Man pleads guilty for skimming ring and is looking at 30+ years

We reported about a skimming case a a Washington DC Cheese Cake Factory a while back. The man responsible for that, among other restaurants, plead guilty and is not facing 32 years in prison.

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What is Dine Fraud Free??

Check out this video to learn more! DINE FRAUD FREE

Payment card fraud swelled 32% from January to June 2010, compared to last year.

If your business accepts credit cards, you may want to beef up your credit card security systems because credit-card fraud has increased to “unprecedented levels” in the United States, according to new research. A new report reveals payment fraud swelled by 32 percent to $1.14 billion from January to June compared with the same time span last year. And there’s no clear sign of a slowdown. Call us to find out new ways to secure your payment system.

4th meal could end up costing you more than you anticipated!

At a Taco Bell in Michigan, the drive through attendants were being hired by a couple of masterminds who would pay them to skim customers cards. The attendants would then sell the equipment full of fraudulent card information for $100.00 to $4,000.00 back to the masterminds. One victim stated: “He had my card for a little bit, when we got home we got our bank statement and on it, we were missing $500.”

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"The restaurant had nothing to do with the fraud"

Below is a story that sparked our eye. Within the story one police officer states: "the restaurant had nothing to do with the fraud" Supposedly some Romanian was able to hack into the restaurant and steal the credit card information from customers. This is something that the restaurant can prevent by following the 1st step to the PCI data security requirements: "you must install and maintain a secure network firewall to protect data..." Our company has a Compliance guarantee as well as a solution to avoid card fraud at the point you hand your card over.

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Las Vegas Man skims some 13,800!

A Nevada man is caught and if convicted faces 30 years in prison as well as a $1,000,000.00 fine on each bank fraud account as well as 20 years in prison and $250,000.00 on each access device count. Guess that is what you get for skimming 13,800 cards and obtaining$591,872 from more that 10 financial institutions. Skimming is no joke these days and people are paying the price for doing it.

Man caught using his card with a victims card information on it

Earlier this month, police said they were investigating numerous reports of credit card theft. Roseville Police Department spokeswoman Dee Dee Gunther said the probe determined that somehow the computer system at Paul Martin's American Bistro in town had been compromised and the credit card numbers of restaurant customers were being sold online to others who were using the numbers to fraudulently obtain credit and make purchases.

Computer security experts and police cleared American Bistro staff and customers of any involvement, determining the restaurant had fallen victim to a cyber attack.

Gunther said on Monday, police investigators arrested Vinh Thien Huynh, 22, of Stockton on suspicion of identity theft, grand theft and other charges relateded to the unlawful use of a credit card or access card. Huynh was nabbed when he tried to use a credit card in his name but with a restaurant victim's credit account numbers to make purchases at a local department store.

Gunther said another person was arrested in Michigan under similar circumstances. She said the expectation was that many more would be arrested as they attempted to use the fraudulently-obtained credit.

Huynh was booked into Placer County Jail on $75,000 bail.

Card information being sold for as little as $.84 cents

Check out this video to learn about underground skimming rings and how your card information could be sold for as low as $.84 cents.

VIDEO

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5 tips for you to review going into the weekend

The 6th tip, not mentioned in this article, DEMAND THE DINE FRAUD FREE PROGRAM AT RESTAURANTS YOU HAND YOUR CARDS OVER TO THE SERVER AT!

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As economic conditions have worsened, there's been a noticeable increase in all types of card fraud.

Consumer Reports did an article that I found today discussing ways to protect your account data from getting into the wrong hands. The article below is a very good read for anyone who uses a debit or credit card on a regular basis.

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Where is your Card Information?

Not only are your cards safer with Dine Fraud Free at the time of purchase, but our company makes sure that the locations you use your cards at are storing your information the safe way as well. Here is another case of restaurant patrons cards being compromised, AFTER, they have dined and left the building.

STORY

Are you truly PCI compliant?

If you own or operate a business, does your current company say that you are PCI compliant? If they do, you may want to make sure they actually are. Our Dine Fraud Free program comes with a PCI compliance guarantee. This means that you are protecting your customers cards from the front of house to the back. If you foll...ow all the steps of the data security guidelines, cases like the following, would not happen.

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Man caught 2 years after skimming customers cards

A Bronx man was arrested Thursday following a joint Westchester County Police-U.S. Secret Service investigation into the theft of credit card information that was later used to buy more than $100,000 in consumer electronics.

James Davis, 31, is accused of using a skimming device to steal the credit card information while he was working as a waiter at the Cheesecake Factory restaurant in White Plains in late 2008. Davis was charged with 11 counts of grand larceny in the fourth degree and 11 counts of unlawful possession of personal identification information in the third degree, felonies, and one count of scheme to defraud, a misdemeanor.

Davis was also found in possession of several small bags of cocaine when he was arrested. An additional charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree, a felony, is pending.

