Payment card fraud: Irish sports retailer targeted 172 times

One person has been arrested in Dublin as part of an investigation into online fraud after a major Irish sports retailer was targeted 172 times within two weeks.

The arrest followed searches at six homes in the capital earlier this month as part of European campaign to combat payment card fraud.

The searches were carried out by gardaí in homes in Tallaght, Drimnagh, Tyrellstown and Balbriggan, while one person was arrested and detained at Balbriggan Garda station under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1994.

The person was later released and a file has been sent to the DPP.

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This type of fraud is known as “Card Not Present” (CNP) fraud which occurs when a payment card is not physically presented during a phone or online transaction.

A major Irish sports retailer was one of the most recent targets of CNP crime with 172 successful and attempted purchases from their online stores using compromised payment cards from the US over a two-week period in March, according to gardaí.

A small retailer in the west of Ireland was also targeted.

Vulnerable

Gardaí have warned that while retailers are the main targets of CNP fraud, consumers are also vulnerable because payment card details are often obtained through skimming, hacking, email phishing, telephone solicitations and other unlawful methods.

The arrest and searches are part of a wider European campaign to target European payment card fraud.

Details of more than 100 compromised US-issued payment cards were recovered by gardaí as part of the Europol E-Commerce Action Week which took place from June 6th to 16th and saw police officers in 23 countries deployed to "hotspots" to take action on fraudulent card use.

In 2015, the cost of card fraud in Ireland reached €29.6 million. Of this, some €21 million was taken through online purchases and telephone purchases using CNP methods. Some 78 per cent of card fraud in the first half of 2016 was also due to card not present incidents.