3 arrested for skimming over 100 people's cards.

They obtained all they needed by placing a small camera above the pin pad recording the users PIN numbers while at the same time skimming the card number!

READ MORE

How easy is it for criminals to purchase a skimmer you may ask?

We are here to tell you, it is not too difficult. When you hand your card over to that server this weekend, remember this link: CLICK HERE

Who do you hand your card over to?

In this day and age, servers are not the only people to worry about with your plastic. Read the article below, you may be amazed at who else you have to worry about!

[ARTICLE]

24 year old pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit credit card fraud

James Lewis Reynolds, Jr., of 2610 Hooker Street, was one of several people who left Michigan in early 2009 and used counterfeited, re-encoded credit cards to buy retail gift cards at numerous Giant Eagle stores across Ohio and Pennsylvania. Losses totaled near $120,000

How long should you wait for a check?

Among important factors such as food and service, a recent study shows that when dining out, timing is one of the top 3 things looked at. One patron stated, "Besides the food and cleanliness of an establishment, timeliness is everything." With Dine Fraud Free, patrons are able to pay when they want and leave when they want. No more waiting on a server to bring the check back and forth from the POS terminal. Call today to find out more of the benefits (877)217-0707

Alpine Payment Systems

According to the BBB...

1 in 5 people are/have been victims to credit/debit card skimming. This number is rapidly growing with the economy as more and more criminals look for easier ways to make a buck. Make sure you are spreading the word about Dine Fraud Free to your peers to ensure that their cards are kept secure.

[READ MORE]

2 Get Prison for skimming credit cards

Two men received prison sentences Tuesday after pleading guilty in a credit card-skimming operation that was uncovered at a Martinez gas station and victimized customers throughout Northern California.

David Karapetyan, 32, and Zhirayr Zamanyan, 31, both of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty in Contra Costa County Superior Court to all the charges against them.

They were among four men accused of stealing more than $158,000 from 196 people.

Karapetyan and Zamanyan installed a skimming device on a gas pump at the 7-Eleven gas station at 530 Morello Ave. in Martinez, police said. The device, which was discovered by a store employee, was set up to capture account numbers and PIN's of the customers who used the pump.

Stylist to the stars agrees to plead guilty to skimming

Maria Gabriela Hashemipour, 51, agreed to plead guilty for skimming numerous celebrity credit cards. Of which, she stole two of actress Liv Tyler's credit cards and racked up about $214,000 in fraudulent charges from the studio over a five-month period last year.

[READ MORE]

Appears another POS system was hacked in Charlotte NC

"They go in remotely, either with passwords or they get around passwords using some sort of malware, and remove the information," says a Charlotte detective when discussing the recent credit card fraud originating from what appears to be another restaurant POS system hack.

[CLICK HERE TO READ MORE]

Three Men Accused of Skimming In New York

Three men accused of skimming were arrested while attempting to purchase $1,000.00 gift cards with skimmed credit cards.

[YOU TUBE]

Total ID theft losses exceed $17 billion

According to Bureau of Justice Statistics, 5% of U.S. residents over the age of 16 fell victim to identity theft within a two-year period. Nationwide 1 out of 4 of those victims faced out of pocket loses of an average $1,870.00. Total losses exceeded $17 billion dollars.

Alpine Payment Systems, Dine Fraud Free program is not only a preventative measure for the restaurant industry. All industries in which a card leaves the customers hand can benefit from the secure form of payment. Find out more by [CLICKING HERE]

Follow us on our other sites!

Facebook

Dine Fraud Free/Wordpress

LinkedIN

Alpine Payment Systems

We appreciate all of our followers! If you or someone you know has experience credit card fraud have them share their story on this page. Also, don't forget to share the posts we have with your Facebook friends by clicking the "share" button below. The more you and your friends know the better you and they are at preventing credit card fraud.

