and internet scams," Neil Jensen, outgoing chief executive for AUSTRAC, states.

Earlier this month, senior constable Brett Colley told Melbourne magistrates court that ANZ Bank customers had been the target of a bank account scam which has seen a total of $789,000 be withdrawn from their bank accounts.

Written by Mark Hornby