Group 42-Sells Out! - The Information Archive

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Text File | 1995-11-30 | 24KB | 821 lines

<-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-> <-> <-> <-> David Lightman <-> <-> <-> <-> and <-> <-> <-> <-> -=The Administration=- <-> <-> <-> <-> <-> <-> Present: <-> <-> <-> <-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-> <-> <-> <-> Credit Carding <-> <-> Part I <-> <-> The Card <-> <-> <-> <-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-> <-> <-> <-> This article will reveal <-> <-> a few hidden facts about <-> <-> credit cards. Parts I I <-> <-> and I I I will explain a <-> <-> few new techniques about <-> <-> getting and abusing some <-> <-> of your own found cards. <-> <-> <-> <-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-> There are at least three types of security devices on credit cards that you aren't supposed to know about. These are the account number, the signature panel, and the magnetic strip. The Account Number ------------------ A Social Security card has nine digits. So do two-part Zip codes. A domestic phone number, including area code, has ten digits. Yet a complete MasterCard number has twenty digits. Why so many? It is not mathematically necessary for any credit-card account number to have more than eight digits. Each cardholder must, of course, have a unique number. Visa and MasterCard are estimated to have about sixty-five million cardholders each. Thus their numbering system must have at least sixty-five million available numbers. There are one hundred million possible combinations of eight digits --- 00000000, 00000001, 00000002, 00000003, all the way up to 99999999. So eight digits would be enough. To allow for future growth, an issuer the size of Visa or MasterCard could not opt for nine digits-- enough for a billion different numbers. In fact, a Visa card has thirteen digits and sometimes more. An American Express card has fifteen digits. Diners Club cards have fourteen. Carte Blanche has ten. Obviously, the card issuers are projecting that they billions and billions of cardholders and need those digits to ensure a different number for each. The extra digits are a security device. Say you Visa number is 4211 503 417 268. Each purchase must be entered into a computer from a sales slip. The account number tags the purchase to your account. The persons who enter account numbers into computers get bored and sometimes make mistakes. They might enter 4211 503 471 268 or 4211 703 417 268 instead. The advantage of this thirteen- digit numbering system is that it is unlikely any Visa cardholder has 4211 503 471 268 or 4211 703 417 268 for an account number. There are 10 trillion possible thirteen-digit Visa numbers (0000 000 000 000; 0000 000 000 001........9999 999 999 999). Only about sixty-five million of those numbers are numbers of actual, active accounts. The odds that an incorrectly entered number would correspond to a real number are something like about 1 in 150,000. Other card-numbering systems are even more secure. Of the quadrillion possible fifteen-digit American Express card numbers, only about 11 million are assigned. The chance of a random number happening to correspond to an existing account number is about 1 in 90,000,000. Taking all twenty digits on a MasterCard, there are one hundred quintillion (100,000,000,000, 000,000,000) possible numbers for sixty-five million cardholders. The chance of a random string of digits matching a real MasterCard number is about one in one and a half trillion. Among other things, this makes possible those television ads inviting holders of credit cards to phone to order merchandise. The operstators who take the calls never see the callers' credit cards nor their signatures. How can they be sure the callers even have credit cards? They base their confidence on the security of the credit card numbering systems. If someone calls in and makes up a credit card number, the number surely won't be an existing credit card number. The deception can be spotted instantly by plugging into the credit-card company's computer. For all practical purposes, the only way to come up with a genuine credit-card number is to read it off a credit card. The number, not a piece of plastic is enough. Signature Panel --------------- You're not supposed to erase the signature panel if you steal a card! You might be thinking that you could just write the cardholder's name on the panel. You're thinking that this would be great if you were going to withdraw some cash from the bank, for they make you sign a slip and it must match up to the signature on the card. If you or anyone else does this, you will soon find the card completely worthless (at least it can not be shown). Some credit cards have background design that rubs off if anyone tries to erase the signature. There's the "fingerprint" design on the American Express panel, repeated Visa or MasterCard logos on some bank cards, and the "Safesig" design on others. The principle is the same as with the security paper, the wavy-line pattern erases, leaving a white area. This makes it obvious that the signature has been altered. There is a more elaborate gimmick in credit-card panels. It is said that if you erase the panel, a secret word, "VOID", appears to prevent use of the card. The Administration has taken 15 common credit cards and sacrificed them to test this theory. The odinary pen eraser will erase credit-card signature panels, if slowly. The panels are removed pretty easy with a cloth and Energine. This method disolves the panels cleanly. Of the 15 cards tested, 6 had nothing under the panel (other than a contiuation of the cards back design where there was one). Nine cards had the words "VOID" under the panel. In all cases, the VOID's were printed small and repeated many times under the panel. <-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-> <-><-> This is How They Ranked <-><-> <-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-> Cards