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BankruptcyNews
Junior Member
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 Posted - 22 June 2007 : 10:34:45
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£3K spree of holiday card gang
Many Britons heading abroad on holiday can look forward to sun, sand, sea - and huge credit card bills as criminals exploit the weaknesses of foreign payment systems.
Research by the Association of Payment Clearing Services, which is responsible for card transactions, shows that fraud against Britons abroad surged by a staggering 43% last year to £118m.
Nadia Guerirem was on holiday in Amsterdam last August with her boyfriend, James Walker, 30, when thieves stole her Barclays debit card and spent £3,000 in 24 hours.
The theft sent her bank account spiralling over her agreed overdraft limit. With no access to cash, she had to rely on her boyfriend to bail her out. As well as ruining her holiday, it was almost eight weeks before Nadia, a 25-year-old public relations manager from Chiswick, west London, had her money refunded by Barclays.
And she is not alone. The CPP Group, which offers insurance against identity theft and fraud, says it handled more than 9,000 overseas cases last year.
It says that card theft is highest in Spain and France, which are among the most popular holiday destinations for UK tourists.
Chip and Pin security throughout Europe has made it harder for criminals to use stolen bank cards, so now they are looking farther afield. A number of countries such as America and Thailand do not use chip and Pin.
Zoe Manton, for CPP, says: 'In countries where chip and Pin is not widely available, crooks have ample opportunity to skim cards and commit fraud.'
Banks and building societies will usually cover consumers against loss through theft or fraud if the cardholder has taken steps to protect cards and Pin numbers.
But it can still take weeks before a case is resolved and consumers have losses refunded, as Nadia Guerirem knows only too well.
Her experience has made her wary of using cards abroad. She says: 'I feel the bank should have noticed unusual spending on my account and notified me. Now I rarely use cards abroad. I take cash instead, and if I do use a card, I never let it out of my sight.'
Nor is it just a case of having credit cards or debit cards stolen. According to the consumer credit reference agency Equifax, holidaymakers are also vulnerable to criminals hoping to steal their identity.
Source: thisismoney.co.uk
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3K spree of holiday card gang
