<http://www.american chronicle. com/img/gallerie s/1033/0/ BIN-Fraud- 200.jpg>

 

We should be extremely concerned about the scope of the credit card fraud
problem involving terrorists. There is limited or no empirical data to gauge
the extent of the problem. However, there are compelling signs that an
epidemic permeates. [1]

Recently, there has been a string of articles in the main steam media
attempting to link Digital Gold Currency and terrorist financing. However,
the reality of the situation is that no Digital Gold Currency has ever been
connected to a terror financing case or crime. Last month, even one very
visible government report on Digital Currency stated, “Such emerging
electronic payment systems are vulnerable to money laundering and terrorist
financing.” [2]

As far back as January 2006, the main stream media began an effort to
connect terrorist funding and Digital Gold Currency. This trend seems to
have started when a BusinessWeek “investigative report”, quoted some dialog
from Mr. Phil Williams, a professor of international affairs at the
University of Pittsburgh and consultant to the United Nations on terrorism
financing.

The article points out that while discussing digital currency, Mr. Williams
says, “At some point, this is going to be used” by terrorists. Of course it
is obvious from his comment that Mr. Williams has never seen the extensive
Customer Verification Process required by GoldMoney, e-dinar or Crowne Gold.
It is also doubtful that Mr. Williams has ever transacted an exchange of
dollars into e-gold digital currency using a professional exchange agent.
[3] (Businessweek Article By Brian Grow, John Cady, Susann Rutledge, and
David Polek)

Credit card fraud has become an ever present tool for funding terror
networks while Digital Gold Currency has never even been mentioned during
the prosecution of a terror crime. Look at the facts as far back as 2001.

Ali Al Marri was arrested in Illinois in December 2001 for having lied to
FBI Agents about having contact with facilitators of the 9/11 terrorist
attack. At the time of arrest, Al Marri had 36 credit card numbers and
account information in his possession. A subsequent search of his computer
found he had compiled over 1,000 credit card numbers and other identifying
information. [4]

Doesn’t “The truth” still have a place in main stream media? Isn’t it
important to discuss the facts as received directly from law enforcement
professionals and not the suspicions and gossip of investigative reporters?

The facts show us that for many years credit card fraud has been used to
fund murderous bombings and acts of terror. The facts also show us that
companies like e-gold which have been in business for over a decade, have
never been connected to an act of terror funding.

The October 2002 the Bali nightclub bombings killed 202 people, most of whom
were just visiting tourists.

Iman Samudra, convicted and now awaiting execution for taking part in the
2002 bombings of two Bali nightclubs.. .urges Muslim youth to obtain credit
card numbers and use them to fund the struggle against the United States and
its allies. *John Rollins & Clay Wilson, Specialists in Terrorism and
International Crime, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division –
“Terrorist Capabilities for Cyberattack: Overview and Policy Issues” Updated
January 22, 2007, CRS Report for Congress

The next time that your credit card is used to buy gas, dinner at a
restaurant, clothing, or for online shopping please recognize that your card
numbers and personal information just might end up buying plan tickets,
binoculars or a GPS system to outfit a terrorist and equip an extremist
planning to kill innocent civilians. This is the everyday reality of credit
card fraud.

That decade old bank “customer not liable for fraud” technology, along with
the magnetic stripe and the 40 year old plastic card design is widely abused
by criminal every waking moment of every day. Card fraud is a decades old
global epidemic. Credit card fraud has been omnipresent throughout the past
3 decades.

The Nigerian credit card fraud problems of the late 1970s and 1980s attests
to this. Epidemics can only be treated and eliminated through detective and
preventive treatment. [5]

What is your bank doing to prevent such crimes? Why doesn’t the media focus
more on correcting this global epidemic?

Tariq al-Daour, is one of three British residents who pleaded guilty in July
of 2007 to using the Internet to incite murder.

