credit card fraud is one of the most common crimes today -- to the tune of around £1 million a day.

Bolton's shops are as vulnerable as any -- although some are not the right "target" for the fraudsters.

Videos, computer games, electronic equipment and sportswear appear to be the businesses most targeted by the fraudsters.

"It is the gear that is most easily resold," said the manager of a computer games store in the town centre, "or, in the case of just a stolen card, the stuff they want for themselves.

"Most of those we catch are in their teens or twenties. The professionals are better than we are."

There are three main types of credit card fraud.

Stolen cards are used on a spending spree, and in a hurry before the card can be reported as stolen.

Cards are "cloned" or "skimmed" and used before the legitimate owner is even aware that they are in the hands of thieves.

Cloning is a gang operation.

Dishonest staff in shops, restaurants and petrol stations have an extra electronic box through which they swipe cards without the owner's knowledge.

The box "reads" all the details from the card allowing the gang to manufacture a new card from a blank.

Another method involving crooked assistants is to swipe a card twice so that the details are on a second receipt.

That receipt is then used to make another card -- again from a blank.

Obtaining a second swipe is simple. The crook operates the credit card machine as normal then "accidently" writes in the wrong price for the goods.

With a smile and an apology he puts the card through a second time and appears to throw the "spoiled" receipt into a waste paper bin. He then retrieves it after the cusomer has left.

Of course, real mistakes do happen, but it is safer to simply ask for the spoiled receipt and destroy it yourself.

At present there is little incentive for honest retailers to be vigilant against these frauds.

The manager of a town centre store said: "The first we know about a card being used fraudulently is when we receive a letter from a credit card company telling us that the customer is querying a transaction.

"We then look at our copy of the receipt to prove that the sale actually took place.

"It is then down to the credit card company to sort it out with their customer. That's so long as the signature on our receipt looks like that on the card.

"If it is very different they sometimes tell us to be more vigilant, but that's as far as it goes. We get our money."

The manager added that he was aware that dishonest staff could help to clone cards: "It couldn't happen here as all our transactions, swiping and filling in price details, have to take place on top of the counter and spoiled slips have to be given to the customer.

"That's the simple way a lot of the shopkeepers locally ensure that no one could do it."

Most of the blame for credit card fraud is placed squarely at the doorstep of the banks who, in the words of one shop owner: "don't care, they make so much profit, they just can't be bothered."

Bolton Police are more diplomatic, but in essence say the same thing: "The simple way of combatting card fraud is to use something like an ID card or to ensure that the cards cannot be used fraudulently. There are a number of methods, but the banks, frankly, are not helping us.

"Even when a card is reported stolen it is routinely used for another three days or so. It seems to take that long to filter through the system.

"Credit card fraud is rife in Bolton. At least 50 per cent of theft from cars, burglaries or robberies results in a card being stolen with the knock-on effect of the card being used, often after being sold on.

"And the problem is that it is virtually unsolvable because shops are busy and staff poorly trained so they don't spot the fraudsters.

"By the time we are told about a possible fraud the perpetrator is long gone and there are no leads, although CCTV does help in that respect."

The police are, naturally, very interested in cloning and do pursue the evidence that they receive.

"These people are mobile and tend to move into a shop or petrol station for a day, collect a day's worth of card information and then move on," added the spokesman.

The police view is that much fraud can be combatted by cardholders being more vigilant.

They advise people not to leave cards unattended in cars or at home and to never let the card out of their sight, even under a counter, and to always ask for the spoiled slip if a "mistake" is made.

The technology exists to make credit card fraud next to impossible.

Personal information on a computer chip and/or a four digit pin number can be electronically "hidden" in a card.

Richard Tyson-Davies, a spokesman for the Association for Payment Closing Services (APACS) said that these measures will "have a significant effect" on credit card fraud.

"Last year the industry lost £293 million to fraud, this year it is running at around £1 million a day," said Mr Tyson-Davies, "and it will get worse for a year or so until the chipped cards, then the pin cards come into operation.

"Cards with personal information on a chip will be in most customers' hands late next year (2002) and most people will have a pin card by 2004."

To the charge that the banking industry has been dragging its feet he replied: "Not at all, cards could be issued fairly quickly but there are around 400,000 terminals in the country and all of these need to be changed.

"In the case of those owned by the banks and installed in smaller businesses it is a big enough job, but the larger stores have held things up somewhat. It is a matter of who pays for what."

APACS and the banks are not just waiting for the chipped and pin cards however.

Mr Tyson-Davies added: "We run training courses for staff all over the country, to help them identify fraudulent cards and fraudsters and, last year, we paid out £10 million in rewards to staff who retained stolen or skimmed cards.

"Some extra-vigilant staff make quite a good living out of spotting the cards and the crooks.

"In addition, the banks themselves use their computer systems to spot out-of-character use of cards. Often before a customer knows his card has been stolen he will receive a call from his bank asking him if he is really on a spending spree in Bangkok!

"Then the card can have a stop put on it at once."