tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63022462008-11-19T08:16:33.035-08:00Bank Security Blog - BankersOnlineA running account of bank robberies, fraud and other financial crime.Mary Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15381679113144771864noreply@blogger.comBlogger136125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-75797440220433130872008-11-19T08:11:00.000-08:002008-11-19T08:16:33.054-08:00Shoulder Surfing and Key Cutting
Shoulder surfing used to be a way to get a PIN number for an ATM. And it used to be that to make a duplicate of a key, a physical key such as is in your pocket or purse right now, you took it to a locksmith or store. The original was needed to make a duplicate. In the movies they'd press the key in soap or clay and make a duplicate from that impression. But we'veAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-34864507768968484072008-11-18T10:25:00.000-08:002008-11-18T10:38:19.877-08:00It is a crying shame.
On January 10 and 30, a 16 year old boy entered a Bank of America branch in Round Rock, TX which is outside Austin. Charles Blackburn had an unloaded BB gun and he robbed the bank.
Now, at 17, he was tried as an adult and is sentenced to 30 years in prison. He'll be eligible for parole in 15 years. He was charged in connection with other robberies as well, but has not Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-62689456954229530222008-11-10T14:22:00.000-08:002008-11-10T14:29:12.334-08:00Three Plead Guilty in Card Fraud
Ivan Biltse, Angelina Kitaeva and Yuriy Rakushchynets are three of ten suspects accused of using hacked ATM card numbers and stealing $2 million. While the cards were Citibank branded, they were actually owned by Cardtronics, of Houston, TX.
A Russian hacker accessed a server that processed transactions from 7-Eleven stores. He captured thousands of card numbersAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-34143329695324396282008-10-27T09:41:00.000-07:002008-11-03T13:22:44.729-08:00Special Agent Larry Carr of the Seattle Division of the FBI, has provided another 911 call from a Seattle bank robbery. There are lessons to be learned from these calls and Agent Carr's analysis, which follows:
In this robbery the suspect had been gone for almost six minutes when the police were contacted. After the robber exited, the victim employee activated her alarm. She then notified her Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-27367431575235712052008-10-19T10:58:00.000-07:002008-10-19T11:05:54.167-07:00Special Agent Larry Carr of the Seattle Division of the FBI, has provided this 911 call from a Seattle bank robbery. It is the standard. Larry says that he has a box full of these tapes. The call was five minutes late and made by the person who had no idea what was going on. This is an easy fix but it takes the banker to do that. The teller must make the 911 call, she must make it as the Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-2714107072146468852008-09-23T03:38:00.000-07:002008-09-23T03:39:21.624-07:00FBI Annual Report - Crime in the United States
If you are interested in statistics or want to see how you may compare to others, teh FBI released their annual report on crime statistics.
Did you know that the highest average dollar loss for robberies was for banks, which lost $4,201 per offense. But of the subcategories under Robbery, banks have the lowest share at 2.1 percent.
You can findAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-52440861373878384072008-09-23T02:44:00.000-07:002008-09-23T02:46:44.258-07:00Robber get 300 Years, Co-defendant got 42
In Grand Prairie, Texas, near Dallas, Jason Montes was sentenced to more than 300 years in jail and was ordered to pay restitution of more than $126,000 for his role in nine 2006 takeover style bank robberies. Montes is 21 years old.
Montes was one of three who would dress in black and carry large caliber handguns. They would threaten bank employees andAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-31568351934752498182008-08-07T09:37:00.000-07:002008-08-07T09:38:07.521-07:00Mortgage Fraud is Increasing - Get Ready
The FBI has made over 400 arrests in Operation Malicious Mortgage. In Florida, as a part of the FBI investigation, three men from Sarasota and one from Tampa are facing federal charges. A 47-count indictment against Neil Mohamed Husani, 38; Larry P. Nardelli, 49; Michael A. Tringali, 46; and John A. Yanchek, 48, from the U.S. Attorney accuses them of Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-59049134484390436652008-08-06T10:43:00.000-07:002008-08-06T11:00:59.659-07:00In March of this year Gartner Inc. surveyed a small number of banks (50) to determine how they were handling the various security threats that they're now exposed to. They found that banks in general plan on spending more in 2009 than they will in 2008 on fraud detection and customer authentication. Larger banks, over $150 billion, plan to be ramping up security more than smaller banks. Twenty Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-25234408824424049162008-07-30T15:35:00.000-07:002008-07-30T16:06:45.600-07:00Delayed Draining with the Debit
Over the July 4th weekend at least 75 depositors at Pierce County Citizens' Bank (Washington) found their accounts drained. It isn't unusual that this happened over a three-day weekend. The thieves know that a bank's response time is delayed when communication with staff is more difficult. What is unusual here is that the police have identified how the debit card Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-27421628050103059922008-06-27T18:38:00.000-07:002008-06-27T18:45:11.736-07:00Two Years for Nigerian Scam
In Tacoma, WA, Edna Fiedler of Olympia plead guilty to her involvement in a Nigerian check scam and was sentenced to two years in prison. She'll also have five years probation for bank, wire and mail fraud associated with this.
Fiedler received bogus checks and money orders from an internet contact in Lagos, Nigeria. She was told how to complete them where to Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-68571989173730967452008-06-27T16:37:00.000-07:002008-06-27T17:57:59.020-07:00Mortgage Fraud - A Prevalent Crime
Sixty-seven people were charged with mortgage fraud activities in Chicago. As the economy goes further south and the mortgage industry is feeling the pain, someone has to be blamed so federal investigators are digging. And they are finding a mess.
