Credit Card Fraud Issue - Essay Example

Incidents of payment card fraud became increasingly widespread following the technology boom in the nineties because it's easy money to steal. As a result, many industrialized countries and countries that have advanced economies are trying to deal with these crimes as they impact directly the nation’s businesses and indirectly on the operations of these governments in how they manage their national finances.

From a law enforcement perspective, being able to manage this type of crime has proved difficult as the perpetrators can be from anywhere on the globe and can take advantage of technology and geographic distance to obscure their identity. As for those who have been caught, it appears they were carrying out their scams in person which allowed police to apprehend them, for instance, fraud committed at ATMs and in stores.

Credit card fraud has been a problem in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for many reasons. Firstly, UAE is a multicultural country (it has around 200 nationalities) which makes it difficult for the police to know exactly how the crime occurred. In other parts of the world, every nationality has its own culture and distinct manner of doing things and that helps the police to understand the modus operandi of the crime. However, in the UAE having different nationalities located in the same place will confuse the police and it will take more time and effort to deal with them. Secondly, traditionally most citizens of the UAE normally use cash for their daily transactions; however, this appears to be diminishing in favor of credit cards. Moreover, the UAE is one of the fastest-developing countries attracting hackers’ attention. (Matthew, 2008)

Aim of the Research
The proposed research seeks to explore the types of credit card fraud that are perpetrated to determine the most effective business and law enforcement countermeasures. Specifically, the research will follow a case study approach with data obtained from secondary sources that are in the public domain.