Credit Card Fraudsters Target Costa Rican Businesses

Costa Rican businesses are the target of credit card fraudsters, preying on the unsuspecting with a merchant account, the ability to process credit cards in Costa Rica.

The transaction begins with an email that is for all purposes appears legitimate. Such was the case of the email received this past week by Avanti Limousine Services* in San José.

The client, a Felix Smith, with a UK email address, requests limousine services for his family and guests coming to Costa Rica. The request is for an entire week - seven days - of limo service.

Once the price is agreed upon, Mr. Smith says he is ready to pay. "I'm ready to pay the bills. Also want you to help me Charge another $2,500 to a travel agent who has issued my guests air flight ticket fare", says the reply email.

The email explains, " the $2,500 that will be sent to the agent is for the ticket fare for my guests which will be deduct from my credit card. Also, I'm compensating you with the sum of $300.00 for the transfer fee and for your efforts.

Please note that I should have given the travel agency my credit card for him to deduct the ticket funds but he told me that he doesn't have the facilities to charge or debit credit card , so that's why I bring my vote of confidence in you and I don't want you to betray the vote of confidence i put in you so I want you to transfer the funds to him after the money charge from my credit card has reflect in your account you can now make the transfer to the agent via western union. So, the charges you'll make on my credit card will be".

Mr. Smith, asks for approval of the condition before handing over his credit card, which he subsequently does in the following email, but claims that his scanner is not working and has no fax machine to the request for a copy of the credit card and ID.

In total, the the Avanti case, 10 separate credit numbers (3 Mastercard) and (7 Visas) are submitted, with specific instruction for the amount of each card to be charged, claiming credit limits.

Pablo Alvarado of ATH credit card processing in San José tells Inside Costa Rica that they have been waiting for Mr. Smith to surface again this year.

Mr. Alvarado informs that this the fifth report of this type of scam this year, saying that there may be others that have not been reported and that, in disbelief, some have fallen to this type of scam.

The key to detect the scam is the request to overcharge the account and remit to a third party, according to Alvarado.

But, the story does not end there.

Mr. Smith has personally called on four separate occasions, anxious to know if the cards have been processed, but never once concerned about the reservation confirmation for his family. The last time he called, he abruptly hung up when the word scam was first used.

ATH is investigating this latest attempt. According to Mr Alvarado, the first step is block the cards and check to see if there are any outstanding transactions by other businesses falling prey to the scam and the following up with the card issuing bank and the origin of the emails.