Common credit card fraud methods and methods to identify potential criminal patterns are as follows: ### Common credit card fraud methods 1. **Fake card fraud** - **Production method**: Criminals steal real credit card information (such as card number, expiration date, CVV code, etc.) and use high-tech equipment to clone fake cards that look similar to real cards. They may obtain information by installing card readers, pinhole cameras, etc. on ATM machines, or they may defraud cardholders' information through phishing, malware attacks, etc. - **Committing method**: Use fake cards to make purchases and withdraw cash at shopping malls, supermarkets, ATMs, etc. When making purchases, fake cards can pass the verification of POS machines smoothly because their information is consistent with that of real cards; when withdrawing cash at ATMs, they will try to enter the password multiple times, and if they guess correctly, they can successfully withdraw cash. 2. **Swipe the card** - **Online fraud**: - Hackers attack e-commerce websites, payment platforms, etc. to obtain cardholders' account information on these platforms, including login passwords, payment passwords, etc. Then, they use this information to purchase goods or services online and transfer funds to accounts under their control. - Cardholders receive fraudulent emails or text messages that trick them into clicking on a link to a fake bank website or payment page. Once the cardholder enters their credit card information, it is stolen by criminals and then used to steal credit cards. - **Offline fraud**: - In restaurants, bars and other places, criminals take advantage of the cardholder's inattention and quickly read the credit card information with a card reader, then clone the card for fraudulent use. - Some criminals will also collude with merchants, who use special card swiping devices to steal information when the cardholder is making a purchase, and then conduct fraudulent use. 3. **Identity fraud** - **Ways to obtain identity information**: Criminals use various means to obtain the cardholder's personal identity information, such as ID number, name, etc. This information may be obtained from discarded express packaging, old documents, etc., or it may be obtained by illegally purchasing personal information databases. - **Methods of committing the crime**: Apply for a credit card using someone else's identity, and the bank may not notice any abnormalities during the review because the information matches and issue the card. Afterwards, criminals use these credit cards to make purchases, withdraw cash, etc., while the real cardholder is unaware of the problem until the bank bill is received. 4. **Credit card cash withdrawal** - **Traditional cash withdrawal methods**: - Cardholders collude with merchants to conduct fake transactions on the merchant's POS machine. After the cardholder pays a certain fee, the merchant returns the card amount to the cardholder in the form of returns or cash back, thereby achieving the purpose of cash withdrawal. For example, if a cardholder purchases goods worth thousands of yuan, the merchant deducts a certain fee and transfers cash close to the amount of the goods to the cardholder through WeChat or Alipay. - Cardholders take advantage of the difference in repayment periods of credit cards from different banks and borrow funds from each other to achieve cash withdrawal. For example, first use Bank A's credit card to cash out on the POS machine, then use the money to repay the outstanding balance of Bank B's credit card, and raise funds from other channels to repay the balance before the repayment date of Bank A's credit card, and so on. - **New cash withdrawal methods**: Use some so-called "cash withdrawal apps" or online platforms to cash out. These platforms often use various pretenses to claim that they can help cardholders cash out quickly, but in fact there are great risks. They may require the cardholder to provide credit card information and pay a certain fee, and then transfer the funds to the cardholder's designated account through fictitious transactions. Once the platform runs away, the cardholder will face the risk of being unable to repay the credit card debt and personal information being leaked. 5. **Telephone fraud** - **Fraud method**: Fraudsters call cardholders pretending to be bank customer service, public security police, judicial staff, etc. They claim that the cardholder's credit card is at risk, such as being stolen or suspected of illegal crimes, and require the cardholder to transfer the funds in the credit card to the so-called "safe account" for verification or to protect the safety of the funds. Due to fear, cardholders often follow the other party's requirements, resulting in funds being defrauded. - **Example of fraudulent rhetoric**: "Hello, I am a customer service representative of XX Bank. Your credit card has abnormal overseas consumption. To avoid financial loss, please transfer the funds in the card to the XXXXXX account immediately. We will check and return the funds to your card after verification." ### Methods to identify potential criminal patterns 1. **Pay attention to transaction anomalies** - **Abnormal consumption location**: If the credit card suddenly has consumption records in an area that the cardholder has never been to, such as an unfamiliar city or remote area abroad, there is a high risk of fraud. For example, the cardholder has been living in China, but the credit card shows that a large amount of money has been spent in a country in Africa. - **Abnormal consumption time**: If the consumption time does not match the normal consumption habits of the cardholder, such as making large purchases in the early hours of the morning. Under normal circumstances, people rarely make high-end consumption behaviors in the early hours of the morning. In this case, the credit card may be stolen. - **Abnormal consumption amount**: There is a large and unreasonable amount of consumption, such as spending tens of thousands of yuan at one time to buy high-priced luxury goods, while the cardholder is usually more frugal and the consumption amount is generally in