Showing posts with label Credit Card Fraud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Credit Card Fraud. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Credit Card Details Freely Available on Web
Red Bank, April 7, 2009/The FraudBlog Newsletter/- Details of up to 19,000 Visa, Mastercard and American Express customers were found publicly available on the web. Speculation is fraudsters posted the data with the intent to sell it to other fraudsters. Numerous internet security experts have voiced concern that it was a rare event to have such a complete set of credit card data to be publicly posted for anyone to access.
Hacking, Why Not?
Red Bank, April 4, 2009/The FraudBlog Newsletter/- Recent congressional hearings have shown evidence that terrorists are more involved than previously believed in cybercrime. In short, evidence suggests terrorists are actively training new recruits on how to hack into computer systems, perform phishing operations and to move money using stolen credit cards and bank accounts. In his jailhouse manifesto, Imam Samudra (linked to the Bali terrorist bombing), urged his Muslim radical comrades to declare holy war not on the battlefield, but rather in cyberspace. Imam describes how America's computer infrastructure and networks are vulnerable to hacking, credit card and money laundering.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Legislation in the works that could affect Future Trends in Fraud
New legislation may provide fraudsters with legal loopholes
Red Bank, Feb. 19/The FraudBlog Newsletter/ - The current economic crisis is affecting all of us, but could it also be creating new loopholes for fraudsters to exploit? You may be surprised to learn that some recent discussions could have a very tangible impact on fraud trends down the road.
According to the USA Today Article entitled "Job credit checks called unfair" by Thomas Frank on 2-13-2009, five states are considering laws that would restrict credit checks by employers. Amid the financial crisis U.S. states and government officials are calling to stop employers from unfairly screening out employees who can't pass a credit check. For many industries that have jobs with access to money this is a necessary step to lower risk from employees with access to money such as tellers, cashiers and finance officers. According to the Society for Human Resource Management about 43% of U.S. employers currently check job applicants for overdue payments on anything from mortgages and rent to credit cards and student loans. While there is no correlation of employee performance to bad credit, there is implicit risk of employees with financial problems potentially being more susceptible to committing some form of internal fraud if they have the access to financial resources. How real is this issue? If you recall our August 2008 newsletter, we reported 5 cases of employee fraud in that month alone, with 4 of those cases being embezzlement through the use of a company credit card (all cases were over $100,000 in losses) and one case of an employee perpetrated data breach.
Senator Chris Dodd is pushing legislation in the CARD ACT to change when application information can be posted into a consumer's credit file. His argument is based on his belief that the policies of credit card issuers to post information on application attempts, instead of account activations, causes card issuers to change the consumers risk exposure thus producing higher fees and rates charged to the consumer. Dodd stated, "Too many families are starting to rely upon on short-term, high-interest credit card financing to meet basic needs".
The most critical aspect of his plan is that the bill would prohibit providing information about newly opened accounts before they are activated by customers. If this policy were implemented it could create an increase in credit card fraud applications. For example, a fraudster could open 10 credit card accounts, but waits to activate them until they receive all of the cards. The second through the tenth issuer would have no idea the fraudster had already opened the other accounts when they processed these applications. This could lead to significant increases in Identity Theft per case losses.
Red Bank, Feb. 19/The FraudBlog Newsletter/ - The current economic crisis is affecting all of us, but could it also be creating new loopholes for fraudsters to exploit? You may be surprised to learn that some recent discussions could have a very tangible impact on fraud trends down the road.
According to the USA Today Article entitled "Job credit checks called unfair" by Thomas Frank on 2-13-2009, five states are considering laws that would restrict credit checks by employers. Amid the financial crisis U.S. states and government officials are calling to stop employers from unfairly screening out employees who can't pass a credit check. For many industries that have jobs with access to money this is a necessary step to lower risk from employees with access to money such as tellers, cashiers and finance officers. According to the Society for Human Resource Management about 43% of U.S. employers currently check job applicants for overdue payments on anything from mortgages and rent to credit cards and student loans. While there is no correlation of employee performance to bad credit, there is implicit risk of employees with financial problems potentially being more susceptible to committing some form of internal fraud if they have the access to financial resources. How real is this issue? If you recall our August 2008 newsletter, we reported 5 cases of employee fraud in that month alone, with 4 of those cases being embezzlement through the use of a company credit card (all cases were over $100,000 in losses) and one case of an employee perpetrated data breach.
Senator Chris Dodd is pushing legislation in the CARD ACT to change when application information can be posted into a consumer's credit file. His argument is based on his belief that the policies of credit card issuers to post information on application attempts, instead of account activations, causes card issuers to change the consumers risk exposure thus producing higher fees and rates charged to the consumer. Dodd stated, "Too many families are starting to rely upon on short-term, high-interest credit card financing to meet basic needs".
