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Pictured below (see pics at link) is what’s known as a skimmer, or a device made to be affixed to the mouth of an ATM and secretly swipe credit and debit card information when bank customers slip their cards into the machines to pull out money. Skimmers have been around for years, of course, but thieves are constantly improving them, and the device pictured below is a perfect example of that evolution. This particular skimmer was found Dec. 6, 2009, attached to the front of a Citibank ATM in Woodland Hills, Calif. Would you have been able to spot this?...

NSW is at the centre of an unprecedented attack by an international criminal gang on retailers' EFTPOS machines, fleecing $50 million. The wave of attacks on EFTPOS machines was yesterday described by NSW fraud squad head Detective Superintendent Colin Dyson as "the biggest I've seen". Fast-food, convenience and specialist clothing stores are bearing the brunt of the crime. McDonald's is among the outlets whose EFTPOS machines have been targeted. People commonly swipe both credit and debit cards through the in-store machines to pay for goods and services at these outlets.

....The charge shows up on statements as coming from "Adele Services" in Melville, N.Y. There is no business by that name listed in Melville, or registered to any business anywhere in New York, for that matter. Two theories of what is going on have advanced on message boards and among consumer advocates: Someone is trying to find out whether an illegally obtained credit card number will work before making a bigger charge, or they're trying to rip off tiny amounts from tons of people.

We've all seen the blogs claiming how Obama's website does not use any name or address verification to validate credit card charges, opening the door to fraudulent donations. Well fellow freepers, I just confirmed this myself. Last night I made a donation on Obama's website using my own credit card, but a totally bogus name, address, zipcode, and telephone number. His site did not challenge this information, and the transaction went through immediately and it posted today. His site also does not use the 3-digit security code on the back of the card, opening the door to more fraud from...

I have over 30 years of experience in investigating Credit Card Fraud and I can tell you, which you may or may not know, that the merchant acquirer that is conducting the collection of credit / debit card for the Obama campaign are responsible for the actions to be taken regarding the Address Verification System responses. The value of the AVS system is that the issuer of the card being used provides back to the merchant acquirer a response based upon the information provided during the authorization process. This response indicates to the merchant acquirer if the card information was...

There have been a smattering of incidents reported in which people have seen credit card charges surface suggesting they donated to Barack Obama when they did not. Now comes the story of Mary T. Biskup, of Manchester, Missouri. Biskup got a call recently from the Obama campaign, which was trying to figure out why she donated $174,800 to the campaign -- well over the contribution limit of $2,300. The answer she gave them was simple. "That's an error." Biskup, a retired insurance manager who occasionally submits recipes to the local paper, says someone used a credit card to donate the...

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. "(They) said that they had seen-they were familiar...

Afghanistan to Ask NATO for Bigger Army Afghan officials will go to the NATO summit in Romania Thursday with a request: pay to increase our national Army by 40 percent. A bigger Army, Afghan officials argue, will allow the US and other coalition members to scale back in the coming years. This appeal comes amid pleas from the US and Canada for other NATO members to commit more to the Afghanistan mission, which many analysts say has floundered over the past year for lack of resources and a coherent strategy. France is expected to contribute another 1,000 forces and...

A band of men linked to Tamil Tiger terrorists - led by a Sri Lankan who used a fake passport to get security clearance at Newark Airport - has been busted in a massive plot to loot city ATMs. Manhattan prosecutors told the Daily News the eight men had ties to the terror group and were part of a scheme to use stolen credit card numbers to steal $250,000 in New York - and tens of millions from ATMs worldwide. Six were nabbed in January in a raid at the Chelsea Inn, a reputed lair for the ultraviolent Sri Lankan...

NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) - Four JetBlue (JBLU.O: Quote, Profile , Research) employees and a New York City corrections officer were arrested on Tuesday on charges of splurging with credit cards forgotten by passengers rushing to catch their flights, prosecutors said. The arrests come as the low-cost airline struggles to rebuild customer confidence after a February storm triggered the cancellation of some 1,200 JetBlue flights and left passengers stranded or fuming on grounded planes for hours. An probe by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau found that the five, who included three customer service agents and a flight attendant, went...

