The credit card has eventually become one of the frequently used means of payment. Consequently, cardholders are often vulnerable to credit card scams, theft, forgery, and frauds. A fraud on credit cards is any action that leads to the scam of the account holder or the bank making you lose your money or use of your data and identity in a way that is not authorized by you, say credit card fraud charge defense lawyers Virginia.

In the Commonwealth of Virginia, the credit and debit card fraud laws are heavily severe. Under §18.2-195. et. seq., credit card fraud is penalized as class 1 misdemeanor in case the fraud is below $200 during a period of six months; otherwise, it would be class 6 felony. Considering the severity of the crime, it is vital to hire a reliable defense attorney in order to safeguard your legal rights when you are accused of credit card fraud charges.

Types of credit card frauds

1.      Pishing

Pishing is the most common fraud action; they are all those emails that commonly arrive as directed by the bank when in reality it is not like that. They are emails that are intended to extract the largest amount of data from those who open them, and the purpose of it is to obtain data from the cardholder’s credit card.

2.      Hacking

This type of fraud is carried out through malicious software, which is also known as malware, or Trojan virus whose intention is to integrate into the computer system and create a copy of all the data.

If you make purchases online, you will know that in order to process it you will be required the 16 digits of your credit card, the validity, and the verification digit, since all this data is copied and sent to the source of the malware, where it can be extracted.

According to credit card fraud charge defense lawyers Virginia, these types of fraud can result in:

• Theft of money in the bank account
• Misuse of the credit card
• Sale of personal data
• Identity theft
• Massive advertising

3.      Cloning

This type of fraud commonly occurs in ATMs where devices hack the magnetic system of your credit card and make a copy of the data. It should be noted that for this procedure, it is often not necessary for the plastic to have direct contact with the device.

Because it is almost imperceptible, it is advisable to check ATMs before disposing of cash or making any movement. Remember the cashier should not be dirty, have stickers stuck, or advertisements of any kind.

4.      Theft of data physically

Another common form of data theft occurs at the terminals of physical stores, say credit card fraud charge defense lawyers Virginia. Have you ever asked for the credit card to pay and the terminal is far from your sight? Well, this practice is common, and depending on the trade, you can determine the level of confidence you place in the person who takes your plastic.