The most critical aspect of his plan is that the bill would prohibit providing information about newly opened accounts before they are activated by customers. If this policy were implemented it could create an increase in credit card fraud applications. For example, a fraudster could open 10 credit card accounts, but waits to activate them until they receive all of the cards. The second through the tenth issuer would have no idea the fraudster had already opened the other accounts when they processed these applications. This could lead to significant increases in Identity Theft per case losses.
Use your ATM PIN only at ATMs or you'll pay the price!
Always save your PIN for ATM transactions only!
Red Bank, Sept. 1 2008/The FraudBlog Newsletter/- Every time I speak publicly, or when I tell people what I do for a living, I get asked this question. My answer has always been to use your credit card or your debit card, as a credit card, but save your pin for ATM transactions only. For us in the business we generally understand our rights and level of protection, but I would imagine few of us really understand the actual legal rights and limits for each payment type.
If fraudsters strike, you often have stronger protection with credit cards than with debit cards. With credit cards, under federal law, you're liable for no more than $50 if fraud occurs, though most issuers don't hold you liable for even that much. With debit cards, your maximum exposure is $50 if you report it within 48 hours. Report it after two days, and you could be liable for up to $500. Take longer than 60 days, and you could be responsible for the entire dollar amount of fraud.
Red Bank, Sept. 1 2008/The FraudBlog Newsletter/- Every time I speak publicly, or when I tell people what I do for a living, I get asked this question. My answer has always been to use your credit card or your debit card, as a credit card, but save your pin for ATM transactions only. For us in the business we generally understand our rights and level of protection, but I would imagine few of us really understand the actual legal rights and limits for each payment type.
If fraudsters strike, you often have stronger protection with credit cards than with debit cards. With credit cards, under federal law, you're liable for no more than $50 if fraud occurs, though most issuers don't hold you liable for even that much. With debit cards, your maximum exposure is $50 if you report it within 48 hours. Report it after two days, and you could be liable for up to $500. Take longer than 60 days, and you could be responsible for the entire dollar amount of fraud.
When the Fraudster is Someone you Trust
Friendly fraud taken to new heights.
Red Bank, Aug. 15 2008/The FraudBlog Newsletter/- The number of articles related to internal fraud have been rising considerably over the past couple of months. If you are like most fraud managers, your focus has been on stopping the fraudster from coming in the door, and not paying attention to the fraudster lurking inside. It can be easy to overlook how easy it is for employees to copy down customer credit card information, to help a friend exploit a weakness in the companies systems or to directly steal from the company.
While I don't believe the individuals involved in these cases were criminals targeting these companies, I do believe they serve as a good example to putting in checks and balances to keep honest people honest...
To illustrate my point I have taken quotes from a recent case. These quotes were taken from the article "Former Sailor Gets 2 years for fraud with Navy Credit Card" by Austin Wright in the Virginia Post on August 10, 2008.
"I know that I'm a good person. I know that I made a bad decision," Gibbs said in court. "I'm aware of all my consequences.""Her supervisors encouraged this type of behavior," defense attorney David Price said in court. He elaborated after the sentencing that no one monitored what Gibbs and others were purchasing with the government-issued cards."For this to go on for as long as it did and for the amount of money that was involved - there's no excuse," Price said. "There are other people who didn't do their jobs right." Other cases in the news:
Customer Service Representative - An Alaska Airlines call center employee misused credit card data between August 2006 and June of 2008. When processing reservation changes, the employee allegedly diverted payments into her own personal bank account instead of the airline's. The fraud affects about 1,500 customers.
Receptionist - An Illinois Eye Center receptionist used patient information to obtain credit cards and then had the bills mailed to her home. Gast said the theft occurred from August until December of last year. Some of the victims didn't know their names had been used.
Mail Man - four counts of mail theft and one count of defrauding the U.S. Postal Service by using an agency credit card for personal use.
Administrative Assistant - charged more than $240,000 in personal expenses last year on a corporate credit card belonging to a pharmaceutical research and development company, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. Federal prosecutors said she used the card to pay for a 1968 Ford Mustang and 1969 Chevrolet Camaro and to restore those vehicles. She also used company funds to pay for cosmetic surgery and a cruise vacation, a granite kitchen countertop, a residential air-conditioning unit and American Express gift cards..
Candidate for Sheriff - a candidate for the position of Navajo County sheriff, was arrested July 22 on charges of theft of a credit card and fraudulent use of a credit card, both felonies.
Bank Clerk - The clerk allegedly played a role in a conspiracy to embezzle funds from Sperry Marine Federal Credit Union by using other names to take out loans from the credit union.