June 24— The Qatari man designated an enemy combatant by the Bush administration was planning another Sept. 11 attack, sources told ABCNEWS. Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, 37, was deemed an enemy combatant by the Bush administration on Monday after officials said he was positively identified by an al Qaeda detainee as being part of a planned second wave of terror attacks on the United States. Government officials said they believed al Qaeda's top leadership sent Al-Marri to the United States to coordinate a new round of attacks. "Al-Marri was sent to the United States as a facilitator for other al...

ARIS, May 29 — Italian and German investigators have disclosed fresh information suggesting that hints of an attack involving aircraft and the United States were more widespread among European law enforcement agencies before Sept. 11 than previously suspected.The disclosures come after weeks in which the Bush administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which announced a shake-up today, have come under sharp criticism that they did not pay sufficient heed to signs of Al Qaeda plots in the United States that may have alerted them to the Sept. 11 attacks.A Central Intelligence Agency spokesman said today that before Sept....

“Modern day Robin Hoods meet Modern day Bounty Hunters in the independent movie Plastic.” Tom and Flo Evangelista; Stars of the HBO. hit "Family Bonds" accepted their first movie role offer. The New York Bail Bondsmen / Bounty Hunters will be playing the roles of Young James' parents in the movie Plastic, which ironically is based on the true story of Mike and James; two high tech credit card bandits who are still on the run. The Evangelista's own and operate All City Bail Bonds; a New York based Bail Bonds and Bounty Hunter business, whose motto is "You can...

I'm looking for any Freepers out there who may have some experience investigating potential cases of credit card fraud and identity theft, or who have been victimized by one or both of these in the past. One of my credit card companies has alerted me to a fraudulent charge on my account that was rejected, but after investigating this matter a little further I've become concerned about something beyond this one case. General information can be posted to this thread, but any details about this particular situation will be shared via Freepmail.

There is a movie being made in Utah based on the true story of two criminals; Mike and James. Is this legal?

<p>NEWARK - A Jordanian man admitted yesterday to a judge that he recruited dozens of others to commit credit card fraud over a seven-year span, said officials from the office of the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey.</p> <p>Ali Qaraeen, 49, an illegal immigrant from Jordan who has resided in Secaucus, Fort Lee, Clifton and West Paterson, conceded that since 1995 he recruited people to perpetrate credit card schemes resulting in about $6.8 million in fraudulent purchases of merchandise and cash advances, said Robert Kirsch, the assistant U.S. attorney handling the case.</p>

PARIS (Reuters) - Al Qaeda and its associates are increasingly turning to counterfeiting and credit card fraud for funds as the war on terrorism squeezes their traditional sources of finance, officials and experts say. The very success of the global crackdown has made tracking extremists even more difficult, as al Qaeda operatives shun a global financial system more tightly regulated after the September 11, 2001, attacks on U.S. landmarks, they warn. The U.S. Treasury says nearly $200 million has been frozen in the global war on terrorism, but the bilking of Islamic charities and widespread use of informal networks to...

NEW YORK: Syed Gul Mohammad Shah, an Indian formerly suspected in the US government's terrorism investigation, has been sentenced to one year and one day in prison for credit card fraud. Shah, 35, pleaded guilty in June. He was sentenced on Thursday in US District Court in Manhattan and ordered to pay restitution of about $415,000. Shah, who is from Hyderabad, admitted selling 15 fraudulent credit cards for up to $2,000 each in the black market. He and Mohammed Azmath, 37, were arrested on a train in Texas on September 12 after law enforcement authorities found two box cutters, hair...

Speeding Up The Checkout Line With Biometrics March 13, 2002 A Seattle supermarket next month will begin using a service that lets shoppers use fingerprints to authorize payment for groceries. By Jennifer Maselli Customers at the Thrift Way supermarket in Seattle next month can speed through the checkout, using personal ID numbers and their fingerprints to authorize payment for groceries. "It's really about customer convenience and security," says Paul Kapioski, president and owner of Thrift Way, which is using biometric E-payment software from Indivos Inc. to set up the service. "For one, you won't have to dig your credit...