Another bar hacked and numerous customers card information is compromised

After finding out that his card information was compromised at a local bar when hackers were able to obtain months of card information without bar owners knowing, this customer stated that he is going to start using cash. There is another solution. Alpine Payment Systems offers a PCI compliance assistance program as well as our Dine Fraud Free program; merchants can rest assured that they are protected not only at the front of house, but also their back of house.


Watch Video: [YOU TUBE]

Two men sentenced to prison after admitting role in skimming ring

Two men in the bay area plead guilty for their role in a skimming scheme that took more thatn $90,000.0 and affected over 200 people.

[READ MORE]

Experts predict this will be a banner year for ID theft

Experts have made these predictions for 2011:

• Organized crime will continue to embrace and expand its ability to gather and sell personal information. Crime groups that do so are also attached to drugs, trafficking, counterfeiting, moving stolen goods and selling stolen information.

• Cyber crime and hacking will increase, despite attempts to increase security. Criminals will continue to make use of devices that capture credit or debit card information, which is called “skimming.”

Skimming techniques are increasing, with criminals now using cryptographic technology to protect the card information they steal, making detection more difficult and posing even more challenges for law enforcement.

In recent months, warnings about skimming devices have filled the Internet. The advice to consumers has been to look at the outward appearance of ATM machines and gas pumps, and to not use any device that shows any irregularity. However, that advice is already outdated, not that skimming devices are being installed inside machines, such as a self-service gas pump, and malicious software on point-of-sale terminals.

The common practice now has become the use of such software so that the criminal can access the information via the Internet remotely. Some criminals are even foregoing the use of skimming devices. If they can compromise the computer that is attached to the point-of-sale device, they can download the information from the business remotely.

Merchants need to make sure that their equipment and point-of-sale devices are up to date with all PCI compliance requirements. If you do not know how to go about this, contact our company today (877)217-0707. Alpine Payment Systems Compliance Assistance Program ensures that all of our customers have their customers card information protected and secure.

What does this mean for consumers? It means you must be vigilant and monitor your bank and credit card statements, and report any irregularities or fraudulent entries as soon as possible.

Assuming it won’t happen to you just isn’t going to cut it these days.

The convenience of paying at the pump may come with a new price

It has been announced that over 600 drivers have had their credit cards compromised at one Melbourne Florida gas station. The police are stating that the same thieves may have hijacked pumps elsewhere in Central Florida, and the bad part is that drivers would never have known their card numbers were taken because the skimming device was in the pump. This is one of the new skimming methods that we have been reporting for some time now. A couple of things to look for when using a pump at your local gas station:

1) Look to see if there is visible tampering with the card reader

2) Give the card reader a good wiggle and tug

3) Most gas stations are putting tamper tape next to the key hole on the front of the pump, make sure that the tape has not been tampered.

4) When possible, either use the Pay@Pump device or pay inside.

READ THE NEWS REPORT [HERE]

Ever think of how your card info can be compromised by a cell phone?

Not only do you have to worry about skimming devices in the restaurant setting, you also should be aware that most servers carry cellular phones on them while working. With cell phone technology, servers can take photos of both sides of your card or even text the important numbers to their partner in crime. Check out the link to read about two waiters who used their cell phones to steal customers card information.

[READ MORE]

"If your credit limit is $5,000, that's what they get. If it's a debit card, they empty your bank account,"

"If your credit limit is $5,000, that's what they get. If it's a debit card, they empty your bank account," this is what one Florida Law Enforcement officer stated after they located a skimming device on a Gas Pump that has already affected 600 locals.

[READ MORE]

From the mouth of a Credit Card Thief

Below is an interview with Dan DeFelippi who was sentenced for credit card fraud in 2004. His crime of choice was taking skimmed credit card numbers and then re-writing them on blank cards. Follow the link to read the interview.

[ INTERVIEW ]

Ruby Tuesday waiter sentenced for skimming

Ruby Tuesday waiter sentenced who used a skimming device to obtain customers card info that he would then sell to others who would ring up thousands of dollars. Who are you handing your card over to when eating at your favorite restaurant? Demand DINE FRAUD FREE so your card doesn't have to leave your hand!

