Just make sure your theft is less than $2000 and no one will give a damn, much less investigate. Wheeeee.....
[hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"]Good news for would-be crooks
[a href="vny!://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/25/cc_fraud/"]Massachusetts' top prosecutor laughs off credit card fraud[/a]
By John Leyden
Published Thursday 25th January 2007 09:58 GMT
Any would-be credit-card thieves will be cheered by the news that Massachusetts' chief prosecutor reckons the chances of catching crooks who steal credit card details to make purchases online are next to nil - even when they're attempting to defraud the attourney general herself.
The US Secret Service has a bottom limit of $2,000 before it bothers to investigate financial crime. Consumer watchdog the FTC has a similar limit. That still leaves it possible to local law enforcement agents to get involved, but if the crime originates from out of state, and involves a relatively modest amount, questions arise about whether they'd bother.
It all paints a rather depressing picture, especially when we consider that credit card fraud losses "are in the billions of dollars annually", according to industry sources cited by the US Secret Services. Credit card firms take account of these losses in constructing their business models so it's ultimately Joe Public who foots the bill.
