Duplicate cards are illegal replicas of real authorised credit cards that can then be used to make fraudulent purchases.
Cards can feature the true cardholder’s name, or may be duplicated with real card details but a fraudulent name that matches other forms of ID held by the counterfeiter.
Duplication often follows another form of credit card fraud, such as card cloning or card skimming, in which the details of a real credit card are obtained using a device attached to an ATM or card payment machine to scan the magnetic strip during a genuine transaction.
Alternatively, and increasingly in the present day, fraudsters may obtain a batch of credit card details by buying them from criminal groups online, and these can then be used to create realistic duplicate credit cards with real people’s names on them.
These are serious crimes – especially if the source of the details is found to have links with other major crimes – and if you stand accused of card counterfeiting, you should seek legal advice as soon as possible from an experienced legal team.
At Draycott Browne we have over 20 years’ experience of successfully defending clients against allegations of duplicate card fraud. Our credit card fraud solicitors in Manchester are available day or night on so no matter when you are arrested, you can give us a call for immediate assistance.
WHAT IS THE SCALE OF THE COUNTERFEIT CARDS PROBLEM?
Duplicated credit cards are also known as ‘counterfeit cards’ and on average, there are around 100,000 cases each year.
In 2017 the number of recorded cases fell to just under 85,000, with total losses of over £24 million to counterfeit card fraud, according to the Fraud The Facts 2018 report from UK Finance.
But the long-term problem is bigger than those numbers suggest, with nearly 110,000 cases reported in 2016 alone.
Counterfeit cards are just one way to use illegally obtained card details, which are also often used in cardholder-not-present frauds to make payment online or over the phone, without a duplicate card ever being made.
However, in cases involving duplicate cards, the card itself represents an additional form of physical evidence, and it is therefore even more important to get the right advice in order to successfully defend any allegations that you made or used the counterfeit card.
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU
Draycott Browne, a leading Criminal Defence Law Firm in the UK, specialise in credit card fraud defence cases, and our team of Criminal Defence Lawyers includes experienced counterfeit card solicitors in Manchester.
We have good knowledge of how prevalent this kind of fraud is across Manchester and the north-west, and of the types of defence that are successful if and when a counterfeit card case goes to court.
We also understand that arrests can happen at any time of day if the police suspect you of using or creating counterfeit credit cards, which is why we are always only a phone call away.
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