The perfect crime and the magic of the free market.

[Vox Moi]

I had two credit cards stolen. They were used for the following transactions:
!2/20: Apple Store: $2,175.90
!2/20: Apple Store: $2,685.00
!2/20: Apple Store: $2,547.00
!2/20: Apple Store: $2,547.00
!2/20: Apple Store: $3,396.00
12/20: Nordstrom: $875.00
12/20: Nordstrom: $4,400.00

The cards were taken from my wallet, somehow, leaving the cash and ATM card behind. Smart.
The transactions were made within hours of the theft so there was no time to dummy up and ID.
They must have needed a hand-cart to lug the stuff from the Apple Store.

The Credit Card Company assured me that I would not be responsible but that I should call the police, make a complaint and get a case number.
I called the police, who took my personal information and gave me a case number. I asked what happens next and the officer replied:
'Well, nothing. If you want, you can call the Apple Store or Nordstrom and see if they have any records or security video and get back to us."
I was proud of being so casually deputized so I called the Apple store manager, who was not interested in any information about the fraud at all. He said that they did have all transaction records and security video was on file but that he would not release them to me.
I called the police back to tell them there was evidence to be had at Apple but the clerk only took my number and they never called back.

The perfect crime is a victimless crime, I guess. Apple is happy, Nordstrom is happy. The police are not burdened and I, a cardholder in good standing, was not harmed in any way. Even the bank had no complaint. More than $18,000 worth of goods stolen and no harm done to anybody! It was Manna from Heaven, via the miracle of the plastic card.

And so it goes in the land of the corporation where every need is gratified, all boredom entertained and everyone has a share. The loss due to theft is built into the system, accounted for on balance sheets long before my credit cards were taken. It's only the cost of doing business as described in the spreadsheet gospel of cost-benefit analysis.

Look deep enough into the interest rate and associated fees on your credit card and you will see that hidden charge that cover loss due to fraud passed on to the card-holders. We don't like to use the term 'privatize the gains and socialize the losses' so let's just say that it's The Magic of the Marketplace.

Presto!

[FreakinDJ]

1. The cost of loses "Trickle Down" to the consumer

That's the only thing that trickles down - Loses

[Karia]

2. When my wallet was lifted a few years ago

The police did check security cameras but the thief (thieves?) apparently knew where the cameras were and managed to stay just out of range.
It was a classic pickpocket situation: well-dressed man in a suit dropped his paper, spilled his coffee, and lifted my wallet while apologizing. I discovered the theft almost immediately, called the police and credit card companies, but he managed to max out all of my cards before the card cancellations were complete.

[Igel]

3. In many ways, yes.

The police are busy with other things.

If they get a good, clear picture of the guy/gal who stole your card ... what then? If we had a photo ID bank with really sophisticated face-recognition algorithms we'd probably object to it on principle. Otherwise there'd be reams of paper with faces on them, "Do you recognize this person?" that we'd all ignore. Some might recognize the person and refuse to snitch; many others couldn't be sure that it was the person they knew.

The police would probably never solve your case, so it would just be a waste of time. That means they write it off rather than waste any more time necessary than to set up a file, register the complaint, and talk to you for a few minutes.

The store got paid. So it's not like the store's going to enforce it's "check ID" policy any more than it already does. Moreover, checking ID can offend anywhere from "some" to "many" of its customers.

You're made whole. Which is a far sight better than what usually happens if, say, your car would be broken into and $18k stolen from the backseat or trunk. Unless you have insurance. (We'll get back to that.)

The bank has no real reason to be made to be the loser in all of this. They don't monitor your wallet. They can't be there to supervise the cashiers at stores--or implement stronger security provisions through online vendors. They're not usually in charge of police staffing or assigning cases. Or setting up some nifty way for people to be able to identify people.

And so the result is that we pay for the indifference of the population, the criminality of some people, the short-staffing of the police, the incompetence of store clerks and the refusal of the banks to be held responsible for things beyond their control by having insurance that we're charged. We're billed for the insurance through the interest rate we pay on outstanding debt. The more debt you have, the more the risk is distributed to you. (Pay off your credit card debt monthly or even refuse to have a credit card and you're *still* assessed a kind of shoplifting penalty because stores pay a transaction fee and percentage on your purchase and increase their prices to compensate. That's called "spreading out the risk" and "enlarging the risk pool".)