Neighbor - Buellton California residents 47-year-old Karen Peterson and 49-year-old Debra Mangino are accused of stealing their one-time neighbor's mail and activating a credit card in his name.
Purchasing Agent - Navy sailor uses military credit card to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from the government. Defense and prosecution lawyers agreed this could have been prevented through minimal oversight. From 2006 to 2007, she used the card to buy 162 notebook computers, 65 big-screen televisions and 22 digital cameras, items she and an unnamed co-conspirator sold for cash.
Father - A New York man says he used his son's Social Security number to obtain credit cards and loans from several banks, and from a firm that gave him loans to buy two cars. The crimes occurred between 1997 and 2005.
Credit Card Fraud Officer - A former senior Sussex Police officer who used his force credit card to buy goods for himself has been ordered to pay nearly £100,000. Sorority Sister - Danielle Sue All, 29, is believed to have charged more than $2,000 on a Purdue University sorority adviser's card reported missing Aug. 5.
Secret Service Informant - charged with breaking into the computer systems of nine of the nation's largest retail companies and stealing more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers.
Red Bank, Aug. 15 2008/The FraudBlog Newsletter/- The number of articles related to internal fraud have been rising considerably over the past couple of months. If you are like most fraud managers, your focus has been on stopping the fraudster from coming in the door, and not paying attention to the fraudster lurking inside. It can be easy to overlook how easy it is for employees to copy down customer credit card information, to help a friend exploit a weakness in the companies systems or to directly steal from the company.
While I don't believe the individuals involved in these cases were criminals targeting these companies, I do believe they serve as a good example to putting in checks and balances to keep honest people honest...
To illustrate my point I have taken quotes from a recent case. These quotes were taken from the article "Former Sailor Gets 2 years for fraud with Navy Credit Card" by Austin Wright in the Virginia Post on August 10, 2008.
"I know that I'm a good person. I know that I made a bad decision," Gibbs said in court. "I'm aware of all my consequences.""Her supervisors encouraged this type of behavior," defense attorney David Price said in court. He elaborated after the sentencing that no one monitored what Gibbs and others were purchasing with the government-issued cards."For this to go on for as long as it did and for the amount of money that was involved - there's no excuse," Price said. "There are other people who didn't do their jobs right." Other cases in the news:
Customer Service Representative - An Alaska Airlines call center employee misused credit card data between August 2006 and June of 2008. When processing reservation changes, the employee allegedly diverted payments into her own personal bank account instead of the airline's. The fraud affects about 1,500 customers.
Receptionist - An Illinois Eye Center receptionist used patient information to obtain credit cards and then had the bills mailed to her home. Gast said the theft occurred from August until December of last year. Some of the victims didn't know their names had been used.
Mail Man - four counts of mail theft and one count of defrauding the U.S. Postal Service by using an agency credit card for personal use.
Administrative Assistant - charged more than $240,000 in personal expenses last year on a corporate credit card belonging to a pharmaceutical research and development company, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. Federal prosecutors said she used the card to pay for a 1968 Ford Mustang and 1969 Chevrolet Camaro and to restore those vehicles. She also used company funds to pay for cosmetic surgery and a cruise vacation, a granite kitchen countertop, a residential air-conditioning unit and American Express gift cards..
Candidate for Sheriff - a candidate for the position of Navajo County sheriff, was arrested July 22 on charges of theft of a credit card and fraudulent use of a credit card, both felonies.
Bank Clerk - The clerk allegedly played a role in a conspiracy to embezzle funds from Sperry Marine Federal Credit Union by using other names to take out loans from the credit union.
Neighbor - Buellton California residents 47-year-old Karen Peterson and 49-year-old Debra Mangino are accused of stealing their one-time neighbor's mail and activating a credit card in his name.
Purchasing Agent - Navy sailor uses military credit card to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from the government. Defense and prosecution lawyers agreed this could have been prevented through minimal oversight. From 2006 to 2007, she used the card to buy 162 notebook computers, 65 big-screen televisions and 22 digital cameras, items she and an unnamed co-conspirator sold for cash.
Father - A New York man says he used his son's Social Security number to obtain credit cards and loans from several banks, and from a firm that gave him loans to buy two cars. The crimes occurred between 1997 and 2005.
Credit Card Fraud Officer - A former senior Sussex Police officer who used his force credit card to buy goods for himself has been ordered to pay nearly £100,000. Sorority Sister - Danielle Sue All, 29, is believed to have charged more than $2,000 on a Purdue University sorority adviser's card reported missing Aug. 5.
Secret Service Informant - charged with breaking into the computer systems of nine of the nation's largest retail companies and stealing more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers.
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