Card Fraudsters Get Tricky with Travel: The summer travel months present a hot-bed of opportunity to commit credit card fraud
June 18, 2010
(Des Moines, Iowa – June 18, 2010) – In the final chapter of her three-part mini-series on fraud, Karen Postma, card risk senior manager for TMG (The Members Group), advises financial institutions (FIs) to gear up for summertime fraud by reviewing and updating their fraud strategies.
In “Card Fraudsters Get Tricky with Travel,” Postma counsels FIs to look for travel-specific strategies from their card providers to help fight fraudsters looking to take advantage of irregular spending patterns to hide their criminal activities. “A good travel strategy is a collection of sub-strategies that will analyze transactions for multiple types of fraud vs. a simple suspend strategy that may increase an account’s vulnerability,” said Postma.
Vacationing cardholders typically leave a trail of unusual spending transactions in their wake, and this is exactly what fraudsters are counting on. Knowing that FIs will be faced with a series of odd transaction reports throughout the summer months, criminals prey on issuers with an inability to distinguish fraudulent activity from typical travel-time spending, especially with purchases made at high-traffic destination locations.
“The unusual spending patterns of vacationers could cause a well-meaning card services representative to suspend an account at an extraordinarily inconvenient time for the cardholder. A tiered-approach to a fraud strategy can help eliminate some of this kind of confusion,” said Postma.
Postma also notes that preventing travel-related fraud requires a cooperative effort between the card-issuing institution and the cardholder, and she outlines several methods the cardholder can employ.
“The cardholder is always the first line of defense in fraud prevention. But financial institutions should not take it for granted that their cardholders are fraud savvy,” said Postma. “They need to continue to talk with their customers about how to stay alert to fraudulent activity and the importance of making the FI a part of their summer travel plans.”
“Card Fraudsters Get Tricky with Travel,” can be downloaded at www.themembersgroup.com/fraud3.
The complete series can be viewed at www.themembersgroup.com/fraudwpseries.
About TMG
TMG is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Affiliates Management Company, which is owned by Iowa credit unions and their members. As a financial and credit union service organization (CUSO), TMG is dedicated to providing innovative and flexible card processing and payment solutions to credit unions and financial institutions across North America. TMG’s core products include credit, debit, ATM and a variety of prepaid solutions, as well as online reporting, ACH and ALM services. TMG’s prepaid card products are branded ATIRA. For more information, visit www.TheMembersGroup.com.
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For More Information:
Desiree Fletcher-Hayes (for TMG)
515-229-9820
pr@themembersgroup.com
