Card Games

As I looked over my American Bank Card invoice, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

“WHAT?” I think I hollered.

“What’s the problem?” Kate asked.

“This is bizarre! Someone has been putting charges on my credit card! But, I’m sure it’s still in my wallet.” I pulled out my wallet, searching for the card.

“Yeah, here it is! It’s not like I lost it! What’s going on? This is really crazy, Kate!”

“Joe, call the credit card company right now,” she had picked up the statement and was staring at all the charges. There had to be several thousand dollars’ worth there. “Some of these charges look like they’re being made somewhere in Florida, or at least with Florida-based companies.”

I had the phone in my hand as she gave me back the statement. There was a special customer service number to report stolen cards. “I think I’m being robbed!” I almost shouted at the American Bank representative. Then, as she began asking questions, I calmed down and gave her all the necessary identity information that allowed her to access my account and talk about my problem.

* * * * *

The group of criminals kept a supply of ID’s for the team to use. Each of those was sent to Yong for processing. Yong was a wizard at formatting plastic cards with stolen information. And, he was very fast. He had a collection of encoders, each with its own slightly different characteristics. He could take the blank credit cards and load the mag stripe with stolen information at the rate of one every two minutes. They could then be sold on the Internet or distributed in his network for anywhere from $50 to $750 a card. For the team, he could add a personal photograph to create a legitimate ID, as requested.

One of the most marketable types of cards the team used was the ATM cash card offered as an online scam. These were usually the result of successful phishing emails. People fell for them often enough to make it all very worthwhile. They just used their bank html phishing emails to trick customers into giving up their account numbers and even pins. Once these were divulged, the card hacking process was easy, and allowed criminal activity to go on easily at ATMs around the world.

* * * * *

Was it time to shuffle the deck?

_________________________

Attorneys with the United States Department of Justice described the challenge as follows:

“Identity theft is used as a means to commit many different forms of financial fraud, such as cashing United States Treasury checks stolen from the mail; manufacturing and using counterfeit credit and debit cards; stealing data from ATM machines; taking over bank and credit accounts; instant credit schemes; and purchasing luxury vehicles. Points of compromise for personal identity information used in fraud schemes are varied, including the internet, pickpocket crews, bank employees, collection agency personnel, store clerks and restaurant workers, employees of health care providers, and, of course, friends and family members.”