Emily Sortor  |  August 25, 2019

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Overview of Credit Card Fraud

Credit card fraud occurs when an unauthorized person uses your credit card or account to make purchases. It’s considered identity theft because someone else impersonated you to make the purchases.

As technology advances, it’s becoming easier for thieves to access others’ personal information to commit identity theft.

What are some examples of credit card fraud?

Credit card fraud has been in many recent headlines. Data breaches have occurred across numerous industries, exposing the personal information of millions of people. Victims suffer a financial loss due to fraudulent purchases made with their cards, or the purchases may cause their credit score to take a hit. Additionally, victims of credit card fraud face hours of time canceling their cards and accounts and opening new ones. They may also may need to communicate with credit reporting agencies about the problem.

In recent years, data breaches have resulted in massive cases of credit card fraud. Citing the Identity Theft Resource Center, Time says there were more than 1,200 reported breaches in 2018, exposing more than 400 million records to theft and fraud. 

According to Time, it doesn ‘t take a whole lot of stolen information to do serious damage.

The Balance notes that if just a name or a birthday is exposed in a data breach, that may not be enough information for an identity thief to wreak much havoc. However, identity thieves can use that information to launch a “phishing” expedition to collect more information that they can then use to commit credit card fraud.  

Major companies in a range of industries have experienced data breaches exposing the personal information of millions of people. In many cases, credit card information collected from customers at the point of sale were exposed, leaving those people vulnerable to credit card fraud. In other cases, companies may print too much information on a receipt, leaving consumers vulnerable to credit card fraud.

In these instances, customers have filed lawsuits aiming to hold companies accountable for failing to protect their data and/or for failing to respond appropriately to the data breach. In cases of receipts with too much identifying information, plaintiffs have accused merchants of unlawfully exposing their data.

How can lawyers help?

In some cases, victims may be able to hold the responsible parties liable for the fraud. If a victim of credit card fraud prevails in a lawsuit, they may be entitled to compensation to help mitigate the financial damage caused by the fraud, including damage to their credit rating.

If you have been the victim of credit card fraud, a lawyer can help you figure out how to best proceed. You may be able to file a lawsuit against the responsible person or parties.

Please note: Top Class Actions is not a settlement administrator or law firm. Top Class Actions is a legal news source that reports on class action lawsuits, class action settlements, drug injury lawsuits and product liability lawsuits. Top Class Actions does not process claims and we cannot advise you on the status of any class action settlement claim. You must contact the settlement administrator or your attorney for any updates regarding your claim status, claim form or questions about when payments are expected to be mailed out.