Fraudsters Had Access to 200,000 Credit Card Details

SOCA has released a statement after 2 credit card fraudsters pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud. Gboyega Akinbola and Oyetundi Oyedeji, both Nigerian men living in London conspired in a global fraud which caused losses in the tens of millions of pounds.

They bought compromised card details and used them to commit hundreds of fraudulent transactions. They have been linked to over 200,000 compromised cards, around 90% of which were from the UK. They were caught out after a business man noticed a number of suspicious transactions on his company’s website and reported the information to Surrey Police who in turn called in SOCA to investigate.

Laptops recovered from an address in Beckton contained 195,00 card details including security codes, start dates and expiry dates. An email recovered also claimed to offer another 1million card details for sale. IP addresses were traced to Egypt and Vietnam, and arrests have been made in these countries as a result of the London operation.

Akinbola & Oyedeji have been sentenced to 3 and a half and 2 years respectively, and are expected to be deported as a result of their convictions.

Prepaid Card Fraud Prevention - A Case Study

Background

Payment Card Solutions provide a full suite of technology and process solutions for prepaid card schemes.  They have been in operation for over three years and have their own brand - The Bread Card and clients including The Daily Star and ClearDebt group.

The challenge

The prepaid market currently has a huge following within the unbanked sector and this poses challenges for identity checking.  As part of the Money Laundering Regulations new customers need to be fully verified and card schemes need to ensure they have verification procedures in place.

Payment Card Solutions needed an anti-fraud and compliance solution that they could quickly and easily integrate via XML into their existing technology solutions.

The solution

Payment Card Solutions needed a solution that provided them with high match rates and ensured they were complying with KYC/AML regulations.  With over 2,000 new customers a month they needed a fast and fully integrated verification solution.

“We were using a different identity verification supplier before integrating 192business into our technology solutions and found that 192business’ match rates were far superior.  The depth of the information makes checking even easier and 192business are a highly flexible company who are a pleasure to work with.”

There are a few fraudulent and money laundering techniques that Payment Card Solutions have witnessed and move swiftly to close loopholes as they are detected.  For example they would find that individuals would load their prepaid cards with cash and then immediately take this out at a cashpoint which was obviously quite suspect.  Or else cardholders would use the cards on trains where there are no real time balance verification checks in place by retailers.

The future

Payment Card Solutions realise the importance of sharing fraudulent data and have future plans to upload their data so that they can reciprocally share suspected and reported fraud attacks.  They already find that fraudsters will set up prepaid accounts with different names but often new accounts may share the same emails and telephone numbers.

The lure of global markets is also on Payment Card Solution’s agenda.  With credit reference data available for Germany, Sweden and the USA, they can be confident about extending their global reach and still carry out robust KYC checks.

Christmas Fraud Online Retailers Urged to be Vigilant

Whilst Christmas is a time of joy and peak trading for online retailers, those with a responsibility for fraud prevention might be forgiven for not embracing a mood of joy and goodwill to all men.

Research indicates that online retail will reach £8.9bn this Christmas, representing 20% of all UK sales[1].And as orders increase over the peak trading season, so do fraud attempts, which combined with the number of extra orders and higher than usual basket values , can make fraudulent attempts more difficult than usual to spot.

Here 192business examine 3 types of fraud that ecommerce operators should be increasingly aware of across the Christmas period…

1. Christmas Temporary Staff Fraud

The threat of allowing new employees into situations where sensitive customer data may be available; a particular concern following the theft of data from a large telecoms company by call centre staff. Read More>>

2. Wardrobing

Using goods only to return them after the event – haven’t got the money for a new Christmas party dress? Try wardrobing – a rising threat to ecommerce retailers thanks in part to Facebook photo sharing. Read More>>

3. Festive First Party Fraud
Occurs when a customer receives their goods but then denies all knowledge of either ordering or receiving them – thus claiming a refund and still keeping their fraudulently obtained Christmas presents. Read More>>

[1]Centre for Retail Research

Combating Fraud

192business have two perfect solutions to help ecommerce sites screen for fraud and leave their staff more time to look out for the frauds mentioned above. Batch-ID is a batch processing tool to automatically verify multiple transactions, whilst Fraud Screening checks transactions against other retailer’s reports of fraud

UIGEA: Experts Testify in Support of Regulated Internet Gambling

The USA’s House Committee of Financial Services today held the latest hearing into the proposed Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act of 2009 (H.R. 2267).

