356 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
356 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
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<-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><->
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<-> <->
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<-> David Lightman <->
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<-> <->
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<-> and <->
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<-> <->
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<-> -=The Administration=- <->
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<-> <->
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<-> <->
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<-> Present: <->
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<-> <->
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<-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><->
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<-> <->
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<-> Credit Carding <->
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<-> Part I <->
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<-> The Card <->
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<-> <->
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<-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><->
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<-> <->
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<-> This article will reveal <->
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<-> a few hidden facts about <->
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<-> credit cards. Parts I I <->
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<-> and I I I will explain a <->
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<-> few new techniques about <->
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<-> getting and abusing some <->
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<-> of your own found cards. <->
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<-> <->
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<-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><->
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There are at least three types
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of security devices on credit cards
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that you aren't supposed to know
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about. These are the account number,
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the signature panel, and the magnetic
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strip.
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The Account Number
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------------------
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A Social Security card has nine
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digits. So do two-part Zip codes.
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A domestic phone number, including
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area code, has ten digits. Yet a
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complete MasterCard number has twenty
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digits. Why so many?
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It is not mathematically necessary
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for any credit-card account number to
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have more than eight digits. Each
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cardholder must, of course, have a
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unique number. Visa and MasterCard
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are estimated to have about sixty-five
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million cardholders each. Thus their
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numbering system must have at least
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sixty-five million available numbers.
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There are one hundred million
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possible combinations of eight
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digits --- 00000000, 00000001, 00000002,
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00000003, all the way up to 99999999.
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So eight digits would be enough. To
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allow for future growth, an issuer the
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size of Visa or MasterCard could not
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opt for nine digits-- enough for a
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billion different numbers.
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In fact, a Visa card has
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thirteen digits and sometimes more. An
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American Express card has fifteen
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digits. Diners Club cards have
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fourteen. Carte Blanche has ten.
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Obviously, the card issuers are
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projecting that they billions and
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billions of cardholders and need those
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digits to ensure a different number
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for each. The extra digits are a
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security device.
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Say you Visa number is 4211 503
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417 268. Each purchase must be
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entered into a computer from a sales
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slip. The account number tags the
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purchase to your account. The persons
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who enter account numbers into
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computers get bored and sometimes
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make mistakes. They might enter
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4211 503 471 268 or 4211 703 417 268
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instead.
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The advantage of this thirteen-
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digit numbering system is that it is
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unlikely any Visa cardholder has 4211
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503 471 268 or 4211 703 417 268 for
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an account number. There are 10
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trillion possible thirteen-digit Visa
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numbers (0000 000 000 000; 0000 000
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000 001........9999 999 999 999). Only
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about sixty-five million of those
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numbers are numbers of actual, active
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accounts. The odds that an incorrectly
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entered number would correspond to a
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real number are something like about
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1 in 150,000.
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Other card-numbering systems are
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even more secure. Of the quadrillion
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possible fifteen-digit American
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Express card numbers, only about 11
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million are assigned. The chance of
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a random number happening to correspond
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to an existing account number is about
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1 in 90,000,000. Taking all twenty
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digits on a MasterCard, there are one
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hundred quintillion (100,000,000,000,
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000,000,000) possible numbers for
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sixty-five million cardholders. The
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chance of a random string of digits
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matching a real MasterCard number is
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about one in one and a half trillion.
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Among other things, this makes
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possible those television ads inviting
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holders of credit cards to phone to
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order merchandise. The operstators
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who take the calls never see the
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callers' credit cards nor their
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signatures. How can they be sure
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the callers even have credit cards?
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They base their confidence on
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the security of the credit card
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numbering systems. If someone calls
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in and makes up a credit card number,
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the number surely won't be an existing
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credit card number. The deception
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can be spotted instantly by plugging
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into the credit-card company's
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computer. For all practical purposes,
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the only way to come up with a genuine
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credit-card number is to read it off
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a credit card. The number, not a
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piece of plastic is enough.
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Signature Panel
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---------------
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You're not supposed to erase the
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signature panel if you steal a card!
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You might be thinking that you could
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just write the cardholder's name on
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the panel. You're thinking that this
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would be great if you were going to
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withdraw some cash from the bank, for
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they make you sign a slip and it must
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match up to the signature on the card.
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If you or anyone else does this, you
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will soon find the card completely
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worthless (at least it can not be
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shown).
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Some credit cards have background
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design that rubs off if anyone tries
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to erase the signature. There's the
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"fingerprint" design on the American
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Express panel, repeated Visa or
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MasterCard logos on some bank cards,
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and the "Safesig" design on others.
