Credit card fraud is alive and well, and the ill-gotten cards are being used to fund terrorists. Other cards, sold for as little as a dime apiece, give buyers access to credit limits of $4,000 or more. That is, $4,000 of other people's money.
Symantec just released a report that found most of the Internet's illegal sales involve stolen credit card information. Second place went to stolen bank accounts, with an average balance of $40,000 apiece. The credit cards are often sold in bulk at deep discounts, while the bank accounts can sell for $1,000 or more.
Skimming, identity theft, and cloning of credit cards could have played a part in the heartbreaking attacks on Mumbai. Terrorists are known to use credit card fraud to fund their operations, according to Jeremy Simon, a contributing reporter to US News and World Report. Credit cards were found in the backpack of one of the terrorists that attacked Mumbai.
When we get careless with our personal and financial information, we might get nervous about someone making unauthorized purchases or opening a line of credit in our name. But we seldom think of how our information could be used to harm other people. Please do your best to keep your information safeguarded, for yourself and all the rest of us.
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