Economic and Culture Observer

In most cases all these numerous articles about fraud threats are full of generalizations giving no exact details. Of course it’s very good to let people know that credit cards in their wallets are vulnerable to fraud. But what is the exact algorithm of such crime? Let me describe one of such methods called Credit Card Shaving.

Fraudsters now do not need your personal account information or the data of your transactions. They just work with serial numbers of credit cards. All they need is to find correct combinations. And they are lucky with it, thanks to modern computing technologies. The key idea is that first twelve digits in credit card number can be found on many cards, because they just signify various bank series. The other four digits is the field where fraudsters look for your checksum. As soon as they find out the right number they are ready for final work. This means that correct number has to be used. In order to do it, for example, they collect numerous gift cards or any other plastic pieces that contain numbers and have the sizes of cards. “Shaving” here means that fraudsters cut out some digits and replace them physically (with the help of “simple” glue).

Neither FBI nor Police can protect every person from such threat. The best method to avoid such danger is to review your transactions on the permanent basis. Then if you see unknown activity, you can easily “finish” your credit card processing. Now it’s a right time to check up your MasterCard. Good luck!