Scammers Randomly Target Checking Accounts

["Fergie" <fergdawg () netzero net>]

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Holy crap...

Brian Krebs:

[snip]

An alarming report published this week on the official Internet news
service of the U.S. Air Force highlights the need for consumers to keep a
close eye on their bank account statements for signs of fraud.

The piece tells the story of an investigation launched after an Colorado
airman discovered that his bank account was $124.90 less than it should
have been. The man's bank, a Peterson AFB branch of 5-Star Bank, found that
scammers apparently generated random account numbers, into which they tried
to deposit one cent. When one of the tiny deposits clears, the criminals
know they've hit upon a live account and begin to withdraw funds from it.

Turns out the crooks had automated the process: A 5-Star manager said she'd
handled approximately 100 phone calls from scam victims since at least
2006, and in every case the amount withdrawn was the same and occurred at
the beginning of the month, no doubt to stay well ahead of the issuance of
end-of-the-month bank statements.

[snip]

More:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2007/05/scammers_randomly_target
_check.html

- - ferg

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--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg(at)netzero.net
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/


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