Washington Post –  …“Card-not-present” credit, debit and prepaid card fraud has ballooned in the United States in the last few years, reaching $4.57 billion in 2016, up 34 percent from the year before, according to the most recentFederal Reserve Payments Study. These shadowy crimes hurt both small businesses and the customer shopping experience. If you’ve swiped a credit card at a gas station that has a hidden skimmer, your information was compromised during the Equifax data breach, or you ordered something from a website infected by malware, it is more than likely that thieves have your card information, according to cybersecurity experts, who often find themselves one step behind international criminal networks.

“Recent figures suggest that over 80 percent of credit cards currently in people’s wallets have already been compromised,” said Markus Bergthaler, director of programs and marketing for the nonprofit Merchant Risk Council, which educates businesses on strategies to curtail fraud. Crooks obtain credit card information by stealing it right from the card or buying it on the massive online marketplace for stolen cards on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube as well as the dark Web, a separate network that can’t be reached with normal browsers…”