pongo Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Wall St Journal - Full Story Examining the store's credit-card readers, investigators discovered a high-tech bug tucked behind the motherboard. It was small card containing wireless communication technology. The bug would read an individual's card number and the corresponding personal identification number, then package and store the data. The device would once a day call a number in Lahore to upload the data to servers there and obtain instructions on what to steal next. A MasterCard spokesman declined to discuss details of the case but said safeguarding financial information is a top priority for the company. There is no obvious visual indication that a machine has been altered, but those with the bugs weigh about four ounces more. For the past several months, teams of investigators have been weighing thousands of machines across Europe with a precision scale. So far, investigators have found hundreds of machines in at least five countries: Britain, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark. They have turned up at European grocery chains including Asda, which is owned by Wal-Mart; Tesco; and J Sainsbury PLC, according to the person close to British law enforcement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemonday Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 U.S. intelligence officials, including senior National Security Agency officials, are monitoring the case, in part because of its ties to Pakistan, which has become home to a resurgent al Qaeda. So conceivably, you could buy some yogurt and involuntarily donate to Bin Laden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mission Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Worrying indeed. I saw on the news today that the darkmarket forum had been shut down too (a kinda one-stop shop for crims) one card for instance had £250k worth of goods booked to it (but more worringly, there was the potential for £10 million worth available on it! ) It doesn't seem to matter what security measures they put in place, the crims still manage to be one step ahead and rack up an unbelievable amount of debt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemonday Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Bartering may be the answer. Today I am taking a fine barrel of herrings and six turnips to Ramsey. Who knows what I shall return with......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonan3 Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Bartering may be the answer.Today I am taking a fine barrel of herrings and six turnips to Ramsey. Who knows what I shall return with......... Crabs, probably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manshimajin Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Now I'm sure that this is a coincidence but last year we filled up with fuel in a hire car at A Shell service station before returning the vehicle to Gatwick Airport. It was very busy and the staff seem very obliging. A couple of days later I get a call from the bank to ask if I had had any card transactions in the USA at the same time that I had been in the UK. Some person had been going around WalMart Atlantic City running up about $2,000 of bills on the card. The bank Visa department were excellent - spotted the problem, stopped any other possible use and got in touch with me quickly. They also recovered the funds from WalMart. Since then if we go into a petrol station we always use cash. Maybe I am being unfair on the Shell station but I keep reading that petrol stations are the place where your card is most likely to be skimmed. The only other transactions were at local shops that I know. Of course they could have had something put in their readers but is this as likely on the IOM when there are bigger fish to fry in the UK? What I also wonder is how do they get around the chip and PIN security? Is it correct that in the USA they don't have this safeguard on transactions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pongo Posted October 18, 2008 Author Share Posted October 18, 2008 I also wonder is how do they get around the chip and PIN security? Is it correct that in the USA they don't have this safeguard on transactions? Apropos the WSJ story - the bugged machines were also recording and transmitting PINs according to the podcast I heard which mentioned this item. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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