[READ MORE]

175 cases of fraud involving a California gas station is sending ripples through a tiny foothill community

Crime is rare in Sierra Madre, so 175 cases of fraud involving a local gas station is sending ripples through the tiny foothill community.

Sierra Madre police say most of the victims are local residents who use credit cards at EVG Quality Gas, and investigators expect to find more.

The first victim reported an identity theft to police Dec. 27 after using her credit card at the station at 50 S. Baldwin Ave.

By noon Monday, Sierra Madre police officers had received more than 175 fraud reports linked to EVG. The total loss exceeds $49,000.

About 75% of the cases involved a single fraudulent transaction at the station known for less-expensive gas than other brands.

Most of the multiple-transaction cases involved ATM and retail transactions. Six cases involved a half-dozen transactions each, and one involved nine transactions.

The largest loss from an individual case was $3,782.

Sierra Madre detectives have served a search warrant and are interviewing people, and several law enforcement and regulatory agencies are providing additional resources.

Police Chief Marilyn Diaz is warning anyone who used a credit or debit card at EVG to check their statements back to at least June 2010.

Albert Gonzalez

Albert Gonzalez, known online as CumbaJohnny, was the mastermind behind shadowcrew.com, a black market website for hackers to sell stolen credit card numbers, Social Security Numbers, passports, and just about any other type of information imaginable. But when he got arrested for credit card fraud in 2003, he switched sides and became the key informant for the government in “Operation: Firewall,” a massive program designed to take down hackers. Thanks to Gonzalez’s assistance, 28 hackers, scattered across eight states and six foreign countries, were indicted on charges of selling around 1.7 million credit card numbers. For his assistance, Gonzalez was immune from all charges and was offered a job at the Secret Service.

With the Secret Service looking over his shoulder, Gonzalez developed a new online persona known as “soupnazi” to help snare hackers for the U.S. Government. But once he left the office for the day, soupnazi partnered with hacker Maksym Yastremski (aka Maksik), a Ukrainian whose sales of stolen credit card information were said to have reached $11 million between 2004 and 2006 alone.

To get credit card numbers for Maksik to sell, soupnazi and his hacker friends began “wardriving” – driving around town with a laptop hooked up to a powerful antenna, looking for wireless network signals they could breach. From the parking lots of major stores like TJMaxx, Target, Barnes & Noble, and many others, they installed “packet sniffers,” software that can sit on the server undetected and grab data, like every credit or debit card transaction, from the store’s vulnerable computer network. The sniffer then sent the credit card information over the internet to one of Yastremski’s PCs in Turkey, allowing them to collect thousands of valid credit card numbers. Meanwhile, two European cohorts hacked Heartland Payment Systems, one of the largest credit card payment processing companies in the world, and stole card information from an astonishing 130 million transactions. With the two operations combined, Gonzalez and Yastremski were sitting on a virtual goldmine.

With an influx of cash, Gonzalez bought a brand new BMW, and blew thousands of dollars every weekend with his hacker friends on drinks, drugs, women, and swanky hotel suites. That year, he also threw himself a $75,000 birthday party. By this time, Gonzalez was no longer working for the Secret Service, who suspected he was up to no good but couldn’t find any evidence. Gonzalez had taught the feds much of what they knew about hacking, so he also knew how to cover his tracks. Their suspicions were confirmed when Ukrainian authorities caught up with Gonzalez’s partner, Yastremski. After searching through the files on Yastremski’s seized computers, investigators found records of over 600 instant message conversations about acquiring stolen card numbers for sale. The IM name Yastremski was talking to was registered to the email address soupnazi@efnet.ru.

Gonzalez and 10 others were indicted in federal court in August 2008. Gonzalez pleaded guilty to all charges and, in March 2010, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. It’s been estimated that the companies hit by soupnazi and his crew have spent more than $400 million to cover the damages done by these 11 men and their 11 computers.