Fergie's Tech Blog

Scammers Randomly Target Checking Accounts

Holy crap.

Brian Krebs writes on Security Fix:

An alarming report published this week on the official Internet news service of the U.S. Air Force highlights the need for consumers to keep a close eye on their bank account statements for signs of fraud.

The piece tells the story of an investigation launched after an Colorado airman discovered that his bank account was $124.90 less than it should have been. The man's bank, a Peterson AFB branch of 5-Star Bank, found that scammers apparently generated random account numbers, into which they tried to deposit one cent. When one of the tiny deposits clears, the criminals know they've hit upon a live account and begin to withdraw funds from it.

Turns out the crooks had automated the process: A 5-Star manager said she'd handled approximately 100 phone calls from scam victims since at least 2006, and in every case the amount withdrawn was the same and occurred at the beginning of the month, no doubt to stay well ahead of the issuance of end-of-the-month bank statements.

posted by Fergie @ 5/03/2007 11:36:00 AM