Brits abroad may require help of people in banking operations jobs as credit card charges rise

Banking operations jobs may be needed to help British holidaymakers following research that showed they are facing £457 million hidden credit and debit card charges.

uSwitch.com found that a fifth of Brits are risking charges by using their debit cards to withdraw cash while they are abroad, while 38 per cent of those questioned use their credit card overseas.

Furthermore, a fifth of Brits do not plan their holiday spending, suggesting more people could be needed in finance jobs to help people plan their expenditures.

Stefan Maryniak, personal finance expert at uSwitch.com, commented that people should begin thinking about their holiday spending when booking their time away.

He added: "Alternatively get a pre-paid currency card which allows you to top up foreign currency some with no commission charges and can be used like a standard credit card abroad.

"The best thing about currency cards is you only spend what you load on them so you are guaranteed not to overspend."

Meanwhile, workplace morale is being hit by the absence of colleagues, according to a new survey by Aviva UK Health.

 

The names of people arrested in the London Metropolitan Police's investigations into alleged phone hacking and illegal payments to police officers.

Arrests in alleged UK phone hacking scandal

The names of people arrested in the London Metropolitan Police's investigations into alleged phone hacking and illegal payments to police officers.
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Operation Weeting: Metropolitan Police investigation into alleged phone hacking.
Arrested and out on bail:
April 5, 2011: Ian Edmondson, former News of the World assistant editor for news
April 5: Neville Thurlbeck, News of the World chief reporter
April 14: James Weatherup, News of the World assistant news editor
June 23: Terenia Taras, freelance journalist
June 28: Laura Elston, British Press Association royal correspondent
July 8: Clive Goodman, former News of the World royal editor, jailed in January 2007 for several months for intercepting mobile phone messages of the royal household
July 8: Andy Coulson, former News of the World editor and former communications chief for Prime Minister David Cameron
July 8: 63-year-old man, identity unknown
July 14: Neil Wallis, former News of the World executive editor
July 17: Rebekah Brooks, News International chief executive and former News of the World editor
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Operation Elveden: Metropolitan Police investigation into alleged illegal payments to police officers for information:
Arrested and out on bail:
July 8: Clive Goodman, former-News of the World royal editor
July 8: Andy Coulson, former News of the World editor and former communications chief for Prime Minister David Cameron
July 8: 63-year-old man, identity unknown
July 17: Rebekah Brooks, News International chief executive and former News of the World editor
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Both operations are named after villages in eastern England.

100 people rounded up in fake internet auction arrests

Reports are coming in that more than 100 people have been arrested and charged in Romania and the US in connection with organised fraud on the internet.

According to security researcher Brian Krebs, the fraudsters organised fake online auctions for boats, cars and other high-value items, ripping consumers off for at least $10 million in total.

The Krebs on Security researcher says that a statement from the US Justice Department reports the scams as following a familiar modus operandi.

"Conspirators located in Romania would post items for sale such as cars, motorcycles and boats on internet auction and online websites. They would instruct interested buyers to wire transfer the purchase money to a fictitious name they claimed to be an employee of an escrow company", he says in his latest security posting.

"Once the victim wired the funds, the co-conspirators in Romania would text information about the wire transfer to co-conspirators in the US - known as `arrows' - to enable them to retrieve the wired funds", he adds.

Krebs goes on to say they the Romanian fraudsters would also provide the arrows with instructions as to where to send the funds after retrieval.

The US arrows, says the security researcher, would visit Western Union or Moneygram offices and, using fake passports and drivers' licences in the name of the recipient, drawn the cash, wiring the proceeds - less a commission - to overseas destinations, usually in Romania.

Krebs notes that, since February of this year, FBI agents and the US Justice Department authorities in Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas have arrested or charged at least 21 Romanians and Moldovans. 13 of those arrested, he says, have pleaded guilty, whilst three remain at large.

Citing a report on the Adevaril.ro newswire, the security researcher says that a further 90 people have been arrested across Romania.

The newswire also estimates that the fraudsters got away with as much as $20 million - twice the estimate of the US Justice Department.

"Some of the Romanians arrested were from the town of Râmnicu Vâlcea - a location that has become synonymous with online auction fraud", says Krebs, adding that in January, Wired published a report on how the town - with its 120,000 inhabitants - had become `cybercrime central.'

 

man arrested after investigators uncovered an ATM fraud ring was sentenced today by U.S. District Court in Seattle to five years in prison,

five additional years of supervised release and $225,592 in restitution for bank fraud, conspiracy to commit access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.  

