No End In Sight For Ongoing Credit Card Fraud In V.I.

The recent wave of credit card fraud that has engulfed the Virgin Islands is mostly likely cybercrime activity committed at the ‘point of service’ level, or where merchandise or services are purchased, the V.I. Police Department and one credit card processing company have indicated.

Even so, the VIPD and FBI are no closer to finding the perpetrators, and the FBI is not ready to reveal whether an open investigation was ongoing at this point, regional spokesman Moises Quinones said.

Yet the number of Virgin Islands victims is on the rise, and apart from regular precautions given by credit card companies to protect oneself from credit card fraud, the FBI hasn’t released any substantial information that would help locals.

ePayment America, one point-of-service company with clients in the Virgin Islands, released a letter to locally-based firm Caribbean Surf warning of the fraud. It reads: “The United States Secret Service and other government agencies responsible for monitoring cyber-related fraud, believe that recent reports of credit card issues on the Virgin Islands derive from software attacks on point-of-service.”

Caribbean Surf owner Jose Belcher said that the letter was sent without any prior communication from him relating to the wave of credit card fraud encompassing the territory. Belcher, like hundreds of other Virgin Islands residents, fell victim to the fraud when his card was charged at a Macy’s in New York.

What’s more troubling is that, “to date, we have no people that have been identified,” assistance police chief Thomas Hannah said.