In the cases for the 67, they are not necessarily all related. The dollar amounts here are $170 million. Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-40159491854520300892008-05-28T09:21:00.000-07:002008-05-28T09:22:22.123-07:00What is your customers account worth?
For a customer, their bank account is worth every dollar they have in it plus peace of mind. But to the thief who gets their bank account information, it is worth just a less than the "face value" because there has to be some equity in it for a buyer.
Many thieves who get your data aren't the same scoundrels who'll empty it. The first thief ends up with soAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-5040519740880030482008-05-28T09:12:00.000-07:002008-05-28T09:16:02.606-07:00Banking Crime Stats, July - Sept. 2007
The FBI released its report for the third quarter 2007, "Bank Crime Statistics." Here are some excerpts:
Commercial banks represent 89 percent of 1,542 robberies, 87 percent of the 30 burglaries and 100 percent of the banks suffering from larceny.
Almost $20 million cash was stolen and $2 million was recovered.
93 percent of perpetrators are men, and of Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-74583681186277209332008-04-30T11:54:00.000-07:002008-05-01T08:57:27.534-07:00Put Your CSI On
The FBI operates 14 Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory, or RCFLs. They have just published their RCFL Program's Fiscal Year 2007 Annual Report.
Here are some highlights from the report:
During 2007, RCFL experts conducted 4,634 exams, processing 1,288 terabytes of information. (How much data is that? Consider this: all the books in the Library of Congress equal only about Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-2734876869626100952008-04-09T14:54:00.000-07:002008-04-09T15:07:18.053-07:00Mortgage Fraud on Record Pace
In fiscal year 2007, which ended last September, there were 46,000 SARs on mortgage fraud. There were also 260 convictions resulting from SARs. We are six months into FY 2008 and there have been nearly 30,000 SARs so far.
The surge is in team-type activity where mortgage insiders, such as appraisers, real estate agents, loan officers, and lawyers conspire to Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-14238712225900839662008-04-09T08:14:00.000-07:002008-04-09T08:16:02.555-07:002007 Internet Crime Stats
The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has published its "2007 Internet Crime Report." IC3 is a joint operation between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National White Collar Crime Center.
The 2007 report reflects a $40 million increase in reported losses from 2006 to 2007. Those 2007 losses amounted to $240 million with internet auction fraud comprising Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-63565193214159441072008-03-31T09:42:00.000-07:002008-03-31T09:47:09.247-07:00The 419 from the 603
You've heard this scenario before. Someone who is selling an item on the internet gets a buyer who sends them to much money. "Take your part and wire me the rest." After that, the check is returned but the seller already wired the overage. A typical Nigerian 419 scam right? So the money is going to Nigeria and there is no hope of getting it back or stopping this from Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-65719219887698761172008-03-11T15:36:00.000-07:002008-03-11T15:40:24.935-07:00Credit Card Ring - Broken
In the "one for the good guys" category the NYPD arrested 38 people last week who were involved in a phony credit card ring. The ring was producing 3,000 fake credit cards a month, in addition to fake driver's licenses from New York, Illinois and Washington.
The Organized Theft and Identity Theft Task Force recovered a credit card embossing machine, credit card coding Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-90121955294076663272008-03-11T13:00:00.000-07:002008-03-11T13:01:05.351-07:00"Super Dollar" Sniffer
You should have heard once or twice about the so called Super Dollar. These are counterfeit $100 bills allegedly produced in North Korea. These are excellent counterfeits and very hard to detect. One company has the answer.
AccuBanker USA is offering the D500 Super Dollar Authenticator. This box is three inches tall, by five inches wide, and six inches long. It sells for Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-777950959717112002008-03-06T14:13:00.000-08:002008-03-06T14:20:01.885-08:00This Itty-Bitty Gun Can Kill You
You shouldn't see this 2.2 inch, 2.34mm revolver in the US, but that doesn't mean you won't. Looking like a key fob or toy, this is a real gun, and it can kill you. The link below will show you photos of a Swiss made mini-gun, now in the Guinness book of world records as the smallest working revolver. It is too small to be imported and sold in the US. But it canAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-47074280056222489012008-03-06T08:01:00.000-08:002008-03-10T06:20:44.222-07:00FTC Settlement of Student Loan Data Breach
Between 2005 and 2006 Goal Financial, LLC, a San Diego based student loan lender, allowed two employees to have access to the personal information of 7,000 customers and that information was taken to a competitor. In 2006 they allowed an employee to sell a hard drive which had unencrypted personal information on 34,000 customers. The data included Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-34185253324467006532008-02-13T23:33:00.000-08:002008-02-13T23:38:09.669-08:00Old School Identity Theft is Back
Javelin Strategy & Research, a San Francisco based company, released their survey results on identity theft. They have concluded that financial institutions have improved online security measures and a result is identity theft increasing via snail mail and the telephone.
Identity theft originating through in-store and online fraud is declining, while similar Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-79860737402229629142008-02-01T14:10:00.000-08:002008-02-14T07:19:20.164-08:00Tax scams are increasing not only because of the tax season is upon us, but also because of the proposed economic stimulus package and the potential for additional tax rebates. But the stimulus package isn't even approved yet. Still, when a person gets an email or telephone call and believes they can get something for nothing, they may provide that confidential information such as a SSN or bank Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302246.post-13463027062176919262007-11-20T13:47:00.000-08:002007-11-20T13:48:06.569-08:00Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act
The Senate has passed S.2168, the Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act. This bill will accomplish several things and close some loopholes, if a companion bill is passed in the House.
First, this bill will allow the victims of identity theft crimes to seek restitution from criminals for the time they spend fixing the problems the ID theft Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13811266155500285275noreply@blogger.com0