Sunday, March 15, 2009

Complete Listing of Everyone's PIN Number

Today's theme is Fraud from around the world.  Credit Card Fraud Doubles in Dubai...In the UK, fraud hit's record highs and here in the good ole' USA, the Chicago Tribune writes that wireless security is security-less.

From the wires...3 stories, from 3 continents, with 3 common denominators.

They say bad  things happen in threes, but when PIN's get breached, that will be a bad thing happening in 4's.

Below is a link to a list of everyone in the world's PIN number. The list is the most comprehensive one out there and not intended for criminal use!  If yours is not on the list, send  it to me and  I'll make sure it gets on.  Or enter it into a floating PIN pad and the hackers will...lol.

Click Here for the complete list.


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Wireless Security Does Not Have Any...

Security of wireless networks often leaves retailers, credit card firms at risk

Theft, breaches likely to increase in tough times


Motorola'sRichard Rushing walks Michigan Avenue on Feb. 2, checking the securityof wireless access points at surrounding stores. (Tribune photo by Nancy Stone / February 2, 2009)
RichardRushing has walked the Champs-Elysees in Paris and strolled anunderground mall in Seoul. But he's not a shopper. He's a wirelesssecurity expert who scans the airwaves in busy retail areas to studyhow stores are protecting your data.

"Retailers have always taken security very seriously," said Rushing,senior director of information security for mobile devices at Motorola Inc., noting the common use of security cameras and guards.

"But they're not looking at the airwaves to see what's leaking out oftheir stores wirelessly. You don't need the merchandise if you cansteal a credit card number and buy a gift card," Rushing said.

Most consumers don't think about what happens to their credit cardinformation when they swipe their plastic at the cash register. Thereality is that large retailers have wireless networks that connectcash registers, bar code scanners and store computers. Those networkscan be vulnerable to breaches by hackers or thieves.

In some high-profile cases, thieves didn't pluck one card number but tens of millions.

In 2007, discount retailer TJX Cos.said a computer breach exposed 45.7 million credit and debit cards toaccount information theft. The group accused of stealing the TJX datawas believed to have hacked into several stores' weakly encryptedwireless networks. Last year, supermarket company Hannaford Bros.reported a data breach, saying customer accounts at stores in theNortheast and Florida were compromised.

Stan Schatt, a vice president at ABI Research, said some retailers arebracing for an uptick in crime because of the economic downturn,whether it's increased shoplifting or employee theft. "What I'm hearingis that some retailers are cutting back in opening new stores andinstead are plowing some money into security."

His research shows 77 percent of retailers with 500 or more employees use wireless networks.

"Retailers work on very thin margins, and even a small increase intheft can wipe out their profit margins completely," Schatt said.

In February, Rushing conducted a "war walk" simulation along the Magnificent Mile,ambling up the sidewalk with a laptop that had an antenna affixed tothe side. Proprietary software collected information about activewireless devices and the level of encryption for those networks.


Continue Reading at the Chicago Tribune


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British Consumers Robbed Every 7 Seconds

Card fraud hits record high despite fortune spent on chip-and-pin security

British consumers are robbed once every seven seconds, often by criminals overseas.

Julian Knight and Kate Hughes report for The Independent:

Sunday, 15 March 2009


Fraud carried outon credit and debit cards is expected to have topped £600m for thefirst time last year, when banking industry figures are released thisweek. Despite the introduction nearly five years ago of chip-and-pinsecurity technology, at a cost of hundreds of millions of pounds, thetide of fraud is rising ever higher.

A British credit ordebit card gets fraudulently used or counterfeited once every sevenseconds, industry figures show. And Apacs, the UK payments service, isexpected to say this week that card fraud rose again in 2008, this timeby more than 10 per cent to around £600m. This compares to £535m forthe whole of the previous year.

But Sandra Quinn, a spokeswomanfor Apacs, says that following the introduction of chip-and-pin – whereusers have to verify their purchases by inputting a personalidentification number into till-side terminals – organised gangs ofcriminals have been turning to what is called "card not present" fraud.

"Asthe name suggests, this means that the fraudster uses a stolen cardnumber on the internet or by mail order," she says. "This is less riskyas they don't have to physically go to a shop to hand over acounterfeit card."

A substantial proportion of fraud on UKcards has taken place overseas. "Card numbers are acquired in the UK bycriminal gangs and then used overseas to buy goods. Card fraud is atruly global undertaking and so increasingly is the fight against it,"comments Steve Head, chief superintendent at the City of London Policeeconomic crime unit.

Several "hotspots" for card fraud havebeen identified, such as the US, Canada and the Far East, but in recenttimes gangs have emerged in Australia and China, all preying on Britishcard customers.

The banks say they have stepped up their fightagainst the card fraudsters. "It is difficult to pursue some of thesegangs because they are located overseas in a different jurisdiction andthey use the internet to commit their crimes," explains the leader ofan anti-fraud unit working for one of the UK's major high-street banks,who wished to remain anonymous.

"However, generally, we are gettingbetter at spotting frauds earlier and they are getting away with lessper transaction as a result."

Although it is usually the banksand retailers that pick up the tab for card fraud, Ms Quinn saysconsumers lose out too: "Having your card details stolen and used canbe worrying and create a lot of hassle. What's more, people areincreasingly finding that when they are on holiday abroad, their cardsare being stopped for security purposes."

DON'T LET THE CROOKS STEAL YOUR MONEY. TEN TIPS FOR PLASTIC SAFETY

Continue Reading at The Independent 







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Dubai: Credit Card Fraud Doubles in Last Year



Credit card fraud doubled in past year, police say

By Siham Al Najami, Staff Reporter
Published: March 14, 2009, 23:03

Dubai: More than 300 financial-related crimes were reported in 2008 with more than 600 people charged with such offencss, a senior police official said.

Lieutenant Colonel Abdul Rahman Al Nuaimi, Director of Dubai Police's Counter Economic Crimes Department, told Gulf News there were 322 financial-related cases last year while 602 individuals of different nationalities were charged.

In January 2009, 32 financial-related crimes were reported with 47 individuals charged with various kinds of crimes. While in February of this year, 30 cases were reported with 56 people charged, Lieutenant Colonel Al Nuaimi said.

The Department classifies economic related crime into three divisions: combating commercial fraud, combating deception and fraud and combating forgery.  The commercial fraud division includes intellectual property protection and trademark protection, he said.

The latest financial-related crimes were related to credit card fraud such as the arrest made last month by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of a member of a four-strong gang which specialised in counterfeiting credit cards and using them to buy expensive jewellery and watches.

In the same month more than 500 forged credit cards were recovered from two gangs in Dubai, who are accused of withdrawing "huge" sums of money from an ATM in a shopping mall.

On February 9, the police arrested the three other gang members in a nightclub, they had in their possession expensive goods, money and fake IDs.

Police also found memory cards, electronics, laptops and equipment used to clone credit cards and 146 blank cards ready to be counterfeited.


In a seminar held in January, Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Dubai Police's Deputy Commandant General, urged banks to issue credit cards with pin codes for all transactions as fraud cases had more than doubled in the last year.

Credit and debit card fraud cases went up from 32 registered cases in 2007 to 65 cases in 2008. Cases of document forgery, however, have fallen from 876 in 2007 to 523 in 2008.

The most common crimes involving credit and debit card reported by Dubai Police are the use of credit cards after being stolen or lost before the card holder reported the loss; the stealing of bank information by hacking into a credit card with the help of a skimmer (a machine that can read credit card information) and the theft of credit cards by courier delivery boys, which they sell at a cheap price to criminals.


Continue Reading at GulfNews.com





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