OT: 'Tis the season to be scammed FA LA LA LA LAAAARGH

[forty_three]

Most of you know that I work in the shadowy dark place of computers, much like Batman.

Well, it looks like the scam of the month is credit card skimmers. So far, I have personally put my hands on two of them, and one of my co-horts is on his way to grab another. Security guys at many banks are reporting a lot of losses. There is one I heard of today that has $150K in fraud tied to one ATM.

What these things do is sit in the card slots in ATMs, Card parking meters, Movie Ticket Kiosks, anywhere you can "self service" with your card. They read the stripe as the card goes in and records it in memory. Then, anything you type in Postal Code, PIN, etc is also captured and stored.

The one they are going to find now was used at lunch today, and fraud has already shown up on the card, less than two hours later. It was a parking meter.

Keep an eye on your statements and notify the issuer of the card IMMEDIATELY if you notice any weird transactions. Especially ones for a dollar or a penny.

Also, (and this advice extends beyond credit cards) before you stick it in the slot, check it for anything weird. Loose fitting card guides, small tabs near the slot that could be used to get the skimmer back out, "dip readers" on ATMs that hold your card until the transaction is finished. All bad things. I also turn bluetooth on on my phone. These things sometimes communicate back to the scammer with Bluetooth. If I am standing next to an ATM and there is a device broadcasting Bluetooth nearby, I don't use that ATM.

If you find such a device, notify police. Don't take it out yourself. The bad guy may be watching it.


Note: this really doesn't apply to you Canadians, because your government has not been lobbied to death and your cards use Chip and PIN. Much harder to steal. Not impossible, but much harder.

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

Thanks for the heads up, Bru-...er...I mean...Batman.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

Note: this really doesn't apply to you Canadians, because your government has not been lobbied to death and your cards use Chip and PIN. Much harder to steal. Not impossible, but much harder.

as an aside ... man ... I guess I live a sheltered life but I just learned about the whole "drop" scam (filing fraudulent tax returns online) from an auditor from Florida who came and visited our business ... my mind was blown to hear that the IRS issues pre-loaded debit cards for tax refunds to some people

 

[forty_three]

Thanks for the heads up, Bru-...er...I mean...Batman.

I am not really Batman. One of my co-workers once described me as "half Robocop, half Doc Brown".

as an aside ... man ... I guess I live a sheltered life but I just learned about the whole "drop" scam (filing fraudulent tax returns online) from an auditor from Florida who came and visited our business ... my mind was blown to hear that the IRS issues pre-loaded debit cards for tax refunds to some people

Oh yeah. And they do it so they can collect interest until you have used it all. Insurance companies do it too. Accounts get filled, don't get used much and they reap benefits of interest.

One giant Insurance company actually made money on Katrina. They filled the cards for rebuild claims, but since no businesses in the area could start work and accept payments, some of these accounts with hundreds of thousands of dollars sat unused for a year or more. Cha-ching!

 

[jstewismybastardson]

Oh yeah. And they do it so they can collect interest until you have used it all. Insurance companies do it too. Accounts get filled, don't get used much and they reap benefits of interest.

One giant Insurance company actually made money on Katrina. They filled the cards for rebuild claims, but since no businesses in the area could start work and accept payments, some of these accounts with hundreds of thousands of dollars sat unused for a year or more. Cha-ching!

collecting interest isnt a crime though

the "drop" scam Im referring to is people filing false tax returns online using stolen identities and made up income amounts. The IRS issues tax refunds on these preloaded debit cards and the fraudster has 3 to 6 months before the IRS software verifies the tax return to the employer issued W-2's . So the auditor was talking about how the scam artists will have these cards with a $5000 refund and will go to atms for the next 17 days withdrawing the $300 max limit per day on the cards and then disappear

meanwhile the person whos information has been stolen goes to file their legit tax return online and gets an error message that a "return has already been filed for this SSN"

He was talking about how open the fraud is ... people advertising on Craigslist that they can teach you "how to drop" at a local seminar on a saturday at the nearby Holiday Inn ... rappers rapping about it in their "songs" lol

 

[forty_three]

^I was commenting on you saying your mind was blown that they even issue refunds on cards, and why they do it. Give me a wire transfer any day...

I am very well aware of the scam. Busted a few people for it. Dumbasses who deposited the cash in their own accounts. Hmmmm... 300 dollars in cash deposited every single day around 2 pm. Not suspicious at all...

Or better yet, buy something on Amazon and have it shipped to their home.

 

[esls79]

I've got a client who has his SSN used for this - only the crooks didn't realize he had balances owed on prior years - the refund gets applied to those first.

/the IRS has gotten better in the past year of trying to identify this and their computers do a much better job of flagging it, but it's still a major problem

 

[jstewismybastardson]

^I was commenting on you saying your mind was blown that they even issue refunds on cards, and why they do it. Give me a wire transfer any day...

I am very well aware of the scam. Busted a few people for it. Dumbasses who deposited the cash in their own accounts. Hmmmm... 300 dollars in cash deposited every single day around 2 pm. Not suspicious at all...

Or better yet, buy something on Amazon and have it shipped to their home.

point taken ... But my mind is blown by the fact thè irs offers a preloaded debit card as a refund payment option. They send a card with a pin # ... No different than handing out cash ... So liquid , transferable and virtually no legit paper trail

I was looking at it from the perspective that the irs created this mess and can easily fix it. I asked the auditor why give out these refunds on cards when direct deposit or efts exist and the reason why the irs does it is alot of people dont have bank accounts

 

[forty_three]

point taken ... But my mind is blown by the fact thè irs offers a preloaded debit card as a refund payment option. They send a card with a pin # ... No different than handing out cash ... So liquid , transferable and virtually no legit paper trail

I was looking at it from the perspective that the irs created this mess and can easily fix it. I asked the auditor why give out these refunds on cards when direct deposit or efts exist and the reason why the irs does it is alot of people dont have bank accounts

Why would I trust a bank with my money?

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

point taken ... But my mind is blown by the fact thè irs offers a preloaded debit card as a refund payment option. They send a card with a pin # ... No different than handing out cash ... So liquid , transferable and virtually no legit paper trail

I was looking at it from the perspective that the irs created this mess and can easily fix it. I asked the auditor why give out these refunds on cards when direct deposit or efts exist and the reason why the irs does it is alot of people dont have bank accounts

The real reason is that the entire financial system in the US is so hilariously outdated that it almost ceases to be funny anymore.

That would take a lot longer to explain though.