with VOID Devices ----------------------- Bloomingdale's Bonwit Teller Bullock's Chase Convenience Banking Card First Interstate Bank Card I. Magnin Joseph Magnin Montgomer Ward Visa (Chase Manhattan) Cards without VOID Devices -------------------------- American Express Gold Card Broadway MasterCard (Citibank) Neiman-Marcus Robinson's Saks Fifth Avenue When held to a strong light, the VOIDs were visible through the Bloomingdale's even without removing the panel. The Way Around this Security! ----------------------------- There is but one way we could think of getting around this feature... painting over the panel! This would work only if the card didn't have a design on the panel. Cards that have a difficult color to match would be near immpossible also (Saks' panel is greenish-tan khaki color). The Magnetic Strip ------------------ One of the last security devices is on the back, the brown magnetic strip. You probably think that there are sun-dry personal details about the cardholder stored in the strip. The strip is really no more information capacity than a similar snippet of recording tape. For their part, banks are reticent about the strip. The strip need not contain any information other than the account number or similer identification. Any further information needed to complete and automatic-teller transaction --such as the current account balances-- can be called up from bank computers and need not be encoded in the strip. Evidently, the card expiration date is in the strip. Expirated cards can be "eaten" by automatic-teller machines even when the expired card has the same account number and name as its valid replacement card. Credit limit, address, phone number, employer, ect., must not be indicated in the strip, for banks do not issue new cards just because this information changes. It is not clear if the personal indentification number is in the strip or called up from the bank computer. Many automatic teller machines have a secret limit of three attempts for providing the correct personal identification number. After three wrong attempts, the "customer" is assumed to be a crook with a stolen credit card and the card is "eaten". It is possible to scramble the information in the strip by rubbing a magnet over it. Worker's in hospitols or research facilities with large electromagnets sometimes find their cards no longer work in automatic- teller machines. The Bloomingdale's Color Code ----------------------------- Only in a few cases does the color of the credit card mean anything. There are the American Express, Visa, and MasterCard gold cards for preferred customers. The Air Travel Card comes in red and green, of which green is better. The most elaborate color scheme, and a source of some confusion to status-consious queues, is that of Bloomingdale's credit cards. The five colors of Bloomingdale's cards do not signify credit limits per se, but they do tip off the sales staff as to what type of customer you are. According to Bloomingdale's credit deptpartment, here is how it works: Low color in pecking order is blue, issued to Bloomingdale's employees as a perk in their compensation packages. The basic Bloomie's card is yellow. Like most department store cards, it can be used to spread payments over several months with the payment of a finance charge. The red card gives holders three months' free interest and is issued to customers who regularly make large purchases. The silver card is good for unlimited, but as with a travel and entertainment card, all charges must be paid within thirty days. The gold card offers the same payment options as the yellow card, but is reserved for the store's biggest customers. <-><-><-><-><-><-><-=> David Lightman <-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-> <-> <-> <-> David Lightman <-> <-> <-> <-> and <-> <-> <-> <-> -=The Administration=- <-> <-> <-> <-> <-> <-> <-> <-> Present: <-> <-> <-> <-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-> <-> <-> <-> Part I I <-> <-> Getting the Cards <-> <-> <-> <-><-><-><-David Lightman-><-><-><-> <-> -=The Administration=- <-> <-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-> <-> <-> <-> In this article, we will <-> <-> show you some new techniques <-> <-> in getting the cards alone. <-> <-> We will also mention how to <-> <-> check if the cards you have <-> <-> gotten are valid or not. <-> <-> <-> <-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-> First, I should mention TRW. If you are interested in that method, then I would really suggest that you get Major Havock's & Britash Bloke's file on TRW. If you cannot locate this file, leave mail to me or try finding The Administration's Bulliton Board System. I will try to tell you as much as I think I can here in this file though. TRW --- Your modem should be set at: Half-Duplex 7 Bits 1 Stop Bit Even Parity Dial-up: 214-980-2524 Once you are online, wait for TRW promt and press Control-G, wait for a beep. There, type the state's four character ID that the person you want credit information is living in, and press RETURN. After the RETURN, type in the information on the person that you want the information on in the format below: RTS ID/PASSWORD LASTNAME FIRSTNAME ..., STREET # FIRST CHARACTER OF STREETNAME ZIP Of course, all of this should be entered on one line. After you have typed this, press RETURN, "H-Y", RETURN, and Control-S. For another person in the same state, you can just type in the format again containing that person's information. Making Counterfeit Cards ------------------------ For an investment of about a thousand dollars, an orginized criminal operation can get the pressing machines needed to make credit cards. Counterfeiting credit cards is relativly simple. There are no fancy scrolls and filigree work (see the file on "Counterfeiting", another article by The Administration), just blocky logos in primary colors. From our stand point, the main advantage here is that it allows us cash advances. For maximum