IP: Credit Card Cloners' $1B Scam

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Gadget first demonstrated in maybe 1960's at Caltech as part of a demo on 
how poor the mag stripped credit cards were. In spite of that , they won.

Dave


> From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
> Subject: Credit Card Cloners' $1B Scam
>
> Credit Card Cloners' $1B Scam
> Terrorists, mobsters
> in on hacking racket
>
> By WILLIAM SHERMAN
> Daily News Staff Writer
>
> Superhackers - ranging from Al Qaeda terrorists to local mobsters -
> are making letter-perfect clones of consumers' credit cards without
> so much as picking a pocket, in a sophisticated, international $1
> billion-a-year scam.
>
> Using homemade, $50 machines about the size of a cigarette pack or
> high-tech bugging devices, the scammers can read credit cards'
> magnetic stripes and E-mail the information overseas, where copies
> are produced.
>
> Because their cards haven't been stolen, consumers don't know they've
> been ripped off - until they get bills for charges they didn't make
> in places they've never been. Credit card companies haven't a clue
> until alerted by stunned customers.
>
> "It is the foolproof bank robbery of this century, it's new and it's
> growing," said a top Secret Service official.
>
> Credit card users "have their cards in their wallets and they can't
> believe it's happened," said Betsy Broder, assistant director of the
> Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection.
>
> It's the newest, most devious and fastest-growing form of credit card fraud.
>
> ...
>
> http://www.nydailynews.com/today/News_and_Views/City_Beat/a-137421.asp

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