Introduction
In this paper, credit card theft, and how it happens will be discussed through statistics, facts from resources, and cases from Canadian courts. Credit card theft as defined in the Criminal Code of Canada is found in section 342, and states: “(1) Every person who steals a credit card, possesses, uses or traffics in a credit card of a forged or falsified credit card, knowing that it was obtained, made, or altered, or uses accredit card knowing that it has been revoked or cancelled.” ((CC 342 (1)) Subsection 3 of Section 342 deals with Unauthorized use of credit card data, and it is defined as “Every person who, fraudulently and without colour of right, possesses, uses, traffics in or permits another person to use credit card data,
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“Cattral, Brunet, and Beauchamp operated a business under the name of Canadian Barcode, and through this business they sold supplies which were used to commit credit card fraud. Cattral was convicted of five counts, Brunet of five counts and Beauchamp of six counts of buying or selling devices intended to be used to commit credit card fraud. Cattral was also found guilty of four counts of possession of stolen credit card data and one count of obstructing justice. Brunet was also found guilty of one count of conspiring to commit credit card fraud and one count of breaching a condition of her bail. In addition, Cattral, Brunet and Beauchamp were convicted of one count of committing offences for the benefit of a criminal organization, namely selling devices intended to be used to commit credit card fraud for the benefit of Cattral, Brunet and Beauchamp, who were members of the criminal organization. Shanghavi was convicted of three counts of possession of stolen credit card data, one count of trafficking in stolen credit card data and two counts of being in possession of two mini data loggers, which are devices which were intended to be used to commit credit card fraud. The MIR38 was one of the devices intended to be used to commit credit card fraud, which was sold by Canadian Barcode. This device was designed to fit over the card reader slot on an Automated Teller Machine (“ATM”) and to record and store credit and debit card information of each card as it passed through the device and into the ATM. This device is able to store the financial data contained on the magnetic stripe on the back a payment card of approximately 150 200 cards. The financial data captured by the device was then transferred from the device onto forged credit cards, which were then used to withdraw money from bank accounts or to purchase consumer goods. The KT100 device was the inner workings of the MIR38 and was designed for installation in
Fraud is one of Canada's most severe acts of financial criminality as the economic impact of this crime could potentially handicap an entire society. According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre Annual Statistic Report (CAFC), a report established to monitor fraud with the aid of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and Competition Bureau of Canada, it reported an annual loss of 74 million dollars affecting over 14,472 victims (Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, 2014). Given this alarming statistic, it is worrisome that we as a society still ignore or turn a blind eye towards those who commit fraud as seen in the low conviction (Canada Revenue Agency, 2014), and focus our efforts on petty thefts as seen with the high rate of convictions
Maidment, M. (2009). When justice is a game: Unravelling wrongful convictions in Canada. Canada: Fernwood Publishing.
Zhang, Colin, ed. “Canadian Criminal Code.” YourLaws. N.p., 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. .
In contrast, consider the case Royal Bank of Canada v. Intercon Security Ltd., 2005 CanLII 40376 (Ont.SC). Mr. Hornett was an employee of Intercon as a security guard in 1991. During one of his shifts, he noticed some weaknesses in the branch’s security system. A week later, him and his friend broke into RBC ATM and successfully stole the money inside. Mr. Hornett quit his job shortly thereafter committed a series of similar thefts in 11 Royal Bank branches stealing over $1 million in total. Mr. Hornett was later pleaded guilty, and served his sentences. RBC sued Intercon on the basis of vicarious liability.
How to appropriately and fairly carry out criminal justice matters is something that every country struggles with. A major reason for this struggle is the fallibility of the justice system. It is acceptable to concede that the possibility of human error in every case and investigation may lead to a wrongful conviction. In the case of David Milgaard, however, Canada's Criminal Justice System not only erred, but failed grievously, resulting in millions of dollars wasted, in a loss of public confidence in the system, and most tragically, in the robbery of two decades of one man's life. Factors including, but not limited to, the social context at the time of the crime, the social perception of deviance, the influence of the media, and the misconduct of investigating police and prosecution played a substantial role in the subsequent miscarriage of justice.
Organized crime takes many forms, from low-level street violence committed on city streets to white collar crime and fraud perpetrated in corporate settings. It is not surprising then, that one of the key problems pertaining to organized criminal activity in Canada is the convoluted legal definition of organized crime. Indeed, there remains little to no consensus as to what organized crime and criminal organizations should be defined as, how the presence of said crime should be measured, and what types of policies and strategies should be implemented to remove this problem from the Canadian criminal justice landscape.
Welsh, B., & Irving, M. (2005). Crime and punishment in Canada, 1981-1999. Crime and Justice, 33, 247-294. Retrieved from http://library.mtroyal.ca:2063/stable/3488337?&Search=yes&searchText=canada&searchText=crime&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dcrime%2Bin%2Bcanada%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don&prevSearch=&item=18&ttl=33894&returnArticleService=showFullText
Wrongful convictions in Canada is a very sensitive and disturbing topic that has created concerns as to why individuals are being wrongfully convicted. As people in Canada read about cases involving wrongful conviction, such as Guy Paul Morin, Rubin Carter and David Millguard, it often undermines their faith in the criminal justice system. Tunnel vision, the use of questionable DNA evidence, and eyewitness misidentification are the three main causes of wrongful convictions in Canada. Recognizing and addressing these concerns has led to a reduction in cases of wrongful convictions in Canada.
The court had reason that appellants may have been guilty of fraudulent conversion, or of larceny by bailee if the theory is accepted that a vendor retaining possession of goods sold by him becomes constructively a bailee of the purchaser, and criminally culpable for a failure to deliver them to his purchaser. Appellants were indicted for larceny only, and of that they clearly were not guilty.
Where in 56 million payment cards were stolen and the issues related to the occurrence.
"Criminal Code of Canada." Criminal Code of Canada. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. .
Sullivan, C. (2009). Is identity theft really theft? International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, 23(1/2), 77-87. doi:10.1080/13600860902742596
Have you ever received a credit card bill at the end of the month with a ridiculous amount of money needed to be paid that you never spent? This is because of identity theft. The FTC estimates that each year, over 9 million people are affected by identity theft. According to Sally Driscoll, this is because almost anyone with a computer and a slight bit of computer knowledge can pull off identity theft. Experts also claim that identity theft is the fastest-growing crime in the world. Identity theft is a global problem that cannot be stopped without effective measures. The problem is, effective measures are very hard to come by when dealing with identity theft because almost any security protocol can be by-passed.
III. Thesis Statement: Identity Theft is rapidly becoming a national issue because anyone of us could be a victim of identity theft. How we protect our self, keep our information private, identify any signs of identity theft, and report and repair our credit is up to each one of us. We have to be vigilant about our protecting ourselves from criminals.
Lenard, Thomas I. “Identity Theft Is a Declining Problem.” Cyber Crime. Ed. Louise I. Gerdes.