plundering of a line of credit, we must know the credit limit as well as the account number. Getting Credit Limit and Account # ---------------------------------- Here is the dialog that you should use (over the phone) to get this kind of information... You: Hello, this is Bank of America. We're calling to tell you that the credit limit on your Visa card has been raised to $1,200.00. Victim: But my credit limit has always been $10,000.00. You: There must be a problem with the computers, do you have you're card handy? Could you read off the embossed numbers? Victim: Ok, it's 9834 864 874 9857. You: Thank you. I will check into this error myself, right away. Another way to get these credit cards is to go to a major department store. Look for the ones that do not have thier own credit cards. You should then go trashing for ribbons sometime in the dumpster or just inside the store sometimes. Recognizing What Cards You Get ------------------------------ American Express /-------------------------- = = = American Express = = = = = = 37XN NXXXXX XXXXX = = = = MM/Y1 THRU MM/Y2 Y1 = = David Lightman AX= = = \--------------------------/ The first two digits are allways thirty-seven. If the N's are between 80 to 89, then the card is a gold card. If the N's equal 37, then it is a platnium. The first date is the date this David Lightman recieve this particular card. The second date is the expiration date. The other Y1 doesn't mean a thing. MasterCard /-------------------------- = = = MasterCard (citibank)= = = = = = 5XXX XXXX XXXX XXXX = = XXXX AAA DD-MM-YY MM/YY = = David Lightman = = = \--------------------------/ I think you can pretty well under- stand this card. One thing you should know, the first digits is allways 5. Visa /-------------------------- = = = VISA = = Chase Manhatten = = = = 4XXX XXX(X) XXX(X) XXX(X)= = MM/YY MM/YY*VISA = = David Lightman = = = \--------------------------/ This card is very easy to detect. It's name is embossed on the card (means will show up on carbon). There is something pretty good to know about the first four digits, it is allways 4333 or 4444. Wells Fargo /-------------------------- = = = = = = = David Lightman = = MM/YY - MM/YY = = 4024 0071 XXX(X) XXX(X) = = L _/ = = = \--------------------------/ This is one of the fun ones. If it begins 4024 0071, then you know you have one. Also, if the '-' is between the dates is '*', that indicates a gold card. If the 'L' followed by the check '_/' is a 'C', then you have a clasic card. If the 'L' is a 'P', then you have a premier card. Testing Credit Cards -------------------- To determine if the cards are any good or not is pretty easy. You go into the store you ripped these things off from and look by their phone. You should see a number and almost allways a merchant number. Another way to find these numbers is to wait untill they dial the numbers. Try to remeber the numbers that they dial. This method is a little better for sometimes written numbers in the stores are forgotten about and might have been changed since the last time they had changed the written copy. Yes, some Target workers are smart enough to memorize a number, and mabye even a merchant number. When you call this number, and you get passed all the "red tape", then ask if the credit card number is clear for the amount you want to spend. Ask the operator to cancel the auto withdrawal and hope she will, not many operators are that dumb. <-><-><-><-><-><-><-=>David Lightman <-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-> <-> <-> <-> David Lightman <-> <-> <-> <-> and <-> <-> <-> <-> -=The Administration=- <-> <-> <-> <-> <-> <-> <-> <-> <-> <-> Presents: <-> <-> <-> <-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-> <-> <-> <-> The end of the 3-part series <-> <-> <-> <-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-> <-> <-> <-> Part I I I <-> <-> The Dropsite <-> <-> <-> <-><-><-><-David Lightman-><-><-><-> <-> -=The Administration=- <-> <-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-> REVISED: 07/11/86 The Dropsite ------------ You must find a place for all of these "goodies" to go. If you really wanted to get in deep, you might have them sent to your house. You may also have a crude enemy in mind. Stop and think of the benifits from this suggestion. To get a sufficient drop, you have to find a deserted house. It must look like it is lived in though, grass mowed, drapes, ect. When you are ready to order this stuff, have it sent overnight UPS and leave a note on the door saying that you work acquard hours and to leave it on the back porch. This is really the best way to do it, but I will tell you about a few others. U-Haul has what is called "Rent a Spot". Anything sent to this "spot", U-Haul has to sign for. You and only you can get anything sent there. You might be able to send the "goodies" there and then cancell the "spot" after they arrive. This is very tricky and I would not recomend it, but then again, there may not be a vacant house where you live. This drop is just a house with people in it you do not know and who would not recognize you if seen again. Just have the packages sent there. Phone and tell them that you ordered a package and it was sent to the wrong house. Tell them that you will pick it up when sometime after it arrives if they don't mind. I strongly disencourage this method. Another drop could be any video or computer retail store. Here is a little dialog that might explain this a little better: You: Hi, this is David Lightman. I am interested in your new Sanyo computer system. I would like to talk to someone about this. Worker: Sure. Let me tell you all about it. (For the text on Sanyo, please write them. I am too lazy) (Continued) You: Well, it sounds like just what I have been looking for. Could I buy it now with my Visa and have my nephew pick it up later? I am sick and can't get out. Worker: Sure. I guess so. ect. ect. ect... You just pick up the package later by telling the guy your name and what you need to get. