Credit card companies don't care as much as you might think. The credit card companies have very little incentive to prevent or prosecute fraud.

Fraudulent credit card charges are either paid by the consumer (if the consumer fails to take the proper steps to dispute the charge), or paid by the merchant (if the consumer does dispute the charge). The burden of proof that the charge is valid falls on the merchant. If you dispute a charge, and the merchant does not have adequate proof that the charge is valid, the credit card company takes the amount of the charge back from the merchant -- and may also charge penalties or higher service charges in the future if a merchnt has too many "chargebacks".

Last year I, as a merchant, came across an order submitted to our retail website using a stolen credit card number. We contacted the owner of the card, who refused to cancel the card because it would be too much of a hassle and he knew he wouldn't be held responsible for the fraudulent charges anyway. We reported it to the credit card company, who refused to act unless the cardholder reported the problem. Same with the police in the city to which the thief tried to have the merchandise shipped. They all consider the cardholder the "victim" depite the fact that the merchant is the one who stands to lose money due to the fraudulent charges. I finally filed a complaint with the FTC against the credit card company, but nothing has come of that as far as I know.