Rising Costa Rica Credit Card Fraud

Credit Card Fraud is on the rise in Costa Rica

With the economy suffering, credit card fraud is higher then it has ever been in Costa Rica. In the last few months, just the Tico Times Directory, the fraud attempts have tripled. A month ago, we received payment for a statewide ad to rent a car, condo and cell phone. Ten days after the ad was placed we were informed by Paypal the card was unauthorized and the money removed from our account. In the last 2 weeks, five attempts were make to place ads with stolen card, almost  twice the amount we had in the whole year of 2008 and we are only in the first five months …

Stories like this are endless, from car rental places and super markets in Alajuela and Escazu, to a surf shop renting surfboards in Jaco, to a casino in Golifto. I swear, it has become a pandemic of fraud.

The good news is, most stolen credit cards, the owner is likely to get their money back. Or in our case, if we suspected something fraudulent, we email the card owner to verify the card before we placed an ad and even that does not always work! Obviously!  And most credit cards have some sort of protection against this.

The bad news, the poor shop owner struggling to make ends meet, is out the money.

Credit card fraud or “numbers skimming” is very common and easy to do.  Numbers skimming is the theft of the information contained in the magnetic strip on the backside of the credit card. The theft of the information occurs when a criminal swipes the card through a machine that stores all the information. Or they can get a portable one that is the size of a cigarette pack. It only takes a few seconds.  With this information the criminal can charge items to the victim’s credit card. Only when the monthly invoice arrives does the victim realize that they have been swindled.

Close to 70%  say that credit card fraud is a concern, with a increase of  50% since this time last year.

The major problem in Costa Rica is the ability to communicate. If your credit card company thinks something is wrong, and tries to get a hold of you, it is almost impossible. However there are some common sense steps to take that will help protect you.

• Always watch where your credit card is going. Don’t loose sight of it if you are paying for that expensive meal

• Try and pay in Cash as much as possible. Yes I know it is not advisable but review our post on  carrying cash in Costa Rica

• When charging big line items (hotel, car rental etc) always give your card to the person that looks in charge. If need be, walk in the office and look for the person in charge to take care of the final bill.

• Info your credit card company you are heading to Costa Rica and if any charges come out of that country between dates of arriving to date of departing, deny the credit. Believe me; this will help prevent that $500 charge to Jose Car Repair in Mexico.

• I find it useful to only carry debit cards. And only put x amount in the account.

• Most hotels have secure internet connection and with that, spend a few minutes and check your balance to see if there has been some unauthorized activity.

Other then that, enjoy your trip

Calypso Cruises