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Northland Couple Warns of Political Credit Card Fraud NORTH KANSAS CITY, MO. -- A North Kansas City couple has been left scratching their heads after they became the victims of a political scam. Steve and Rachel Larman say a strange credit card charge appeared on their statement this month -- a $2300 donation to Barack Obama's presidential campaign. The Larman's say they don't want this to be about their political affiliation, but they say they're not about to give the Obama campaign any help from their pocketbook. They said they notified Chase, their credit card bank, to report the fraud....

Another shoe to drop Bad credit-card debt could be next shot to economy, researcher says By Jennifer Waters, MarketWatch Last update: 7:42 p.m. EDT Sept. 30, 2008 CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Credit-card debt is on the brink of imploding and will be the next storm to hit the fragile finance industry, an investment research firm predicted this week. According to Innovest StrategicValue Advisors, banks will charge off $18.6 billion in delinquent credit-card accounts in the first quarter of 2009 and $96 billion in all of 2009, more than double the research firm's forecast for all of this year. Innovest projects that...

Credit card companies successfully nixed a Mythbusters segment exposing RFID's security flaws, according to Arbiter of Truth and Mythbusters co-host, Adam Savage. Texas Instruments comes on along with chief legal counsel for American Express, Visa, Discover, and everybody else... They were way, way outgunned and they absolutely made it really clear to Discovery that they were not going to air this episode talking about how hackable this stuff was, and Discovery backed way down being a large corporation that depends upon the revenue of the advertisers. Now it's on Discovery's radar and they won't let us go near it.

<p>U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, left, and U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukase...</p> <p>Wed Aug 6, 9:35 AM EDT Authorities have cracked what is believed to be the largest federal hacking and identity theft case ever, involving the theft and sale of more than 41 million credit and debit card numbers.</p>

The best things in life are free; for everything else, there's whitey. The Obama campaign is teaming up with credit card giant Mastercard to issue the official race card of the 2008 presidential elections. The credit card automatically charges whites for everything: from genocide to rigging elections to verbal slights. Kyle Darson, Obama campaign finance manager, said the candidate, whose image is emblazoned on the card, likes the convenience and easy payments of the race card. "Barack likes whipping out the race card whenever and wherever he wants to," Darson said. "And when he's running low on hedge fund contributions,...

Hidden deep in Senator Christopher Dodd's 630-page Senate housing legislation is a sweeping provision that affects the privacy and operation of nearly all of America's small businesses. The provision, which was added by the bill's managers without debate this week, would require the nation's payment systems to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to the federal government.

LAST year Citigroup made a promise to millions of people who flex its credit cards: “A deal is a deal.” The slogan was used to trumpet an announcement that the financial giant would no longer reserve the right to raise interest rates on cards at any time, for any reason. But Citigroup’s deal is only a deal until it isn’t. The company is quietly reconsidering its pledge as it confronts a host of financial troubles, according to Citigroup executives. A decision could come this week. Samuel Wang, a spokesman for Citigroup, declined to comment. Several Citigroup executives emphasized the “deal...

Behind the millions of daily credit card transactions is a smoothly functioning payment network -- and a rough battle over how to pay for it. Retailers say the two major credit card companies, Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. refuse to negotiate over fees merchants pay on each credit card transaction, and use their market dominance to charge excessive rates. The two account for approximately 80 percent of credit cards. Last week, the two decided not to increase their rates, but the move did little to placate retail trade groups. 'Simply holding them at current levels is not a sign of...

There is definitely a shift from cash to credit cards worldwide, just as there was a shift from renting to home ownership based on the wide availability of mortgages, but is only a matter of time before this comes to a screeching halt. Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA) get paid a fee which is equal to a percentage of each transaction, and have no credit risk. Mortgage brokers have no direct credit risk either and they get an upfront fee when the transaction closes. If a borrower defaults, mortgage brokers do not lose a penny. The losers are those who...

NEW YORK: Denver-based Frontier Airlines said on Friday it had filed for bankruptcy after a credit card processor said it would start withholding receipts from the sale of the airline's tickets. Frontier said in a statement it would continue to operate without disruption during the bankruptcy proceedings, offering its full schedule of flights, honoring reservations and paying employees and suppliers. The company said it was forced to file for bankruptcy protection in a New York court "following an unexpected attempt by its principal credit card processor to substantially increase a 'holdback' of customer receipts, which threatened to severely impact Frontier's...

