Gobsmacked

[gadgetman]

So why did they even bother pursuing it?

My wife had to arrange CCTV from her workplace and made numerous calls and visits to the police station to give statements and identify the woman from various CCTV tapes (where the cards were used).

Not to mention the cost of the police investigation (although it seems my wife had to do most of the work).

Why did they even bother if they knew they'd do (almost) nothing about it?

The police are not bothering to take this further because they know the CPS is highly likely to chuck the case out.

[ASB]

Credit card fraud and theft of around £500, a minor offence?

In the grand scheme of things not important - unfortunately

I'm surprised you even managed to get a report accepted.

A few months ago somebody ordered a couple of grands worth of stuff on a card of mine. I had the delivery address it was to go to. A mobile number (presumably PAYG).

I was able to stop the delivery etc because the bill was posted to me before the stuff was delivered. After numerous discussions with the law they politely told me to **** off because no crime had been committed.

Apparently since the bank were going to reimburse me and do a chargeback to the merchant who hadn't shipped the stuff nobody was out of pocket. The only people they would accept a report from were the bank. As victim of a failed theft apparently there was no crime against me.

Small wonder card fraud is a 500 mln a year growth industry.