18 August 2009

130,000,000 credit and debit card numbers stolen

US prosecutors have charged a man with stealing data relating to 130 million credit and debit cards. Officials say it is the biggest case of identity theft in American history.

They say Albert Gonzalez, 28, and two un-named Russian co-conspirators hacked into the payment systems of retailers, including the 7-Eleven chain...

Mr Wilding said there was little consumers could do to protect themselves against this kind of fraud...

Actually, there is something consumers can do. I have reverted to actually using money for small transactions. Unless a purchase exceeds my cash-on-hand, I prefer not to hand my credit card to retailers. Many of them are even grateful to see cash (they don't have to pay a fee for the transaction to the credit card company), and some even offer discounts for cash.

1 comment:

  1. Cash is always good. But I can get gas for 3 cents less with a debit card, and sometimes 60 cents counts.

    Also, my cc company sent me a new card and number earlier this year because of "possible security breaches." Wonder if this is related?

    ReplyDelete

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