'We won't bother trying to catch the fraudsters' - MasterCard and the Fraud Police

[Deleted User]

Going after every single perpetrator of card fraud would be akin to fighting a forest fire with a half-filled watering can. And even if the police had an address to visit, it wouldn’t be your fraudster’s permanent address; they’d be long gone. It literally is a waste of time, especially when it’s for a handful of tenners or an erroneous Disney+ subscription. 

I do empathise, however. I’d kick up a fuss, too. Getting a refund is all I would expect to happen. I’ve witnessed mass card fraud; honestly, you would not have the time or ability to go after everyone, it’s impossible. Improving overall security is the way to fight it.  Mastercard, Visa, et al, know this, which is why they put their resources into stuff like two-factor, 3Ds2, and so on, instead. 

You do say your card was used in person, which comes with a load of other questions about how this person was able to have your card. Have you lost a wallet recently, or used an outdoor cash point? 

Ectophile

Small-scale fraud has effectively been de-criminalised in this country now.  The police can't cope with the numbers of offences being carried out.  You can instead report fraud to Action Fraud, but they aren't the police, and don't prosecute anybody.

So fraudulent charges on your card should be reported to your bank.  The bank will probably get the money back off the merchant.  The merchant will then lose the money.

eddddy

astroL said:

She told me that they did not bother trying to identify the guilty parties. :-(  

As others have said (assuming you are in the UK), I assume you contacted your card provider rather than MasterCard.

Your card provider wont tell you what action they are taking for a number of reasons...

• They don't want to their investigation procedures to become public knowledge, as that might help fraudsters

• You might be the fraudster. i.e. You might have bought the easyjet tickets yourself, and you are now claiming it wasn't you - in order to get a refund. So they don't want to tip you off, by telling you how they will investigate.

More generally...

• They will probably combine your report with all the other reports they receive - to look for patterns, etc. For example, maybe you've previously used your card at a particular petrol station, and lots of other people who've used their card at that same petrol station have later had their card details mis-used. If so, they'll investigate that petrol station.

• The info you've provided might be rolled-into a bigger investigation. Like this example:

Police have arrested 118 people at 84 airports around the world as part of a global investigation into plane tickets paid for with stolen or fake credit card details.

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/28/europol-arrests-stolen-credit-cards-flights

Also,

• Banks want to keep their costs low, so that they keep charges for customers low. So, for example, if it's going to cost them £2,000 to investigate a £1,000 fraud - they might decide not to investigate.  As not investigating allows them to charge their customers less.

astroL said:

I then registered with the Fraud Police and detailed my experience, noting that the fraudsters should be traceable. 

If you're in the UK, I guess you mean ActionFraud.

• You haven't been the victim of fraud - because you haven't lost any money - it was all refunded to you by the bank. As you are not the victim, ActionFraud won't take any action.

• The bank is the victim - they've lost money - so it's up to them to decide how they want to involve the police.

astroL

la531983 said:

Well you ring your card provider, not Mastercard. Is that what you meant? 

I try to keep things simple when I write.  Lloyds bank put my call through to MasterCard; the rest is as explained. Sadly they have no intention of investigating.

astroL

daveyjp said:

How many investigators due you think you would need to track down every single fraudulent transaction?

How long is this piece of string?  Catch one fraudster and you stop a number of would-be frauds.  Or in this case, let them defraud others until forever. Gradually the frauds get larger until they finally take action - having lost thousands .....

astroL

MrFrugalFever said:

One can only assume you mean you called your Mastercard credit card provider and alerted Action Fraud?

Mastercard do not lend money and not heard of Fraud Police?

https://reporting.actionfraud.police.uk/login

SiliconChip

astroL said:

la531983 said:

Well you ring your card provider, not Mastercard. Is that what you meant? 

I try to keep things simple when I write.  Lloyds bank put my call through to MasterCard; the rest is as explained. Sadly they have no intention of investigating.

I think the most likely explanation is that the Lloyds Bank call centre put your call through internally to their Mastercard team, who you then spoke to. As explained many times already Mastercard themselves don't issue cards and don't deal with customers of banks.

sheramber

You have now alerted any  potential fraudsters reading this forum how they can commit fraud and get away with it,

[Deleted User]

astroL said:

la531983 said:

Well you ring your card provider, not Mastercard. Is that what you meant? 

I try to keep things simple when I write.  Lloyds bank put my call through to MasterCard; the rest is as explained. Sadly they have no intention of investigating.

 On a financial forum the reverse is really better, the more outlined detail given the more thorough the answers and advice.

Pollycat

astroL said:

la531983 said:

Well you ring your card provider, not Mastercard. Is that what you meant? 

I try to keep things simple when I write.  Lloyds bank put my call through to MasterCard; the rest is as explained. Sadly they have no intention of investigating.

But by trying to keep things simple, you have allowed your thread to be derailed by saying you rang M/C instead of your card provider thus causing confusion.

Ditto for your reference to 'fraud police ' when you meant Action Fraud.