Tag Archives: mastercard

Here’s Why Credit Card Fraud is Still a Thing

July 29, 2020

Most of the civilized world years ago shifted to requiring computer chips in payment cards that make it far more expensive and difficult for thieves to clone and use them for fraud. One notable exception is the United States, which is still lurching toward this goal. Here’s a look at the havoc that lag has wrought, as seen through the purchasing patterns at one of the underground’s biggest stolen card shops that was hacked last year.

Wawa Breach May Have Compromised More Than 30 Million Payment Cards

January 28, 2020

In late December 2019, fuel and convenience store chain Wawa Inc. said a nine-month-long breach of its payment card processing systems may have led to the theft of card data from customers who visited any of its 850 locations nationwide. Now, fraud experts say the first batch of card data stolen from Wawa customers is being sold at one of the underground’s most popular crime shops, which claims to have 30 million records to peddle from a new nationwide breach.

Takeaways from the $566M BriansClub breach

October 29, 2019

Reporting on the exposure of some 26 million stolen credit cards leaked from a top underground cybercrime store highlighted some persistent and hard truths. Most notably, that the world’s largest financial institutions tend to have a much better idea of which merchants and which bank cards have been breached than do the thousands of smaller banks and credit unions across the United States. Also, a great deal of cybercrime seems to be perpetrated by a relatively small number of people.

How to Avoid Card Skimmers at the Pump

June 26, 2018

Previous stories here on the proliferation of card-skimming devices hidden inside fuel pumps have offered a multitude of security tips for readers looking to minimize their chances of becoming the next victim, such as favoring filling stations that use security cameras and tamper-evident tape on their pumps. But according to police in San Antonio, Texas, there are far more reliable ways to avoid getting skimmed at a fuel station.

Equifax Hackers Stole 200k Credit Card Accounts in One Fell Swoop

September 14, 2017

Visa and MasterCard are sending confidential alerts to financial institutions across the United States this week, warning them about more than 200,000 credit cards that were stolen in the epic data breach announced last week at big-three credit bureau Equifax. At first glance, the private notices obtained by KrebsOnSecurity appear to suggest that hackers were first able to steal credit card numbers from Equifax starting in November 2016. But Equifax says the accounts were all stolen at the same time — when hackers accessed the company’s systems in mid-May 2017.

Payments Giant Verifone Investigating Breach

March 7, 2017

Credit and debit card payments giant Verifone [NYSE: PAY] is investigating a breach of its corporate computer networks that could impact companies running its point-of-sale solutions, according to multiple sources. Verifone says the extent of the breach was “limited” and that its payment services network was not impacted.

San Jose, Calif.-based Verifone is the largest maker of credit card terminals used in the United States. It sells point-of-sale terminals and services to support the swiping and processing of credit and debit card payments at a variety of businesses, including retailers, taxis, and fuel stations.

On Jan. 23, 2017, Verifone sent an “urgent” email to all company staff and contractors, telling them that they had 24 hours to change all company passwords.

Fast Food Chain Arby’s Acknowledges Breach

February 9, 2017

Sources at nearly a half-dozen banks and credit unions independently reached out over the past 48 hours to inquire if I’d heard anything about a data breach at Arby’s fast-food restaurants. Asked about the rumors, Arby’s told KrebsOnSecurity that it recently remediated a breach involving malicious software installed on payment card systems at hundreds of its restaurant locations nationwide.

The Great EMV Fake-Out: No Chip For You!

February 16, 2016

Many banks are now issuing customers more secure chip-based credit cards, and most retailers now have card terminals in their checkout lanes that can handle the “dip” of chip-card transactions (as opposed to the usual swipe of the card’s magnetic stripe). But comparatively few retailers actually allow chip transactions: Most are still asking customers to swipe the stripe instead of dip the chip. This post will examine what’s going on here, why so many merchants are holding out on the dip, and where this all leaves consumers.

JPMorgan Hackers Breached Anti-Fraud Vendor G2 Web Services

November 13, 2015

Buried in the federal indictments unsealed this week against four men accused of stealing tens of millions of consumer records from JPMorgan Chase and other brokerage firms are a series of other unnamed companies that were similarly victimized by the accused. One of them, identified in the indictments only as “Victim #12,” is an entity that helps banks block transactions for dodgy goods advertised in spam. Turns out, the hackers targeted this company so that they could better push through payments for spam-advertised prescription drugs and fake antivirus schemes.

According to multiple sources, Victim #12 is none other than Bellevue, Wash. based G2 Web Services LLC, a company that helps banks figure out if a website is fraudulent or is selling contraband. G2 Web Services did not respond to multiple requests for comment.