Investigators said al-Daour and his compatriots made more than $3.5 million
in fraudulent charges using credit card accounts they stole via phishing
scams and the distribution of Trojan horses — computer programs embedded in
innocent-looking e-mail messages or Web sites that give criminals control
over infected computers. On a computer seized from al-Daour’s West London
apartment, investigators said they found 37,000 stolen credit card numbers.
Alongside each credit card record was other information, such as the account
holders’ addresses, dates of birth, credit balances and credit limits.
…[Tsouli] and his two associates used at least 72 stolen credit card
accounts to register more than 180 domains at 95 different Web hosting
companies in the United States and Europe. Investigators said he became the
de facto administrator of the online jihadist forum Muntada al-Ansar
al-Islami, which once was the main Internet public relations mouthpiece of
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq who was killed last
month. [6]

The public should correctly, place blame for these horrible crimes squarely
where it belongs and that is with the profitable credit card companies. Do
not pander to the public’s ignorance of digital currency and their fear of
the digital unknown. Don’t follow the path that Fox News has cut in today’s
digital media.

Did you know that the according to a German intelligence report, the Madrid
bombers partially financed that attack through credit card fraud? According
to the Associated Press, 190 innocent people died in that attack.

According to FBI officials, Al Quaeda terrorist cells in Spain used stolen
credit card information to make numerous purchases. Also, the FBI has
recorded more than 9.3 million Americans as victims of identity theft in the
past 12 month period. Report by the Democratic Staff of the House Homeland
Security Committee, Identity Theft and Terrorism, July 1, 2005, p.10. [7]

The media needs to expose the actual funding sources for these terror crimes
and not try to point the finger at Digital Gold Currency. The public should
focus on fixing the problem and stop being guided like scared sheep away
from promising new technologies like m-payments and Digital Gold Currency.

Why doesn’t the government make more of an effort to close the ‘credit card
data’ loopholes and prevent data thefts from occurring? Can’t the government
force the profitable billion dollar credit card companies to advance their
40 year old plastic card technology?

It is no longer acceptable to dismiss credit card fraud as a petty crime.
This is not a petty crime when 200 or more people are killed from a
terrorist bomb. It is also not acceptable for the media to try and demonize
digital currency when the blame for these acts of violence falls squarely on
the credit card industry.

A North African terrorist funding group accumulated details of nearly 200
stolen cards and raised more than GBP 200 000 to fund the al-Qaeda terrorist
network through international credit card fraud. Twenty to thirty ‘runners’
collected the names and credit card details of almost 200 different bank
accounts from contacts working in service industries such as restaurants.
These details were not used in their country of origin (the UK) but sent on
to associates in Spain and the Netherlands. These associates used the cards
to fraudulently collect more than GBP 200 000 for al-Qaeda cells around
Europe.[8]

DGCs have never been linked to terror financing.

In Australia, credit card fraud and identity theft cost hundreds of millions
of dollars a year. Internationally, some estimates put the cost of
cyber-related identity theft at more than $200 billion – bigger than the
entire cocaine market. [9]

Digital Gold Currency has only been around since the mid 1990’s and has in
just the past 3-4 years gained retail popularity. Credit cards have been in
use and popular for over 40 years! The next time you buy a discount shirt or
sweater, will your card and personal information be forwarded overseas to
aid in the set up of a new terror training camp?

March. 30, 2007, BOSTON – A hacker or hackers stole data from at least 45.7
million credit and debit cards of shoppers at off-price retailers including
T.J. Maxx and Marshalls in a case believed to be the largest such breach of
consumer information. Associated Press story[10]

Is it possible that while the card companies pocket hundreds of millions in
profit….they fail to address or correct this epidemic of fraud? The facts
show us without question that credit card fraud offers an easy and direct
funding source for global terror networks. Why don’t the card companies fix
it and stop passing on the expense to their customers?

Case study: Columbus, Ohio: Somali native Nuradin Abdi told U.S.
investigators that he provided stolen credit card numbers to a man accused
of buying gear for al-Qaida, according to federal prosecutors. .. The credit
card information was in turn provided to an acquaintance who was in the
process of buying a laptop, global positioning satellite watch, a laser
range finder and other equipment. Abdi is accused of planning to blow up a
Columbus, Ohio, area shopping mall along with other al-Qaida operatives,
including an admitted member of the terror group, Iyman Faris, who is
currently imprisoned for a scheme to sabotage the Brooklyn Bridge.
Prosecutors say Abdi attended a guerrilla training camp in Ethiopia, with
the shopping mall plot hatched shortly after he returned to Ohio in March
2000. [11]

The horrible reality of this situation is that the next transaction you make
with that antiquated bank card, may be sending funds for the a future
terrorist attack.

