Offender Organization and Victim Responses

Tremblay and colleagues have advanced some important insights into the nature of credit card fraud, especially counterfeit card, markets in Canada. This study examines the international applicability of these findings and presents some data about the nature of credit card fraud in contemporary North America and the United Kingdom, showing how card issuers, merchant acquirers, and retailers seek to cope with the levels and organization of offending. Frauds can be committed by a continuum of organizational forms, from lone thieves who use the cards they have stolen to global organized crime syndicates. Barriers to entry for offenders will increase as technologically driven fraud prevention is enhanced, and involvement will depend on the availability of capital investment and technological skills (e.g., high-quality counterfeiting) and the attractiveness of such frauds compared with other criminal and noncriminal opportunities for any given individual or group.