Claudiu Tudor, 37, of Renton, was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle after he and another man stole more than $225,000 from the bank accounts of over 130 people by installing cameras and other devices on automated teller machines to record customers' debit card information, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Tudor was arrested along with Mihai Podaru—who is also known under a number of aliases, including Gvidiv Mateescu and Ovidiu Mateescu and more—after investigators with say they participated in a scheme that placed devices on ATMs that read bank card information.

Read Bellevue Patch's coverage of the arrest and charges filed here.

Banks and credit unions in Bellevue, Seattle, Kirkland, Lynnwood, Puyallup and in King County were targeted by the ring that electronically captured ATM card information for later use, law enforcement officials said.

The investigation began in September 2010 when a resident reported two men loitering around an ATM in Woodinville, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The King County Sheriff’s Office found the skimming device and camera on the ATM, according to law enforcement.

The Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force linked the defendants to skimming incidents dating back to mid-2010 involving Key Bank on Holman Road in Seattle, two Wells Fargo branches in Kirkland, and Boeing Employee Credit Union (BECU) ATMs in Renton, Woodinville and Puyallup, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The men were identified and placed under surveillance and were arrested in November 2010, with a hotel room full of tools and equipment for skimming account information and making counterfeit debit cards, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

A third man was involved, but investigators only were able to identify Tudor and Mateescu, said United States Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Emily Langlie.

The skimming devices are installed over an ATM's scanner and they read the customer's bank account information from the ATM transactions, according to law enforcement. That information is used later to steal money from the account.

The devices don't interfere with accessing money and the customer might not even realize that his or her account had been vulnerable until much later, Kirkland Police Sgt. Rob Saloum told Bellevue Patch in November, when Tudor and Mateescu were arrested. Read that story here.

With account numbers and personal identification numbers, the two made counterfeit debit cards to take money, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Saloum said it's possible for a person to be victimized by this scheme and not realize it for days until they get their bank statments.

Federal prosecutors noted, "Indeed, any person who uses the ATM is a potential unwitting victim of this fraud scheme.”

Tudor and Mateescu were charged in King County in connection with identity theft-related charges. Tudor's sentence on Friday was handed down in federal court.

The U.S Justice Department works closely with the local law enforcement to determine whether federal charges are appropriate, Langlie said.

"Fraud activity conducted over a wire; this is the type of activity where federal charges apply," she said.

At Tudor's sentencing, U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones said that he particularly was troubled by the sophistication behind this crime “motivated solely by greed” and by Tudor's lack of legitimate employment for several years, which suggested to the court that he was “financing his lifestyle through such criminal activity,” according to the press release. According to the U.S. Justice Department, Jones further noted that without the intervention by law enforcement, the takings from the scheme “could have easily doubled or tripled.”

Mateescu, a Romanian citizen, is scheduled for sentencing on July 29, according to court documents.

Avoiding skimmers
After a similar, but unrelated, ATM "skimming" incident, the Bellevue Police Department released the following tips for avoiding skimmers:

Be aware of your surroundings.  If someone is hovering around the ATM, leave and report it to the bank employee or call 911.
Use an ATM that is located within a building, bank, grocery store where it is monitored by staff.
Don't give out your debit/credit card number, card or pin numbers. 

THE director of a failed charity appeal to raise £15 million for the new Sick Kids hospital has been arrested and charged with fraud relating to her expenses.

Elaine McGonigle is set to appear in court next month to face the charges after being detained by police following a six-month investigation by officers.

The 47-year-old was in charge of the New Pyjamas campaign, which suffered a high-profile collapse last year.

Ms McGonigle was suspended then made redundant, and she later launched an employment tribunal case against the Sick Kids Friends Foundation (SKFF), which ran the campaign. Officials from the SKFF today said they had cooperated with the police inquiry but that it would be "inappropriate" to comment now that Ms McGonigle had been charged.

It is understood lawyers for the SKFF uncovered alleged discrepancies in the New Pyjamas accounts as they prepared to defend the employment tribunal case and contacted police.

Police were called in to probe Ms McGonigle's role in the collapse of the campaign, which cost £1m and raised £100,000, and the axing of ten staff. It is understood that the alleged fraud charges relate to Ms McGonigle's expenses and not the cash raised for the hospital. A police spokesman said: "A 47-year-old woman has been arrested and charged in connection with alleged fraudulent activity carried out while she was involved in fundraising activity for the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh. She is due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on August 3."

A spokesman for SKFF said: "We cooperated fully with the Lothian and Borders Police investigation and it would be inappropriate to comment at this moment."

A spokeswoman for NHS Lothian also said it would be inappropriate for them to comment following yesterday's developments.

The New Pyjamas campaign was supposed to generate £15m to make the new facility at Little France "truly world-class".

The charity's 2010 official accounts showed that, of the £600,000 spent "generating income" by the New Pyjamas arm, only £100,000 was raised. Together with other costs, including making ten staff redundant, the final figure is estimated to be just more than £900,000.

