Credit Card Fraud Funds Terrorist Activity
The Australian press is currently reporting the ongoing trial of numerous terrorist suspects in a credit card fraud ring. According to the testimony of one of the suspects, Izzydeen Atik, the stolen credit card information was used to fund terrorist activities; primarily cell phone SIM cards and airline tickets.
This is nothing new, of course. Bob Sullivan of MSNBC wrote about it in his book Your Evil Twin back in 2004 and others have too. I mention it only to alert my readers that the trend continues. Credit card fraud does more than buy the local misfit’s television and computer games. It’s International in scope, frequently run by organized crime, and funding activities that we can only imagine.
The 2008 CyberSource Online Fraud Report tells us that $3.6 Billion was lost to online fraud alone. I have to wonder how much of that will fund the next suicide bomber in Iraq, or worse, the next September 11.
Make no mistake, credit card fraud is big business and the credit card industry is out of control. It’s up to us as merchants and cardholders to do whatever we can to prevent credit card fraud. That includes putting pressure on the issuing banks, the payment industry, and yes, even the government. Nobody is immune to the fraud.
