Jennifer Long reports on how hackers sell stolen card data from breaches like Staples, complete with zip codes. Fraudsters clone cards with blank magnetic stripes and fake holograms, then convert them to gift cards for instant cash. They often wait months before using stolen data, making it hard for banks to catch the fraud in time.
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A new warning for you about your credit and debit cards. Hackers are finding more ways to get your information and then use it to buy things. CBS 13's Jennifer Long is on your side with how you can protect yourself.
Experts say it's hard to tell where hackers are getting Mainers' information from. It could have been during the data breach here at Staples or any of the other breaches at businesses big and small. A new threat shows scammers are buying up Mainers' information, making duplicated cards, and and then using them locally.
The way they clone the card essentially is they burn the data onto a magnetic strip on a blank ATM or debit card, and they actually emboss those cards with foils and holograms to make them look legit.
We spoke to security expert Robert Siciliano via Skype. He says hackers often buy gift cards.
One way to turn that data into cash is to make charges that turn those cards into gift cards. Those gift cards essentially are cash that they can use at any given point in time.
The data was probably stolen from one of the major breaches last year. Hackers now sell data along with the zip codes of where purchases were last made on that card. That way, banks can't tell if purchases are legit or not.
Fraudsters are very, very smart, unfortunately.
John Paradise of the Maine Credit Union League says months after a breach, you're hit with the fraudulent charges when you least expect it.
A lot of times, you know, these fraudsters will wait and hold on to these numbers and this information for a considerable period of time, so you just never can predict when fraud's going to happen.
You can protect yourself by checking your bank statements, changing your passwords and PIN numbers, and by taking advantage of free credit monitoring that is usually available after a data breach. In South Portland, Jennifer Long for CBS 13 News.