Can you guarantee that immediately after your next credit card purchase the
card data will not be copied and sold to extremist? It happens all the
time….

According to Identity Theft Resource Center there were 167 data breaches in
the first three months of this year. At least 8.3 million records containing
sensitive information were potentially compromised in the same time
period.[12]

The is the ugly truth is that credit card fraud often directly funds terror
networks.

One Recent Event: Data from 4 Million credit cards stolen. Recently,
Hannaford announced what security experts call a sophisticated attack on
their computer network that resulted in the theft of credit and debit card
account information. The arrest of Al Qaeda’s top cyber terrorist provided
hard evidence of their use of stolen credit card data for funding. In one
case, terrorist groups use the stolen credit card information to purchase $3
million of materials to carry out terrorist attacks. Al Qaeda’s top cyber
terrorist 23 year old Younes Tsouli (online name – Irhaby007),recently
admitted conspiring to defraud banks
<http://www.washingt onpost.com/ wp-dyn/content/ article/2007/ 07/05/AR20070705 0
1945_pf.html> , credit card companies and charge card companies.– Kevin
Coleman <http://www.technoly tics.com/> [13]

In stark contrast, no charges have ever been brought against a terror
funding suspect that included any connection to Digital Gold Currency. What
is being done by the card companies and banks to prevent future use of card
fraud in the funding of terror networks? Surely this is a national security
problem and not a petty crime as it is often labeled.

The mastermind behind the international credit card fraud for funding the
LTTE terrorist organization has been arrested… He had a large number of
Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) and bank receipts issued by both local
and foreign banks, amounting to a massive sum of money, over Rs. 100
million, in his possession when he was arrested. In the past, it´s been
widely reported that Al Qaeda training manuals teach their minions to use
credit card fraud as a way to survive in foreign lands. [14]

The next time you read a main stream media article about Digital Gold
Currency, which includes ambiguous language like “may be” or “are vulnerable
to” please remember the facts. Contact your card company today and ask them
what is being done to secure your card and personal information. Let’s all
work together to prevent the next terror attack from being funded by your
stolen credit card.

[1]
*http://counterterro rismblog. org/2008/ 02/terrorists_ and_credit_ card_fra. php
[2] *http://www.usdoj. gov/ndic/ pubs28/28675/ index.htm
[3] *http://www.business week.com/ magazine/ content/06_ 02/b3966094. htm
[4]
*http://counterterro rismblog. org/2008/ 02/terrorists_ and_credit_ card_fra. php
[5]
*http://counterterro rismblog. org/2008/ 02/terrorists_ and_credit_ card_fra. php
[6]
*http://www.washingt onpost.com/ wp-dyn/content/ article/2007/ 07/05/AR20070705 0
1945_pf.html
[7] *http://www.cybercon flict.org/ pdf/WilsonNov012 005.pdf
[8] *http://www.fatf- gafi.org/ dataoecd/ 28/43/40285899. pdf
[9] *http://www.abc. net.au/4corners/ content/2005/ s1435556. htm
[10] *http://www.msnbc. msn.com/id/ 17871485/
[11]
*http://www.creditca rds.com/credit- card-news/ credit-cards- terrorism- 1282.php
[12]
*http://www.nationme dia.com/dailynat ion/nmgcontenten try.asp?category _id=25
<http://www.nationme dia.com/dailynat ion/nmgcontenten try.asp?category _id=25&n
ewsid=127163> &newsid=127163
[13]*http://www.defenset ech.org/archives /004105.html
[14] *http://www.defence. lk/new.asp? fname=20080615_ 03

 

Comments are closed.

Looking for something?

Use the form below to search the site:


Still not finding what you're looking for? Drop a comment on a post or contact us so we can take care of it!