The FBI is investigating whether a credit card company sold fake credit cards to people with fake bank account numbers to collect thousands of dollars.
The bureau is looking at whether the cards were used for fraudulent or unauthorized purchases and at whether people were able to withdraw funds from the cards and withdraw money from their accounts without making a fraudulent charge.FBI Director Christopher Wray, left, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attend a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, July 28, 2020.
The U.K.-based company behind the fraudulent cards said Friday that it is cooperating with the bureau.
The card-fraud case was investigated by the FBI’s Counterterrorism and Security Division.
In January, the Justice Department sued the card-reselling company, alleging that the card companies violated federal laws against fraudulent card use.
The company said it was not aware of any investigation by the bureau but would cooperate with any such inquiry.
FBI spokeswoman Lauren Ehrsam declined to comment on the matter Friday.
U.S.-based bank Barclays said in a statement Friday that the bank is cooperating fully with the investigation.
“We are in the process of cooperating with authorities and are fully cooperating with their investigation,” Barclays spokesman Patrick Burke said.
A representative for Chase declined to confirm or deny that the company is cooperating.
Credit card companies have been under increasing scrutiny in recent years as credit card companies increasingly use technology to track people’s financial activity.
Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement with credit card-issuing card companies to curb the abuse of the cards.
The FTC said that in addition to collecting data about the card holders’ financial transactions, card issuers could also use the cardholder’s name, email address and other personal information to track purchases and sell those transactions to other card companies.
The bureau also said it had recently received information about card companies selling fake credit card numbers and other fraudulent information to retailers and businesses, and that the bureau is also investigating a similar scheme in which card companies were selling phony consumer credit cards without a credit check.