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The principle is the same as with the
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security paper, the wavy-line pattern
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erases, leaving a white area. This
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makes it obvious that the signature
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has been altered.
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There is a more elaborate gimmick
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in credit-card panels. It is said
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that if you erase the panel, a secret
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word, "VOID", appears to prevent use
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of the card. The Administration has
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taken 15 common credit cards and
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sacrificed them to test this theory.
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The odinary pen eraser will erase
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credit-card signature panels, if
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slowly. The panels are removed pretty
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easy with a cloth and Energine. This
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method disolves the panels cleanly.
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Of the 15 cards tested, 6 had
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nothing under the panel (other than
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a contiuation of the cards back design
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where there was one). Nine cards had
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the words "VOID" under the panel. In
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all cases, the VOID's were printed
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small and repeated many times under the
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panel.
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<-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><->
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<-><-> This is How They Ranked <-><->
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<-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><->
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Cards with VOID Devices
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-----------------------
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Bloomingdale's
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Bonwit Teller
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Bullock's
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Chase Convenience Banking
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Card
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First Interstate Bank Card
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I. Magnin
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Joseph Magnin
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Montgomer Ward
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Visa (Chase Manhattan)
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Cards without VOID Devices
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--------------------------
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American Express Gold Card
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Broadway
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MasterCard (Citibank)
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Neiman-Marcus
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Robinson's
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Saks Fifth Avenue
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When held to a strong light, the
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VOIDs were visible through the
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Bloomingdale's even without removing
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the panel.
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The Way Around this Security!
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-----------------------------
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There is but one way we could
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think of getting around this feature...
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painting over the panel! This would
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work only if the card didn't have a
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design on the panel. Cards that have
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a difficult color to match would
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be near immpossible also (Saks' panel
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is greenish-tan khaki color).
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The Magnetic Strip
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------------------
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One of the last security devices
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is on the back, the brown magnetic
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strip. You probably think that there
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are sun-dry personal details about the
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cardholder stored in the strip. The
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strip is really no more information
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capacity than a similar snippet of
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recording tape. For their part, banks
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are reticent about the strip.
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The strip need not contain any
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information other than the account
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number or similer identification. Any
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further information needed to complete
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and automatic-teller transaction --such
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as the current account balances-- can
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be called up from bank computers and
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need not be encoded in the strip.
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Evidently, the card expiration
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date is in the strip. Expirated cards
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can be "eaten" by automatic-teller
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machines even when the expired card
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has the same account number and name
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as its valid replacement card. Credit
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limit, address, phone number, employer,
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ect., must not be indicated in the
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strip, for banks do not issue new cards
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just because this information changes.
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It is not clear if the personal
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indentification number is in the strip
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or called up from the bank computer.
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Many automatic teller machines have a
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secret limit of three attempts for
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providing the correct personal
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identification number. After three
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wrong attempts, the "customer" is
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assumed to be a crook with a stolen
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credit card and the card is "eaten".
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It is possible to scramble the
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information in the strip by rubbing a
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magnet over it. Worker's in hospitols
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or research facilities with large
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electromagnets sometimes find their
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cards no longer work in automatic-
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teller machines.
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The Bloomingdale's Color Code
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-----------------------------
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Only in a few cases does the color
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of the credit card mean anything.
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There are the American Express, Visa,
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and MasterCard gold cards for preferred
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customers. The Air Travel Card comes
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in red and green, of which green is
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better. The most elaborate color
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scheme, and a source of some confusion
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to status-consious queues, is that of
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Bloomingdale's credit cards. The five
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colors of Bloomingdale's cards do not
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signify credit limits per se, but they
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do tip off the sales staff as to what
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type of customer you are. According
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to Bloomingdale's credit deptpartment,
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here is how it works: Low color in
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pecking order is blue, issued to
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Bloomingdale's employees as a perk
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in their compensation packages. The
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basic Bloomie's card is yellow. Like
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most department store cards, it can
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be used to spread payments over several
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months with the payment of a finance
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charge. The red card gives holders
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three months' free interest and is
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issued to customers who regularly
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make large purchases. The silver card
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is good for unlimited, but as with a
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travel and entertainment card, all
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charges must be paid within thirty
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days. The gold card offers the same
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payment options as the yellow card, but
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is reserved for the store's biggest
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customers.
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<-><-><-><-><-><-><-=> David Lightman
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Downloaded from..
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The Lost City of Atlantis
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. _ . __ |\ _ .
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. .__ =| |[] |# |# ._ .
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...##.=|.|[].|#:|#.|=|...
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- -- --- ------------ --- - -
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703 - xxx - xxxx
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