This is seen as important step as a possible vote by the Committee could pave the way for the law to be implemented during the current Congress.

The hearing heard from a number of expert witnesses, with strong support for a regulated, socially responsible approach to legal internet gambling.

Amongst the arguments presented it was argued that technology can play a strong role in ensuring minors are not able to gamble, and that consumers are well protected from money laundering, fraud and ID theft.

Parry Aftab, Exceutive Director of WiredSafety – an internet safety help group told the Committee:

“There are a number of technologies routinely used in other industries that were easily adaptable to online gambling sites. They are real, proven and in use today.”

Professor Malcolm K. Sparrow of Harvard University presented his comprehensive study which concludes that: “The establishment of a well-regulated industry under U.S. jurisdiction would offer far better protection against online gambling’s potential social harms than outright prohibition.”

It is believed that by passing Chairman Frank’s bill and allowing responsible online gaming, the USA treasury would collect $42billion in taxes over the next ten years.

The Federal Reserve and Department of the Treasury recently extended the date for UIGEA compliance to 1st June 2010, when it is widely believed that Chairman Frank will seek to have his regulatory bill enacted prior to this.

Footage of the review, including expert testimonies is available to download and watch here: http://financialserv.edgeboss.net/wmedia/financialserv/hearing120309.wvx

Further information on the hearing, including a written statement when it becomes available can be found at: http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/hr_112409.shtml

Christmans Shopping - Online Trends 2009

With 30th November being billed as Mega Monday – 2009's busiest online shopping day, we take a look at some of the online retail stats published so far this year…

Mega Monday
Visa Europe claim that customers will go online earlier than previous years, and that Monday 30th November will be the year’s busiest online shopping day. They are predicting that 4.5 million purchases will be made, with lunch time and after 7pm being the trading peaks.

But which Monday?
However last year the IMRG Capgemini retail index found that in the UK, 9th December was the busiest day for most online retailers, with retailers like Firebox and Boden claiming their busiest shopping days in the same week. Based on these previous trend figures, UK predictions seem to favor Monday 7th December with an additional peak on the 14th.

The USA & Black Friday
In the USA, online retail sales have already peaked with ‘Black Friday’ – the day after Thanksgiving where thoughts turn to Christmas gift buying and retailers use special Black Friday promotions to take advantage of consumer willingness to spend. Figures released by Comscore put the value of Black Friday (27th November) at $595 million – an 11% increase on 2008 figures.

Online spend to reach £8.9billion
Whether e-retail spend peaks on 30 November or later in December, the UK retail industry is united by the fact that they are expecting online spend to be the highest ever. The Centre for Retail Research estimates UK Christmas spend to reach £8.9billion – accounting for 20% of the total Christmas spend.

93% plan to spend online
Similarly eDigitalResearch and IMRG have published figures showing that 93% of people surveyed plan to shop online for Christmas gifts with 71% looking to buy more than half of their gift lists via the internet.

German market worth EUR29billion
The story is similar across Europe; with 192business strengthening German Identity Verification comes news from TNS Infratest which puts Germany’s online and mail order spend for 2009 at EUR 29billion.

Customers confident to spend more online
And it’s not all about volume – the 2009 Consumer eTail Report from GSI Commerce claims that a quarter of people are willing to spend more than £1000 on a single product online. In addition fewer customers will cap their online spending – only 32% of people said they would not spend anymore than £250 online, compared to 48% in 2008, perhaps showing greater consumer confidence in online security and fulfilment?

And for those people who actually want to go to the shops? Most people seem in agreement that Wednesday 23rd December will be the best day for fighting over the last parking space in your local high street!