...

Couldn't have said it better myself.



That sucks Rein.

When I got to the credit union to file the dispute they told me that they believe this wave of fraud is related to the asshat that stole 130 million card numbers a while back.

On the bright side (for me at least) this was caught early enough that the bastards only got away with $400 and I don't have to pay for it. I was immediately credited today when I took the police report in.

Now I just have to wait for my new card to arrive. Hopefully it'll be here and waiting for me by the time my camping trip is over.

One of the best ways to fight card fraud is: BE POOR
They don't steal numbers of accounts that only have $3.18

Save your money in an old sock in a drawer! Like the old days...
Ok I got it from watching Donald Duck cartoons, but still...

probably your fault

That sure sounds alot better than 'One of our key security people stole your number and pin.' or 'Our network was compromised because we fired half of our IT people in an effort to cut costs so our exec's could take a bigger bonus.'

That sure sounds alot better than 'One of our key security people stole your number and pin.' or 'Our network was compromised because we fired half of our IT people in an effort to cut costs so our exec's could take a bigger bonus.'

No security people in the world can steal your pin code, because they are computer generated and send out through mail, without a person handling them.

The pincode can only be gotten by the duplicated card entry or swipe method, plus actually watching you enter your pincode into the machine.

The duplicated card entry in a machine is a fake front that gets stuck on a machine, this swipes your card information. But then they still need to SEE YOU ENTER YOUR PINCODE - and that is easily countered, by making sure nobody can see you enter the code from aside, by standing close to the machine, and covering your typing hand with your other hand or a piece of paper, so nobody can film you from above.

When you are at the cash register of a supermarked, or stand in front of a cashmachine just pay attention to how easy it is to actually see the person in front of you make their payment or withdrawl.

The telephone scam usually is to all those people who's information they already have obtained, through duplicating card information, and they get a call from the "BANK" asking them to help with an investigation into bankfraude. One of the questions will then be to answer all the "automated questions in the menue that will start soon".... meaning the scammers pretend to be a voice recording that will at a certain time ask you to use the numbers of your telephone to give out relevant information to make sure it is your account they are talking about and finish it off with the pincode, to restore your bankaccount to a safe account.

It is a brilliant scam, and unfortunatly the people who get those phonecalls don't realise they are NOT TALKING TO THE BANK.

Because whatever happens, the people of the bank are not allowed to ask for that information, no matter what you have lost or done.

The duplicate card entry is these days used at railwaystations in my country. Many people who buy a train ticket get home and discover their account has been raided.

Card #'s and pin codes can be scrubbed from the net if the scrubber knows what they are looking for. All transactions follow a certain format. Merchant codes, Routing codes, Bank codes and account codes are all predictable. It's just a matter of filtering traffic for the good stuff.

Ever run a 'trace route' on an internet connection? I have a cable modem. I share a network with a few million other people. My first four hops are all internal network viewable by the few million people in my network. That is before reaching an outside server. God only knows who might be scrubbing that.

POS(point of sale) Credit/money services are generally conducted via phone lines that are rarely hardened against attacks. That is even easier with an 'inside' connection. Shopping centers, Malls and businesses usually keep phone boxes in a central room or worse, In a metal box outside. A properly configured netbook hardwired to the right connection could easily scrub thousands of transactions from a busy location.

As for mail, cards, pin #'s and account information, Don't be too sure about who has access. My account passwords have been changed in the past by myself over the telephone. The guy on the other end (india) can see everything concerning the account. They keep copious notes including transactions, Time spent on calls, Unusual transactions (fraud) and attitude. Yep, Scream obscenities over the phone at someone and see how you are treated the next time.

For me, this is the 4TH time in about 3 years.

This time, and the first 2 times, there was no actual money taken from my account - my card number came up on a list (something like Tofu mentioned earlier) and therefore the bank insisted on "offering" me a new card, which I understand. The third time, about 6 months ago, they (the basterds who got my number) did get over $450 worth of "young adult clothing" at a mall in Vancouver and also some place in Montreal (I suspect CLAF in that case). The bank credited me within 24 hours, but it felt kinda scary.

The thing that adds BONUS Piss-OFF-points to this situation is that my latest card had one of those HIGH SECURITY chips built into it.



Dumb thing is, the card STILL has the MAGNETIC STRIPE on it.

An interesting fact I learned was that the area I live in (North Vancouver) is a high-target area for this type of thing. We live beside WEST Vancouver, which is one of the richest and most Hoidy Toidy areas in Canada. The card-theft rings apparently like "rich-people" areas because, unlike Dew-Dew and myself, they normally have more than $3.18 in their accounts.

I guess I'm gonna have to move to Portland.

By that theory living next door to Hamilton I should be safe as there are No Hoidy Toidy people there. No internet scams in Hamilton they just break down the door and take what they want.

Yes. And living next to Hamilton you can also get all the pron, crack, and industrial-strength guitar-strings that you'd ever want. (and remember to always pray for an Easterly wind, eh?)

Yeah, Reinman, those clever chips on the cards are not in use yet, they are on the cards, but will only become usefull when all the cashmachines and paymachines all over the world are changed into using the chip..... Untill then the stripe will be in use.

Identity theft sux.

Yes, you are right. About 1/2 of our machines/retail outlets here use the chip, but the rest do not. I think I'll go back to trading beaver skins for a while - at least until they get that frickin chip working!