Police are appealing for help after a swathe of established regional salerooms were hit by a major credit card fraud last month. Victims are now recommending the adoption of a new protocol for regional auctioneers when conducting ‘cardholder not present’ credit card transactions.
The case is the most serious of its type in recent memory. Auctioneers in Derbyshire, Wiltshire, Avon, Sussex, Berkshire, Shropshire and London are all understood to have been duped in late October, accepting card payments for five-figure sums for which they are now liable. A Somerset auctioneer was also the subject of attempted fraud.
The same modus operandi was used on each occasion.
Read more in Antiques Trade Gazette. The article also references a court case where a merchant sued a bank who had authorized a transaction when he had called for confirmation on a large purpose. Later, the transaction was declared invalid, and he’s suing the bank to recover the £359,000.