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QuickCard fraud common, consequences serious

Something that should make life easier is instead making life more complicated for some students.

Many reports have been made by students regarding QuickCard fraud.

Bradley Debit Card Analyst Melinda Yepsen said she sees a few cases a semester regarding QuickCard fraud.

“In most cases this semester, the card holder lost their ID and didn’t report it until after it was used,” Yepsen said.

Bradley patrol officer Joe Bullard said the same problem occurs with the cases the police station deals with.

“Generally someone will misplace their card somewhere and someone will take it for lunch or the soda machines, ordering pizzas, washers and dryers, something like that,” he said. “A majority of the cases happen when a person loses their card and doesn’t use it right away, so they don’t know it’s gone.”

He said since QuickCash is mainly accepted by restaurants, the biggest purchases made are typically to food businesses.

“They are usually large food orders,” Bullard said. “We’ve had cases before where people used another person’s QuickCash to buy four or five pizzas or lots of sandwiches from Jimmy Johns.”

A similar incident occurred last week. A student reported her QuickCard stolen and shortly after, her card was used in the library cafe and twice in the cafeteria, according to police reports.

An officer then noticed someone had attempted to use the card at Outtakes. The worker said a white male had been trying to use a black female’s ID but was being denied.

The suspect told him the card belonged to a friend who had loaned it to him. The suspect ended up using his own ID to make the purchase.

Officers used that sale to pinpoint the suspect and question him. The suspect admitted to having the card, but said he had used it by accident and planned to turn it in. He was charged with debit card fraud and possession of lost property.

Bullard said sometimes QuickCard problems are not always because of students, but businesses can be to blame also.

“The thing that baffles me is someone is supposed to look at the card and check that it’s the person, but that doesn’t seem to be done all the time,” he said.

Bullard also said another way businesses can be at fault is when students are using their QuickCash over the phone.

“Typically students can pay for an order by telling the business their ID number,” he said. “But we had an instance when a student ordered pizzas from Papa Johns and they entered the wrong ID number and charged another student.”

Bullard said this situation has happened twice involving the same students.

“But nothing was fraudulent, the business was at fault,” he said.

Yepsen said the best way to prevent QuickCard theft is to treat it the same way you would a credit card.

“Do not leave your card unattended and don’t let others have your card number,” she said. “When you don’t know where it is, report it as lost or stolen either through the Web site www.quickcard.bradley.edu or by calling 677-FIND.”

Bullard said he agreed with Yepsen’s advice.

“If you lose your card, get it cancelled and get a new one,” he said. “If it’s not cancelled, someone else can use it. Get online everyday and look at your account, follow it up. You’ll know right away if you bought things or not.”

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