May 27, 2009

How much for an identity

It is not much as an identity that is at stake, the main problem is credit card security. This sort of information is regularly and often openly sold on the internet, providing that you know where to look.

The card details are gathered in a variety of ways, stolen cards or stolen details. A stolen or lost card is not so bad, because the user will no doubt know and can therefore put a stop on it, but stolen card details is a different matter because the card holder is not going to know until it too late.

This information can be obtained through the retailers website, the card processor or the bank itself, although the later is not the normal route. This information which is all the information on the cards strip and the CVV2 number is only worth around £5 to the dealer, but can cost the cardholder and the bank thousands.

Source [New Scientist]