Cybercrime is the operation of computer crime with credit cards or debit cards, bank accounts, online stores, fake or a fake ATM machines.

With the economic downturn, thieves have increased their efforts towards cyber-intrusions, another illegal way of showing their demand and supply model.

Hackers are increasingly targeting operating systems of Smartphone’s, tablet PCs and mobile platforms. Read the rest of this entry »

An advantage of buying a product or service with a credit card is the chargeback, a process that allows the customer to dispute a charge if the transaction does not complete successfully.

But one of the chargebacks can be friendly fraud, which occurs when a consumer without any valid reason, refuses to accept the cost of a transaction. They make a purchase and then report a false statement to your bank or card issuer to request a refund or chargeback.

Read the rest of this entry »

A federal court has frozen the bank accounts of Jeremy Johnson and his partners for allegedly defrauding more than $275 million U.S. dollars. The claim is based on false promises of “free” government offers. The program attracted more than half a million cardholders to get money from their banks. Read the rest of this entry »

PayPal makes its revenue by charging merchants a fee related to purchase prices.  These fees typically range from 1.9% to 2.9% in addition to a fixed $0.30 rate.  These fees should be interpreted by the Federal Reserve as interchange fees.

The Federal Reserve central bank has suggested capping interchange, or “swipe” charges, for each debit-card transaction, to $0.07 to $0.12 each.  This will replace the previous formula which charges merchants about 1% of the purchase. Read the rest of this entry »

Consumer rights under the Fair Credit Billing Act, because not every transaction works out for either party. The law applies only under following situations:

• The transaction must be at least $50.
• The customer must use a credit card, not a debit card, cash or check.
• The service provider/seller must be located in your home state or within 100 miles of your mailing address.

A dissatisfied customer must first complain in writing to the provider or the seller of the product. If unsatisfied with the response, the customer must then write to the credit card company, documenting the problem.

Wells Fargo & Co.’s credit card portfolio shrank somewhat in 2010 as charge-offs declined sharply, the San Francisco-based company said Jan. 19 when announcing fourth-quarter earnings. (Source)

 Luxury cosmetics firm Lush has ditched its UK website in response to a sustained hacking attack which left users vulnerable to credit card fraud. Was this site PCI Compliant?

The firm warns that credit card details submitted to the Lush.co.uk site between 4 October and 20 January may have been compromised by the assault by unknown hackers. (Source)