NCJ Number
75531
Date Published
1972
Length
57 pages
Annotation
The course manual, designed for use by adults, is directed toward reducing the running of hot credit cards in any business establishment.
Abstract
Most recent estimates indicate that there are approximately 400 million credit cards produced in the United States annually, with the highest estimate to date of total losses reaching $260 million per year. Credit card fraud is said to be attracting organized crime but is not being given the attention it deserves by law enforcement agencies. Only half the States have passed credit card crime laws. The course manual seeks to help businessmen identify the nature of credit card crime, identify the types of hot card runners, learn the major reasons for credit card fraud, and identify ways to reduce credit card losses. The manual's format is a two-column arrangement which has an instructional outline on one column and suggestions for methods of presenting the material in the other. The course is divided into three sessions. The first describes ways criminals can obtain credit cards (e.g., burglary, pickpocketing, mail theft, and internal theft) and identifies the types of people most guilty of such thefts--prostitutes, waiters, clerks, postal employees, and common thieves. Procedures for preventing the running of 'hot cards' are outlined in the second session, such as watching for suspicious customer behavior and alteration of the credit card. The final session provides information on laws in the Ohio Criminal Code affecting credit card fraud, outlines procedures for filing charges, making the arrest, and conducting the investigation. Appropriate handouts accompany each lesson, and a list of 56 references is appended.