North Yorkshire businesses targeted by ‘card not present’ fraud

North Yorkshire Police is once again warning about ‘card not present’ fraud which has resulted in two local businesses almost losing thousands of pounds of goods.

The fraud involves an individual, usually with a southern accent, calling a business and claiming she is organising a charity day or wedding but has been let down by local suppliers. The individual then orders large quantities of products which are paid for by credit card. They will often use multiple credit cards to pay and will then ask for the goods to be sent to them by taxi.

A local taxi firm will be sent to collect the goods and transport them to an address, usually in Southend-on-Sea.

Unfortunately the scammers are using stolen credit card details so once the credit card’s owner realises what has happened, their credit card provider will issue a charge back notice to the business. The money will be withdrawn from the business’ account leaving them out of pocket and with thousands of pounds of products never to be seen again.

Yesterday (9 November 2021), a North Yorkshire taxi firm alerted police to one of these scams in action and as a result were able to save over £4,000 worth of beauty products from being stolen.

Similarly, in October another taxi firm contacted police to let us know they were transporting £3,000 of golfing equipment and once again, we were able to stop this and return the products to the business.

Kevin Ross is from North Yorkshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit. He said:

“These thieves will steal anything but are particularly fond of high end beauty product, golfing equipment and clothing, and fresh butchers meat.

“We’d like to thank the two taxi companies who spotted this was happening and saved the local businesses from losing their stock but we know this is likely to have been happening to hard-working businesses across the county with nothing reported to police.

“We are urging businesses to please be vigilant. Please ask yourself why anybody would pay for a taxi to transport goods to Essex when they could easily buy the items they want locally, if they were a legitimate customer.

“Know your customer and check everything you are told. Speak to your credit card provider. If in doubt, don’t make the sale. Dozens of businesses in North Yorkshire and elsewhere wish they hadn’t.”  

If you think you have been a victim of this scam or any other type of fraud, call 101 to report this to North Yorkshire Police.