Supermarket "loyalty cards" target of fraudsters

The proliferation of supermarket "loyalty cards" has given young criminals extra chances to make fake credit cards, West Midlands police said yesterday. Officers claimed that teenagers are reprogramming the cards' magnetic strips with details of real credit cards.

They also said instructions on how to do this are being picked up from the Internet, where algorithms are available to generate valid card numbers. A spokesman said frauds worth up to pounds 5,000 per day are being carried out in this way The cards are used for telephone and mail order services, and for low-value store purchases which are below the level where a shop would seek authorisation of the holder's credit limit.