Beware! New ID scam

Progress is a great thing. Progress is a synonym of success and there is hardly any person who can reject this. Every industry, every company, every business and every person aims to be successful and targets constant progress. Fraud is also an industry that is always in the process to become more perfect. So, according to http://www.kgw.com/ crooks no longer need to steal a credit card or statement to steal from you. A new scam targets you and your account number, without the crook ever knowing who you are.

KGW report on credit card shaving

It's called credit card shaving, and it can happen to anyone -- even those skilled in financial matters.

Just ask "David," who spoke with Newschannel 8 on the condition we protect his identity. As an investment analyst, he's worried being a fraud victim could taint his reputation.

"We could account for everything," he told us. "All of our receipts, we could account for our credit cards, we had our statement, none of our mail appeared to be tampered with."

So you could imagine his surprise when he got a credit card statement in the mail with his purchases and a whole lot more.

"There were several thousands of dollars worth of extra charges on the card," said David.

$6500 in extra charges, to be exact. That includes 20 to 30 trips to Burgerville a week -- a bit more than David goes -- plus gas and hotels.

All the charges were local; none of them were his.

David's case is not unusual, says Officer Barb Glass of the Portland Police Bureau. She investigates fraud cases.

"It's possible that somebody who's involved in credit card shaving using a series of numbers and luck ran up against his credit card number and used it," said Glass.

Once the crook has locked into that number, he or she goes to work turning that knowledge into something they can use.

The thieves then get their hands on pre-paid all-access cards. The all-access cards look just like credit cards, but are basically gift cards made by credit companies. Where the name would go, these cards show the words "all-access."

Using razor blades, thieves will shave the numbers off and glue the stolen numbers on them.

It's a move that surprised even police officers.

"I thought it was the goofiest thing I'd ever seen," said Officer Glass. "I couldn't believe that a merchant would take those cards that had been altered."

But merchants are taking them, even after thieves further alter the cards. Crooks scratch up the magnetic strip on the back of the card, forcing merchants to manually enter the numbers.

It's all part of the grand plan, a former card shaver told us.

"On the back of the credit card is the strip, that's what holds all the information for the computer," the former shaver told us. She agreed to tell us about the scam and how to protect yourself if we protected her identity.

That information in the magnetic strip includes the name on the card, information that would tip off the merchant the card was a fraud. But no magnetic strip, no name, no stopping the crook.

The former shaver says that step is key and that it's up to merchants to protect consumers.

"Anytime that they'd have to manually enter a number they'd have to call Visa, that would stop it," she told us.

"The Visa person on the other end knows what name is supposed to be on that card knows the billing address, stuff that we don't know."

Some retailers have taken notice, including Fred Meyer. It's one of several Portland-area retailers who've updated their policies to try to stop card shavers.

"If the magnetic strip doesn't work then the checker has to call a manager," Melinda Merrill of Fred Meyer said.

The next step could range from anything from an ID and signature check to getting the bank on the phone.

Merrill says they'll do whatever it takes to keep the rightful user of the credit card safe and make the card shaver's transaction tougher.

"That itself may deter people who aren't entirely comfortable with what they're doing in the first place," said Merrill.

The problem is, for every merchant who knows about the scam, there are many more who don't.

Credit card companies will generally reverse fraudulent charges, though they usually require a police report and sometimes a sworn affidavit from the rightful cardowner.

But the best way to protect yourself is to be vigilant. Police say to keep a close eye on your bank and credit card statements. They also recommend you get a copy of your credit report every six months to make sure everything looks OK.