Credit Card Fraud Is The New Theft Frontier For Restaurants

Another reason to complete the transaction at the table. "Over billing a customer – ringing a charge in twice – and then swapping the credit card revenue for cash is a standard way to increase revenue if you are a server. It is done more frequently than anyone cares to admit." Says John Foley in the article below.

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According to the Secret Service, each skimming incident nets at least $33,000 in losses

In an interview discussing how magnetic stripes are fueling skimming, ADT's John Pearce (see link below) Pearce states, "Skimming remains one of the top three fraud incidents the financial industry faces, According to the Secret Service, each skimming incident nets at least $33,000 in losses" - a significant increase from just two years ago. Read the entire interview in the article below:

[READ FULL ARTICLE]

Stopping Credit Card Fraud Starts with Us. Canada is catching on to this. Being aware, following practices to keep from having your card compromised is of utter importance. In the article below it states that Credit Card Fraud is decreasing due to credit card users being more careful. Share our page with your friends so you and you network of friends can be aware of Fraud.

Full Article- [HERE]

RFID Skimming

RFID skimming is on the rise. In the news story below the police state that they really have no way of knowing if someone's card is compromised via RFID scanners. They would have to catch someone red-handed before they would be able to determine. Make sure to take precautions to avoid having your credit card skimmed. There are companies out there that create wallets for men and women and sleeves for your cards to go in that block RFID scanners from stealing your card information.

[FULL STORY]

Here is why you should always check the ATM you are about to use.

In the news report below a person was withdrawing cash from an ATM machine when the skimming device fell off of the machine. This is a great example of why you should always check the ATM you are using. Most of the time the criminals are not putting an elaborate plan together to keep their skimmers attached. For the most part they are looking to have something that can be fixed to the machine and removed from the machine in a matter of seconds. Always give the card reader a small tug before using.

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Armenian Gang De-Frauds Southern California Victims for at least $20 Million

99 members of an Armenian Gang have been charged in two federal indictments and by the LA county district court for skimming and other related fraudulent crimes that cost Southern California victims at least $20 Million. The link below will take you to the Grand Jury Indictment where the First 8 pages detail the skimming related items.

[ARMENIAN GANG STORY]

Skimming on American Airlines

If you are using your card on an airline to pay for a drink, food, or the super nice headphones they supply, keep an eye on what that nice flight attendant is doing with your card. A recent arrest was made where an American Airlines employee was skimming customers cards for a 3 year stint. She ran up some $480,000.00 and now faces 48 years behind bars.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

A New Skimming Tactic

A new skimming tactic. Rather than fixing a skimmer on equipment like and ATM or a Gas Station pump, these criminals planted the skimming device in the station at the register!

Watch and Read the story [HERE]

CBS Early Show does segment on Avoiding Credit Card Fraud

Very good information on using Wi-Fi hot-spots for purchases online, ATM's, and how 1 out of 5 people are victims of skimming.

Watch Video [HERE]

Fast Food Card Skimming

Another major fast food chain, another skimming case with the drive through window. As with the other fast food chain cases, the skimming was happening when customers handed their card to the drive through window clerk. Make sure to keep a close eye on your cards whenever you let them out of your hand.

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Pub credit card server hacked, customers card are compromised.

Detective Dan Russel States: "This could hurt their reputation, and I don't think they've done anything to deserve that." I feel for the Pub Owner, but, know that if they had followed the PCI sec. steps this kind of breach probably would not have happened to the Pub or the customers. Question to ask, going into the weekend: Are you PCI compliant?

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Google Alert: Credit Card Skimming

I have a Google Alert set up for "Credit Card Skimming." Every day I am blown away by the amount of emails I receive with different stories of skimming. In this picture you will see what came into my in box between 12:00pm and 5:30pm PST today. Spread the word about our page to your friends and family, everyone should know what to look for with credit card skimming.

From the mouth of a credit card thief: "You can't be too careful"

Dan DeFelippi, age 29 was caught after stealing credit card information online or by paying wait staff to skim cards at restaurants. He would take the card numbers stored on the magnetic strip, make new cards, fake ID's, and then go use these to purchase items at local stores. He was caught however and after being convicted was asked by the US Secret Service to help them infiltrate the online underground and train Secret Service employees on how to stop credit card fraud. He did a Q&A session recently with CreditCards.com, click the link below to read this article:

[Dan DeFelippi Q&A]

Man charged for skimming about 350 credit cards at his 3 smoke shops in Nevada.

53-year old Gevorg Kegeyan is charged with fraudulent use of a credit card. Investigators searched three of his smoke shop businesses and say they found skimmers and about 350 fraudulent credit, debit and gift cards.

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Printing Cards To Look Identical To Real Ones

What you are seeing in the following video is how easy it is to create fake credit cards. This video is of a person who purchased a printer that can print up to 3,000 cards that look identical to real credit cards. After the skimmed card numbers are stamped on the card along with the real name of the criminal, a clerk would not be able to tell the card was fraudulent. Even after checking and ID, think about that.

[VIDEO]

Ever stop utilize the drive through at your favorite fast food restaurant or coffee shop?

Next time you hand your card to the person at window 2, think about this. 4 McDonald's employees were arrested for skimming some 57 customers cards in New Orleans recently. I bet Ronald isn't too happy about this one.

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Skimming, A World Wide Phenomena

Four waiters were arrested for credit card fraud after skimming devices and several cloned cards were found. The waiters had been skimming customer's cards, taking them home and using re-encoding devices to create duplicates.

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Two Dozen Arraigned in Skimming Ring

About two dozen people have been charged with stealing credit card data and using it to make counterfeit credit cards that they used to buy and resell goods across the country, according to an indictment filed on Tuesday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

The ring stole nearly $1 million, using the forged credit cards to buy items like iPods and MacBooks in cities including New York; Los Angeles; Indianapolis; Orlando, Fla.; and Las Vegas, according to court documents.

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Your working credit card number, fetches as little as $2.

Credit Card Fraud markets operate in line with the normal laws of supply and demand. There are competing prices, additional services are offered, free trials, money-back guarantees if the data doesn't work (or if the account doesn't have a guaranteed minimum balance) … even anonymous shopping by third parties

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