NBC12 News, Weather Sports, Traffic, and Programming Guide for Richmond, VA | Credit card fraud impacts both businesses and consumers

Credit card fraud impacts both businesses and consumers

By Sunni Blevins - bio | email

RICHMOND, VA (NBC12) - As you go out to do your holiday shopping, keep in mind: credit card fraud is on the rise in central Virginia.

Earlier this week, we told you about a crime where two people had stolen credit cards here in Richmond and used them to buy thousands of dollars worth of gifts cards in Hanover County.

"That could certainly put me under being a small business owner," said Spirit of Art owner Kelly Perley. "So I try to make sure that everything is completely fraud free."

Perley recently relocated her small business to Carytown.

She's hoping for a lot of foot traffic in her store this holiday season, but knows with the tough economy, credit card crimes are something she has to be on the lookout for.

She hopes her customers won't mind when she double checks their identity.

"We check their ID just to make sure they are who they say they are and we check to make sure they've signed the back and compare that the signature on their ID card as well," she said.

A few doors down, Anne Kennon has a similar policy.

"The first thing we do is check the signature strip on the back just to make sure if it's been signed and if it is unsigned, we check for an ID to make sure the person using the card is the person who's supposed to be using the card," she said.

Kennon says she's fortunate to have mostly regular customers and jokes with a store geared towards pregnant woman, she's not too worried.

"There's not a big black market you know for stealing maternity clothes, or buying maternity clothes on a stolen credit card," said Kennon.

She says though, like with any small business, a fraudelent charge would affect her bottom line.

"We lose the money that we would have had or thought we had and it just sets us behind on the merchandise and we're out the money too," she said.

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