[LINK] Tap and Go cards draining more than money

[Jan Whitaker]

[much of this article is about changes in crime 
rates in Victoria and other police matters, but 
the headline is about the 'tap and go' no pin 
cash cards (won't call that function a 'credit' 
card, because it isn't, which is the problem here)]

'Tap-and-go' credit card fraud 'chewing up police resources'
Timna Jacks and Richard Willingham
Published: May 28, 2014 - 1:20PM


Victoria's top cop has blamed "tap-and-go" 
credit-card technology for another increase in 
deception crime, as the overall crime rate rises by 5 per cent.

Credit-card fraud using stolen cards that do not 
need a pin number for small purchases had 
contributed to an 11,600 increase in deceptions 
over the past 12 months, a rise of 48 per cent, police say.

These crimes were "chewing up police resources", 
Chief Commissioner Ken Lay told ABC Radio on Wednesday.

In the latest release of annual crime statistics, 
covering crimes between March 2013 and March this 
year, drug offences also rose 15.5 per cent, 
while crimes against property were up 2 per cent 
and theft from a motor vehicle was up 3.4 per 
cent over the last year. Crime against a person 
has increased by 0.7 per cent, and assaults are up 0.3 per cent.

Robberies, however, are down by 12.7 per cent, 
while theft of motor vehicles, property damage 
and residential burglaries are also down.

Police Minister Kim Wells said the crime rate 
rise was due to more reports and charges of 
family violence, drug offences, breaches of justice orders and deception.

Mr Wells took aim at the banks, saying the rise 
in deception offences due to theft and misuse of 
"tap-and-go" cards was frustrating.

"The banks bring out new technology that you can 
tap and go but the reality is someone can find 
these cards and use it to go on a spending spree," Mr Wells said.

"The banks simply need to do more to crack down on this."

He said it was wasting police time to deal with 
these offences when the banks could offer better protection.

Mr Lay said modernising the police force by 
moving police away from stations and recruiting 
new specialist task forces was the best way to 
deal with deception crimes, internet fraud and domestic abuse.

The reforms would move away from the traditional 
model of investing in more front-line police 
officers – which has been "favoured by both sides 
of politics" – but were crucial if the police is 
to achieve an international gold standard, Mr Lay said.

"We are now in a position where we are behind the 
pack in technology space. When you look at the 
best jurisdictions in the world at the moment 
people and police stations are spending 50 per 
cent of their time in the station doing 
paperwork. If we get the technology right we 
could get crime down by 10 to 15 per cent. We 
need to get smarter, more flexible with our 
people, get people in that are financial planners, lawyers."

Mr Lay's comments come after The Age reported 
that the number of front-line uniformed officers 
in regional areas could be halved over the next 
decade, as police move away from stations and 
crime is tackled by more analysts, chemists, 
forensic scientists and detectives working in taskforces.

The Chief Commissioner emphasised that the 
details of the blue paper will be debated by 
government, opposition, the Police Association and the community.

Mr Wells also appeared to back away from the 
Coalition's pledge to have two Protective Service 
Officers on every train station, saying the 
allocation of PSOs was at the discretion of Chief Commissioner Lay.

"He rolls them out on the highest need," Mr Wells said.

Asked if that meant the government would not be 
able to meet its pledge, Mr Wells said there 
would be 940 new PSOs, as promised, by November.

The government has repeatedly said it is proud of 
its tough-on-crime approach, and Mr Wells 
dismissed claims that a rise in the crime rate 
was a blow to the Coalition's re-election 
credentials. He said police were working harder 
and that the rise was due to more police work.

The Coalition promised 1700 new police. As of 
last Friday there were an extra 1525 police working in the state.

This story was found at: 
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/tapandgo-credit-card-fraud-chewing-up-police-resources-20140528-393ny.html 



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com

Sooner or later, I hate to break it to you, 
you're gonna die, so how do you fill in the space 
between here and there? It's yours. Seize your space.
~Margaret Atwood, writer

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