Between payment being made and the customer returning with “his driver”, two or three hours later to collect the bronze, further telephone checks were made, but the card company is now claiming the refund of the full amount, so that the bronze will, effectively, have been stolen.
The suggestion is that the card may have been “cloned”, and it appears that there have possibly been at least three other similar cases recently, all involving large sums of money, and possibly cards connected with Middle Eastern bank accounts.
Further enquiries are continuing, but it would be helpful if anyone with a similar experience, or with any relevant information could contact Mr Le Petit at the Crime Desk, Fulham police station, London SW6 (Ref. No: FH6006863-02C).
Trade warned to beware of cloned credit cards
LONDON: THE trade are being warned about credit card cloning after several incidents in London in the past few months. In mid-January, a King’s Road gallery sold a French 19th Century bronze figure to a customer, and was paid with a credit card which, though authorised at the time, now appears to have been fraudulent.
