Washington D.C. Restaurants Become Credit Card Cloning Hot Spots

[JJ_BPK]

Heads-up,, I've eaten at a couple of these places..

Anyone eating in D.C.,, Or any where USA...

Washington D.C. Restaurants Become Credit Card Cloning Hot Spots
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/200...ashington.html

Four former servers at three upscale Washington D.C. restaurants blocks from the White House were arrested last week for allegedly using covert skimming devices to clone customer credit card data, in a year-long counterfeiting operation that's put $750,000 in fraudulent charges on the plastic of Washington's elite.

Servers at Clyde's of Gallery Place, M&S Grill, and 701 Restaurant, along with Maryland workers at Carrabba's Italian Grill and the Gaylord Hotel, allegedly stole the card numbers. According to the Secret Service, the data wound up in the hands of 28-year-old Joseph Artemus Bush, III, a Maryland man who was repeatedly caught on surveillance video using counterfeit cards with the skimmed account numbers.

Bush's alleged MO was to purchase American Express gift cards at area Target and Walmart stores, then redeem them at high-end shops like Barney's of New York and Gucci. Last week he was charged with credit card fraud, along with two alleged confederates, Erick V. Burton and Aaron Gilbert. The four servers charged are Lavelle Denise Payne, Shannon Eileen McLaughlin, Jamaal Snowden and Simone Carrie Diane Folk.

With unobserved access to diner's credit cards, restaurant wait staff have long been the source of a steady stream of stolen magstripe data. It takes only a second to swipe a customer's card through a tiny skimming device purchasable over the internet, which is easily concealed in pocket or apron.

Corrupt servers are typically recruited by a ringleader who encodes the data -- like customer names and account numbers -- onto blank cards, in some cases turning out full blown replicas, complete with holograms. The servers often earn up to $50 per card if they work at an upscale eatery, down to just $10 each if, as in a recent Florida case, the cards were stolen from a Burger King.

The D.C. skimming ring was first spotted a year ago by Citibank, which noticed a froth of fraudulent transactions trailing legitimate card use at Clyde's, where cards skimmed by a single server wound up accounting for $107,000 in bogus charges.

The most prestigious, and recent, hot spot was 701 Restaurant, the clubby eatery where Hillary Clinton rang out her presidential campaign last June. Restaurant owner Ashok Bajaj says the Secret Service told him about the skimming earlier this month. According to court records, cash register logs tied $38,000 in fraudulent transactions to cards handled by server Lavelle Denise Payne from August 2008 until this month.

At the agency's request, Bajaj kept Payne on for another week while the government firmed up its case. "We watched her very carefully for that week," says Bajaj. "She was the nicest person. I don't know. Maybe this is a sign of the economy."

"It's very sad when people do these things," Bajaj adds. "I mean, she was making excellent money working at the restaurant. But I guess it's never enough."

You country boys going to the big city, be careful where you use that shiny new c-card,, ya hear??

[Pete]

Cash, never had it skimmed yet.

I hate using plastic when it goes away from me to be run.

I like to keep my eye on that pesky devil.

[SF_BHT]

Pete I am with you. After the first wife I cut all those little plastic critters up......

Now I do cash or Debit. I do have 1 CC for work and 1 for emergency's but that is it...... I can say with a lot of weight off my shoulders I am Debt Free for 6 years. Do not owe anyone for anything. Damn it feels good.

[greenberetTFS]

Originally Posted by JJ_BPK

Heads-up,, I've eaten at a couple of these places..

Anyone eating in D.C.,, Or any where USA...




You country boys going to the big city, be careful where you use that shiny new c-card,, ya hear??

JJ,

You've really out done your self posting that picture. I LMAO.......

GB TFS

[JJ_BPK]

Originally Posted by SF_BHT

Now I do cash or Debit.

I'd be careful of the debit card.

1)when it is swiped the money is moved with-in minutes. The same when using ATM's.

2)Some d-cards have ZERO(0) recovery if stolen, where-as c-cards will allow you to challenge bad charges..


Personaly, We float the all our purchases on the c-card and pay it off each month,, plus get some $ back annually, I think 3%. As we put everything on the c-card, including utilities, doctors, groceries, travel, & Medications,, it adds up.. AND Some of the bills do not show up for a couple months,, thank you...

Personal opinion,, I know,, we all have one...

My $00.0002

[mcarey]

Had my CC cloned while at Shot Show in Orlando this year, I beleive at a restaurant.

My bank tells me it happens to way too many accounts each year.

It is a good idea to check your account every 48 hours if travelling, if you call quickly they can shut it down and send you a new card in 24 hours. Just my experieince with these scum.

[Leozinho]

If I understand correctly, some cards are offering a service that sends you a text message to your mobile each time your card is used. Seems like a way to alert you when your card is being used without your knowledge.

[SF_BHT]

Originally Posted by JJ_BPK

I'd be careful of the debit card.

