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15-04-2006
Revealed: how credit
cards are plundered on the Net
By Jonathan Richards
THE
credit card details of thousands of Britons are being sold in internet
chat rooms by criminals who hack into company computer systems and
steal information in order to commit identity fraud.
Every day at least 400 credit card numbers, along with other personal
information including three-digit security codes, PINs and dates of
birth, are sold by the gangs, The Times has learnt. Other
pieces of information routinely taken include phone numbers, e-mail
and street addresses, and mother’s maiden names.
A
credit card number sells for $1 (60p), while a card with a three-digit
code fetches $5. Additional security information such as a mother’s
maiden name can add $10 to a card’s value and a working PIN can push
the price up as high as £100.
The
thieves target both companies whose customers buy online and those
that take orders by more conventional means, demonstrating that it is
not just internet-based companies that are at risk but any
organisation that holds personal information about consumers.
The
Times
contacted 14 customers whose details had been passed to it by a
US
company that monitors such chat rooms. They were astonished when a
reporter read out their credit card numbers.
The
names had been taken from unidentified British servers. By ringing the
individuals on each list and checking which purchases they had made on
the day the details were stolen, The Times was led to two
reputable companies — one a supplier of travel goods based in
Amesbury, Wiltshire, with a database of more than 20,000 customers,
the other a computer sales company in Sheffield. Neither company was
aware that its systems had been targeted.
The
names were among hundreds that were sold during a single night’s
trading in the chat rooms.
The
Serious Organised Crime Agency said that cybercrime was “among its
priorities” but declined to comment on the methods and resources being
used to combat it.
Alun
Michael, the e-Commerce Minister, said: “These findings are disturbing
and we will look at them very seriously.”
Banks are planning to address the problem by issuing card numbers
which are valid for single transactions only, meaning that if the
number is subsequently stolen from a company database, the risk to the
cardholder is substantially reduced.
Source: Timesonline.co.uk
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