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 Qaeda 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 guerilla 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]
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