Ms McGonigle's camp maintained her innocence, instead blaming the SKFF for derailing the project, saying that it "takes money to make money", and that the £15m target would have been hit had SKFF bosses kept faith.

A subsequent investigation by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator cleared the SKFF of any wrongdoing.

When the Evening News contacted Ms McGonigle's Perthshire address yesterday, a woman who answered the telephone declined to comment.

THOUSANDS of Australians' bank card details are being auctioned off by global organised gangs for as little as 66c on underground websites in a scam dubbed "eBay for criminals".

Fraudsters are using card-skimming devices or hacking into databases to access the personal information and then auctioning it off to the highest bidder online.

Criminals who bid the highest are then able to embed the private information - using a $150 machine freely available in Victoria - on to blank bank cards or gift cards with a black "tracking strip" and use them to steal money from your bank account. It is only when the victim notices fraudulent activity and reports it to a bank that the card and its cloned double are frozen.

Many victims do not notice the activity on their bank statements for days or even weeks because their cards are not lost or stolen, allowing the gangs to get away with thousands at a time.



Global policing agencies are aware of the websites and working to shut them down, but many are hosted on internet servers in countries where the practice is ignored.

This year, three Malaysian "mules" were imprisoned after obtaining almost 800 replica bank cards within one day of arriving in Melbourne.

In less than three weeks they had fraudulently obtained almost $100,000 from Australian account holders.

Victoria Police obtained CCTV footage of the gang standing at ATM machines around the CBD and outer suburbs for up to an hour at a time, using card after card to withdraw cash.

Police believe the small-time gangs are given the illegal cards for free and pass on the money to Australian-based organised gangs, with individuals earning a percentage of the rip-offs.

The illegal activity is popular with foreigners, brimming with confidence that they will not be recognised by Australian authorities before fleeing back overseas.

Det Sen-Constable Gerard Whelan, of Victoria Police Crime Investigation Unit, busted the three Malaysians after a "lucky breakthrough".

"They arrived on tourist visas at Melbourne airport with $600 each for a one-month trip," he said. "They didn't have any bank cards on them and had bought their tickets to Melbourne the day before. They were interviewed by Customs but were cleared to proceed by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

"When we turned up a lot of these fake bank cards, retained by ATMs, we put out pictures of the men involved. We didn't have a clue who they were and needed the public's help. Luckily, one of the Customs officers at the airport remembered speaking to them weeks earlier and, with his help, we were able to identify them.

"We put out a warrant for their arrest and as they tried to flee the country - one at Brisbane, one at Sydney and another at Darwin - we were able to hold and extradite them back to Victoria. That Customs officer's memory was our lucky breakthrough."

In March this year, two of the Malaysians were sentenced to three years in prison and the third to two years and 11 months.

Sedwin Astephen, 31, Chenkhang Yong, 26, and Thanabalan Moses, 24, had used at least 766 fake bank cards to withdraw $99,972.06 between January 16 and February 5 last year.

"That's what we knew about and could prove, but who knows what else they got away with?" Det Sen-Constable Whelan said. "When we arrested them they didn't have any money on them or bank cards.

"They refused to talk and we still don't know where they got the cards from or where the money went. We know some of the cards, as well as being used in Melbourne, were used in Bangalore, Montreal and London, all on the same day.

"Obviously there are larger forces in operation and that's the work of Australian Federal Police, the Fraud Squad and Australia Crime Commission to find out who and where they are. The three are a small part of a much bigger international syndicate."

The trio also was charged with stealing Eftpos machines at Hoyts Cinema, Pepe's Ice Cream and Supanews at Chadstone Shopping Centre; Best and Less and Subway in Fawkner; Caltex service station in Bulleen; and Safeway in Doncaster.

Gangs swap the terminals with their own similar-looking devices, either by distraction or bribing low-paid workers, and are then able to record the card number, expiration date, credit-card limit, CVV2 number and PIN entered. This information is then offered for sale by "carders" to other criminals on secret websites, often hosted in eastern European countries and parts of Asia.

Insp John Manley, head of Victoria Police E-crime unit, said he was aware of gangs offering low-paid workers "a small fortune to turn a blind eye" while they swapped Eftpos terminals.

"We are aware of cases where young people on low wages have been offered tens of thousands in some cases - that's how much the information is worth to the crooks," he said.

Insp Manley confirmed knowledge of the websites offering stolen bank card details but said he was unable to give further details as it is "an ongoing investigation".

The Sunday Herald Sun has agreed not to publish the names of any of the sites at the request of Victoria Police. All evidence gathered during our inquiry has been handed to Victoria Police.