The investigation into Davis began in January 2009 when the U.S. Secret Service contacted county police about suspicious transactions involving credit card information that was stolen in Westchester. The credit card information was used to make unauthorized online purchases from Best Buy and AT&T.

Detective Ted Polant of the county police General Investigations Unit subsequently determined that the Westchester victims had all dined at the same restaurant in White Plains. Davis, who was a waiter there, was identified as a suspect in the thefts but he resigned before the investigation was complete. County police have been looking for him since early 2009.

Polant recently developed information that Davis would be meeting someone on East 161st Street in the Bronx on Thursday morning. Davis was taken into custody there.

County police believe that Davis did not make the unauthorized purchases himself, but sold the information to others who committed those frauds. The investigation is continuing.

Davis was arraigned Thursday afternoon in White Plains City Court and is being held in lieu of $5,000 bail at the Westchester County Jail in Valhalla.

Another Restaurant Server Skimming Cards

A St. Louis restaurant has been victim to one of its servers skimming customers cards. Check out the story at the video below.

VIDEO

Are you new to following us?

We want to hear from you. Have you or anyone you know ever been a victim of ID theft or Credit Card Fraud? If so, tell us your story!

Here is a quick video on who we are: www.dinefraudfree.com

Cautious Consumers Prefer to Pay Now as Opposed to Pay Later

The Newsweek article below shows that consumers are choosing to use their Debit cards over their credit cards so they can pay now rather than later. As the president of our company says "Who wants to finance their mashed potato's?" With Dine Fraud Free we support all forms of debit, including PIN debit transactions at 0%. With the opportunity for restaurants to take PIN debit at the table, the savings are endless.

NEWSWEEK

Consumer warning suggests alternate payment types when paying at the pump

Check out Dine Fraud Free's program, the PAY@PUMP solution

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Consumer Reports is warning that debit-card skimming is on the rise at gas pumps and ATMs, and suggesting consumers use debit cards like credit cards or pay cash at the pump.

In a report title "Warning: Summer upswing in gas-pump and ATM 'skimmers,' " the publication reported, "In recent months, banks have reported a sharp rise in this type of crime, especially at gas pumps, where some crooks are using Bluetooth devices to make their job even easier. They can simply park near a station where they've tampered with a pump and then download the stolen data onto a laptop."

Skimmers are devices that thieves install on ATMs and gas pumps to steal the account data stored on the magnetic stripe of credit or debit cards.

Why the surge in skimming? Avivah Litan, a senior analyst at Gartner Research specializing in fraud detection and prevention, told Consumer Reports that organized criminal gangs from Eastern Europe have been coming to the United States to set up skimming operations, and their primary target is the data stored on the magnetic stripe of consumers' debit or ATM card.

"Organized criminals have discovered how easy it is," Litan told the publication. "Collecting PINs and ATM card data is as good as getting cash. It's much easier and more lucrative than stealing credit-card data and then selling it on the black market."

The Consumer Reports alert lists recent skimming incidents in Arizona, Florida and Utah. And about 30% of respondents to a CSP Daily News Poll reported their stores have been the victim of skimming.

In one incident reported this past week, AM850 Radio in Gainesville, Fla., reported that gas station owners and managers are taking precautions to stop the skimmers from stealing from gas station customers.

"The Kangaroo store on Southwest 13th Street placed tape on its pumps last week, and, if they're tampered with, the word 'void' will appear on the pump," according to the report.

A spokeswoman for the Gainesville Police Department said the best way for customers to protect themselves is to pay inside at the register.

Since July, a dozen credit-card skimming devices have been found in Alachua County, Fla., according to the report.

Consumer Reports summarized, "The bottom line is that if you must use a debit card at the gas pump, select the option that pops up on the screen to have your purchase processed as a credit-card transaction rather than typing in your PIN. And of course, you can avoid risk altogether if you pay with cash when you fill up."

More Customers Losing Hundreds if not Thousands.

Another restaurant is hit by not having secure software for their customers cards to be securely processed on. My company specializes in helping restaurants not only have a fraud free way of taking cards, but also, providing our services to make sure that merchants processing software is not vulnerable to security breaches.

One quote that stands out from the article: "Restaurant owners can help combat this type of theft by using a good Point of Sale Vendor with PCI compliant hardware and software"

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Even More Secure Payment at the Table!!

Not only can we offer you secure transactions at the table, now the transactions will be even MORE secure with First Data's TransArmor which will replace the card information with a token number that prevents the valuable card information from being compromised. Read more at the following link.

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Authorities Say, "Second Time This Year"

In Twin Cities, MN authorities recently indicted 7 restaurant servers for alleged credit card fraud. The servers were skimming cards at a few local restaurants, then duplicating the card numbers onto fraudulent cards. This is yet another case nationally, and from what the authorities say, the second time this year in their area.

READ MORE: SKIMMING RING