What to Do If You're a Victim of Credit Card Fraud This Season

Gwinnett County Police have sent a warning message about the increase of victims reporting credit card fraud.

More and more, local victims' credit card information is used across the country and sometimes in foreign countries, according to a news release. Victims living outside of Gwinnett sometimes have their credit card information used by local criminals, too.

"These cases can be difficult to investigate due to the various jurisdictions involved and the long distances between them," says the release, adding that fraudulent Internet purchases can be particularly problematic, too.

To help in such cases, Gwinnett's Electronic and Financial Crimes unit recommends victims to complete a Gwinnett County incident report and then file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). IC3 is a collaboration between the FBI, the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the National White Collar Crime Center.

The Gwinnett County Police Department is a member of the National White Collar Crime Center and receives complaint referrals submitted through IC3.

When a victim files a complaint with IC3, the complaint is reviewed and forwarded to appropriate jurisdictions for investigation. Due to complaint referrals from IC3, Gwinnett Police have been able to successfully close a number of investigations originating in other jurisdictions.  By completing a complaint through IC3, victims maximize the chance that their case will have a successful resolution.

More information on IC3 can be located at their website, www.ic3.gov.

Some GCPD incident reports can be filed online at on the Gwinnett police website, which also contains a page to IC3.

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