Visa is scheduled to have its IPO later this week. The IPO could potentially be the largest in history. This market seems like terrible timing for an IPO, although for liquidity-strapped banks, the IPO could be a much-needed source of cash. The Visa IPO, along with the 2006 MasterCard IPO and the end to MasterCard and Visa's dual-exclusivity rules, which prohibited banks that issued MC/Visa cards from issuing Amex or Discover cards, is setting the stage for a major reconfiguration of the payments world in the next decade. These changes could have far-reaching effects for consumers, merchants, and banks because...

British Internet bank Egg said Saturday it is terminating about 160,000 customers' credit card agreements, saying their credit profiles had deteriorated. A British lawmaker called the move unfair, and said Egg's decision should be investigated. Egg Banking PLC was bought by Citigroup Inc. last year, and the company said the move was the result of a "one-off, extensive risk review of our book" after the acquisition. The figure represents about 7 percent of Egg's credit card customers. "Egg has given a number of its credit-card customers 35 days' notice that it is ending their card agreements," the bank said in...

A major credit card company (First Data Corp., which operates Citi Merchant Services.) has issued a letter to a gun dealer canceling his payment processing services because of corporate concerns firearms were being sold to consumers in other states, in "a non face-to-face environment." Now the move has raised the ire of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

GE Money handles credit card operations for J. C. Penney, other retailers PLANO, Texas - Personal information on about 650,000 customers of J.C. Penney and up to 100 other retailers could be compromised after a computer tape went missing. GE Money, which handles credit card operations for Penney and many other retailers, said Thursday night that the missing information includes Social Security numbers for about 150,000 people. The information was on a backup computer tape that was discovered missing last October. It was being stored at a warehouse run by Iron Mountain Inc., a data storage company, and was never...

I just checked my mail and saw I got a bill for $0.00 with a deadline of 1/10/08. Now the sensible person in me, tells me to ignore it, yet the wiseguy in me wants to send them a check for $0.00 and see what happens. Any Advice.

This came to me via emailBank of America, can I help you? Customer: Yes, I want to cancel my account. I don't want to do business with you any longer. The Bank: Why? Customer: You're giving credit to illegal immigrants and I don't think it's right. I'm taking my business elsewhere. The Bank: Well, Mr. Customer, we don't want to see you do that, but we can't stop you. I'll help you close the account. What is your account number? Customer: (gives account number) The Bank: For security purposes and for your protection, can you please give me the last...

WASHINGTON -- Did Internet thieves steal Herman Munster's MasterCard number?Crooks in an underground chat room for selling stolen credit card numbers and personal consumer information offered pilfered data purportedly about Herman Munster, the 1960s Frankenstein-like character from "The Munsters" TV sitcom.

We’ve still got a year and a half to go until the 2008 presidential election—and the mudslinging and dirty tricks have been going full blast for months: Publicity over John Edwards’ $400 haircuts. Gossip about Rudy Giuliani’s multiple marriages. Internet ads that make Hillary Clinton look demonic. As someone who was once known for political dirty tricks, I know, better than most, how ugly politics can get. Does this mean Christians ought to avoid the cutthroat business of politics? The answer: an emphatic “no”! First, as I write in my new book, God & Government, Christians have the same civic...

LOS ANGELES, May 22 (UPI) -- A Los Angeles waitress faces multiple identity theft charges for allegedly stealing customers' credit card numbers. Jonathan Diamond of the city attorney's office said April DuBoise, who worked at the Hamburger Hamlet restaurant for six weeks, has been charged with nine identity theft and fraud-related counts along with five counts of grand theft, The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. The Los Angeles city attorney's office said DuBoise took at least six credit card numbers using her position at the restaurant and may have taken as many as 40. The office said $16,300 in unauthorized...

News Releases May 15, 2007ICE uncovers metropolitan area credit card fraud schemeTwo arrested for allegedly embezzling $6 million from major banks including Bank of America, Citigroup, Wachovia NEWARK, N.J. — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents today announced the arrests of two men for allegedly masterminding a significant credit card fraud scheme that resulted in the loss of over $6 million to credit card lenders and banks nationwide. On May 11, special agents from ICE’s Office of Investigations in Newark, N.J., arrested Akbar Wrind, a 54-year-old resident of Bayonne, N.J., and Rafael Marte, a 47-year-old resident of Walnut Port,...