1)when it is swiped the money is moved with-in minutes. The same when using ATM's.

2)Some d-cards have ZERO(0) recovery if stolen, where-as c-cards will allow you to challenge bad charges..


Personaly, We float the all our purchases on the c-card and pay it off each month,, plus get some $ back annually, I think 3%. As we put everything on the c-card, including utilities, doctors, groceries, travel, & Medications,, it adds up.. AND Some of the bills do not show up for a couple months,, thank you...

Personal opinion,, I know,, we all have one...

My $00.0002

You are right. The only saving grace is that my bank card is their highest type of account and it has the same protections as you premium CC's Most Debits do not have that type of protection....... It does not even say Debit......

I have been really careful because of this issue. Lots of people do not know the difference.

[Richard]

I used to pay $$ for everything - now I put it on my CC and just pay the bill at the end of the month...once I check every charge. I've had several entries which weren't mine and the company promptly corrected it for me when I called them. My card is tied to earning AA air miles and we receive several round-trip tickets annually from it + no service charges because we pay our bill in total when it comes in by direct bank transfer.

I had my CC info swiped when traveling in Spain to go run with the bulls a couple of years ago. Typically they'll hold the info 4-6 months and then sell it to a broker on the open market who resells it to some other crook to use. We'd been back in Texas around 5 months when my CC company called one Saturday afternoon to tell me that they had some strange activity on my card - it was being used in Dallas and SoCal at the same time. I told them I was using it in Dallas and the other was a fraud. They took care of it right away, there were no charges, and new cards were issued the next day (our bank is open 7 days a week).

A word of advice - now, when we travel overseas, we take a new card out from our bank solely for the trip and then cancel it immediately upon our return. This prevents the info from being used later if it's been swiped and resold. Once bit, twice shy.

Richard's $.02

[SF_BHT]

Originally Posted by Richard

A word of advice - now, when we travel overseas, we take a new card out from our bank solely for the trip and then cancel it immediately upon our return. This prevents the info from being used later if it's been swiped and resold. Once bit, twice shy.

Richard's $.02

My Brother in Dallas does the same thing. I probably would if I was in the US but it is hard to do from here. My personal CC has never been hit but my work one has been few occasion's. Real pain in the ass to get an replacement via APO snail mail.

My personal CC is my emergency one and I rarely use it so it is ready for anything. It is amazing that we have to do these things today but as technology advances so do the thiefs........

[koz]

Originally Posted by JJ_BPK

I'd be careful of the debit card.

1)when it is swiped the money is moved with-in minutes. The same when using ATM's.

2)Some d-cards have ZERO(0) recovery if stolen, where-as c-cards will allow you to challenge bad charges..


Personaly, We float the all our purchases on the c-card and pay it off each month,, plus get some $ back annually, I think 3%. As we put everything on the c-card, including utilities, doctors, groceries, travel, & Medications,, it adds up.. AND Some of the bills do not show up for a couple months,, thank you...

Personal opinion,, I know,, we all have one...

My $00.0002

I do the same thing - use the C-card but then pay it off immediately.

My story - Go OCONUS at a time we didn't have internet access or sat phones. I come back about 3 months later and my bank account is negative $12,000. I only found this out after trying to buy some gas on base. Declined....

My debit card number had been copied. Bank of America credited the money back but then I had to go thru all my auto bills which had been paid while I was gone. Those then were debited then I had to protest every other charge - something around 250 charges. If that was the end, no big deal, but some of the companies sent the money back to the bank (my account). Then the bank would take that money out of my account. It took about a year to figure out what I actually had in the bank - always something coming in/going out which I had no real records. I finally just got a new account.

I'm either a cash or CC user now. I got rid of the debit card.

[Razor]

Originally Posted by Richard

now, when we travel overseas, we take a new card out from our bank solely for the trip and then cancel it immediately upon our return. This prevents the info from being used later if it's been swiped and resold.

Richard, do you know if this has any impact on your credit rating? I recall hearing that frequent opening/closing of credit cards over time can sometimes count against your rating.

[Richard]

I don't think so - at least up to this point - as we only deal with our bank and only do this when we go overseas every couple of years. We also pay the card off in full at closing and don't carry the debt over to another card or such. My credit rating is such that everytime I go to buy something major they keep trying to get me to buy more - a more expensive car, a bigger house, etc. But it's because I don't fall to temptation that my credit is good.

Richard's $.02

[SF_BHT]

A lot say that you need to use the cards to keep up a good rating. I guess that is bull as my rating is very high and I hardly use them. Also I get probably 6+ cards mailed to me a year that I have not even applied for. Guess they really want my money. I have a Giant Brandy Snifter that is 3/4 full of cut up CC's. Every time they come in I have a shot of Bourbon and pull out the glass and cut up the card. Keep it on the shelf as a reminder why I hate them and the Ex and CC's.....