Posted on 12/16/2011 9:20:02 AM PST by mnehring
“I told them this doesn’t make any sense, because this isn’t a credit card, it’s a check card, and I’ve got plenty of money in there, so what’s the problem?” Ruffino said.
A customer service representative for her bank informed her of a suspicious charge.
The bank representative explained that someone by the name of Ron Paul has been trying to take $5 out of the aforementioned account.
Identity theft usually works this way: Thieves gather up stolen credit card numbers online and run the test charges to see which numbers will work. If the charge goes through, they know they have an active card. Later, the hit the card for more money. It appears that is what happened here.
Representatives for the Ron Paul campaign said they have discovered more than a dozen mysterious $5 contributions in the past three days and said they’re working with banks to return the money.
A representative for the Texas Attorney General’s Office on Friday said these crimes are rarely prosecuted, because by the time thieves are tracked down, they’re often in other counties, and the Web sites are shut down.
We know that there have been campaign contribution improprieties in other campaigns, but those incidents usually involved one large donor. This situation suggests that the Ron Paul campaign cannot be trusted with credit card security or donations from small donors, and appears to be the first time this issue has come up in any political campaign among any of the current presidential candidates.
In the mean time, you may want to think twice before giving your credit card information to the Ron Paul campaign.
This does not surprise me. Considering who his supporters are.
/end sarc.
Representatives for the Ron Paul campaign said they have discovered more than a dozen mysterious $5 contributions in the past three days and said they’re working with banks to return the money.
This is a lot of risk for someone to take for about $60 (5 * 12). The campaign would have been very stupid to participate in it.
This is classic credit card fraud tactics: someone stole the number, or auto-generated it (see below) and was testing to see if it was valid. The merchant had nothing to do with it, other than they get the charge-backs from their processor and a black-mark on their merchange account for repeated fraud.
Credit card numbers must conform to a specific algorithm. The leading digits are combined to generate a result, which must match the check (last) digit in the credit card number. The algorithm is widely known -- you can find it on the 'Net, complete with code in C, Java, Perl, or PHP. Systems validate the check digit before submitting the card number for authorization.
Since each of the major credit cards start with the same prefix (1-4 digits, depending on the issuer), it's not hard to write a program to generate credit card numbers that will pass the check digit test. But, you still don't know if they are valid.
The campaign probably knew nothing about it but some of his supporters are some very dedicated people who probably think they are helping....
Why does Ron Paul and his supporters remind me of the Lyndon LaRouche phenomenon on the right?
And this was When? 2007?
Amazing. Paul’s running #3 as a candidate by most concerns, which makes him viable.
Where’s all the “Big Tent Party” stuff about the Republicans?
Whether anyone likes it or Not, Wining Elections is a game of Numbers. So we’ll just make Absolutely Certain that a whole bunch of Paul supporters, if they don’t get Paul as the nominee, will feel OK about voting for Newt, Ric, or Mittens, because the “Big Tent” Republicans selected one of them, for everyone else.
Keep it up. Keep Bashing the libertarians. Drive them all off with this bombast. Republicans don’t need their votes Anyway, with Paul at 16+% of the possible Republican vote.
Is This the way Ronald Reagan would have gone after those 16% of the votes?
The only one This attitude is helping is Obama.
Interesting people assume these are Ron Paul supporters...
Have to remember that credit/debit card thieves will usually test a stolen card against an innocuous target...
...usually against a gas station pump.
Other innocuous targets can be Salvation Army or as noted here, a political campaign.
If a card works, usually within minutes they’re off shopping for their “real” stuff - often in the hundreds and thousands.
For me as a victim - it was a gas station pump test and then a quick run to 1-800-FLOWERS.
=8-)
Birds of a feather.
For me, it was a couple of DVDs from a mail-order supplier. My bank thought it might just be a mistake, and wouldn't cancel the card.
Then a week later, the floodgates opened. It got cancelled quickly after that.
Hint...Paul has no chance of winning the primary. Your time is better spent on defending Newtie from the attacks that Romney's people are inevitably going to use against him and, God forbid, win. I'll laugh, in a sad but resigned sort of way.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.