Early Warning
25th May 2006, 21:13
I Know there is a growing number of companies who accept payments by credit card or by mail order and there is some confusion as what to do when you receive a charge back for credit card fraud.
Here is the acceptable way of Reporting Card-Not-Present to the police. These guidelines were issued by ACPO. All police forces should accept any reports as long as you do the following. You should also report it to Early warning (http://www.early-warning.org.uk) to warn other businesses. I hope this is of some intrest
Police forces have limited resources to deal with an increasing level of demands. Policing priorities are set by Central Government and in consultation with local authorities and communities. These priorities vary from police force to police force, but generally include issues associated with drugs, burglary, vehicle crime and crime and disorder/public safety. It is to these priorities that the limited resources are applied. Fraud, as a category of offending, is rarely amongst these priorities.
Police have a duty to record any reasonable allegation of crime that is reported to them. However,many crimes that fall outside of the local priorities are often ‘screened out’ and not investigated.
In order to reduce the chances of being a victim of CNP fraud and to enhance the potential of any allegations of CNP fraud being investigated the following advice is provided.
Whilst this advice will not guarantee that an allegation of card-not-present fraud will be investigated by police, retailers and merchants must be aware that if they fail to meet these minimum standards and become victims of fraud the chances of the fraud
being investigated by police will be seriously diminished.
In accordance with current guidelines the ‘location’ used by police for recording CNP fraud is based upon the delivery address for the goods. It is to the police area covering this address that reports should first be made. However, the investigation may subsequently be transferred to a different police division or even a different police force.
Reasons for this include: there is a ‘mail redirect’ on the delivery address, the crime is believed to form a part of a larger criminal enterprise being investigated elsewhere, or there are other factors which indicate that transferring the investigation would increase investigative efficiency.
Retention/preservation of evidence
When reporting a fraud the merchant/retailer should take steps to make the following evidence available to the police:
● All details obtained during the transaction.
● Tape recording of telephone conversations (if available).
● Fullest possible details of the delivery including:
● Any relevant computer record should be copied and stored so that no alterations can be made to it.
● Any items/documents that the suspect has or may have touched or handled should be protected from further contamination e.g. sealed in a plastic bag. If this is a document it should be sealed in a manner that will permit it to be read without removing it from its container.
● If the retailer/merchant suspects that this incident is linked to other previous incidents they should provide police with the relevant details relating to those incidents, together with the reason for believing the matters to be linked. If these have been reported to police, details of station/force they were reported to, the date and any reference number should be included.
● If you suspect that a member of staff is involved in the crime you are advised to inform police of this fact before taking any action such as challenging, interviewing or suspending that person.
The police may be able to advise on what steps, if any, you should take.
After reporting it to police
Once the matter has been reported to the police you should be provided with the crime record/reference number. If the matter is not going to be the subject of further investigation you should be told. If it is transferred to another police station or force you should be informed of this.
If it is to be investigated you should be informed of the investigating officer’s details and kept appraised of key developments e.g. arrest, charge, enquiries are exhausted and the investigation is now closed etc.
Here is the acceptable way of Reporting Card-Not-Present to the police. These guidelines were issued by ACPO. All police forces should accept any reports as long as you do the following. You should also report it to Early warning (http://www.early-warning.org.uk) to warn other businesses. I hope this is of some intrest
Police forces have limited resources to deal with an increasing level of demands. Policing priorities are set by Central Government and in consultation with local authorities and communities. These priorities vary from police force to police force, but generally include issues associated with drugs, burglary, vehicle crime and crime and disorder/public safety. It is to these priorities that the limited resources are applied. Fraud, as a category of offending, is rarely amongst these priorities.
Police have a duty to record any reasonable allegation of crime that is reported to them. However,many crimes that fall outside of the local priorities are often ‘screened out’ and not investigated.
In order to reduce the chances of being a victim of CNP fraud and to enhance the potential of any allegations of CNP fraud being investigated the following advice is provided.
Whilst this advice will not guarantee that an allegation of card-not-present fraud will be investigated by police, retailers and merchants must be aware that if they fail to meet these minimum standards and become victims of fraud the chances of the fraud
being investigated by police will be seriously diminished.
In accordance with current guidelines the ‘location’ used by police for recording CNP fraud is based upon the delivery address for the goods. It is to the police area covering this address that reports should first be made. However, the investigation may subsequently be transferred to a different police division or even a different police force.
Reasons for this include: there is a ‘mail redirect’ on the delivery address, the crime is believed to form a part of a larger criminal enterprise being investigated elsewhere, or there are other factors which indicate that transferring the investigation would increase investigative efficiency.
Retention/preservation of evidence
When reporting a fraud the merchant/retailer should take steps to make the following evidence available to the police:
● All details obtained during the transaction.
● Tape recording of telephone conversations (if available).
● Fullest possible details of the delivery including:
● Any relevant computer record should be copied and stored so that no alterations can be made to it.
● Any items/documents that the suspect has or may have touched or handled should be protected from further contamination e.g. sealed in a plastic bag. If this is a document it should be sealed in a manner that will permit it to be read without removing it from its container.
● If the retailer/merchant suspects that this incident is linked to other previous incidents they should provide police with the relevant details relating to those incidents, together with the reason for believing the matters to be linked. If these have been reported to police, details of station/force they were reported to, the date and any reference number should be included.
● If you suspect that a member of staff is involved in the crime you are advised to inform police of this fact before taking any action such as challenging, interviewing or suspending that person.
The police may be able to advise on what steps, if any, you should take.
After reporting it to police
Once the matter has been reported to the police you should be provided with the crime record/reference number. If the matter is not going to be the subject of further investigation you should be told. If it is transferred to another police station or force you should be informed of this.
If it is to be investigated you should be informed of the investigating officer’s details and kept appraised of key developments e.g. arrest, charge, enquiries are exhausted and the investigation is now closed etc.