FBI Warns of New Online Threat to Personal, Credit Card Information
Federal Bureau of Investigation has a consumer warning for shoppers. Hidden skimming devices (commonly thought to be attached to gas station pumps and ATMs) have gone high-tech.
Herb Stapleton, the chief for the FBI’s cyber division told in an interview to CNBC that “It’s hard to put really — definite numbers around it. But one thing we know for sure is that millions of credit card numbers have been stolen, even over the course of the past two years,”
This brand new type of skimming is named as E-skimming and Magecart. The criminals can gain access to your personal credit card information in many ways.
They may break into a web server or break into a common server that supports different online shopping websites to compromise them all and once a website has been compromised, the shopper will not be able to stop the difference.
Herb Stapleton added: “It’s nearly impossible for a consumer to detect that this has happened to them before the actual occurrence. The site that they would look at, which is already infected, would look no different to a consumer,”
Randy Pargman is the senior director for threat hunting and counterintelligence at Binary defense.
Victims of E-skimming and Mega card include Ticketmaster’s UK website, Macy’s and Puma’s Australian website, and British Airways. Yet, companies have not responded to requests for comment.
Randy Pargman said that “Any retailer that has a significant online presence that accepts online orders is definitely concerned about E-skimming,”
For everyone here, there are many things you can do to protect yourself when you are doing online shopping.
1.) Always shop with a credit card instead of a debit card online.
This lessens the inconvenience suppose if your credit card is compromised, Randy Pargman said: “Credit card users usually have a lower liability for fraud. In addition, getting money returned to your debit card can take some time.”
2.) Consider asking your bank and Credit card Company for a virtual credit card. It is said that not all banks offer it but there many they do. As you may know, a virtual credit card is a rare credit card number to be used for specific transactions and for a specific merchant. If any time this number is compromised, other charges will be declined.
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3.) Monitor their cards for any unusual activity and report it right away. While the Federal Bureau of Investigation Mr. Stapleton said that “ e-skimming has been on its radar for nearly seven years, he said the crimes are growing because cybercriminals are sharing the malware online and becoming more sophisticated.”
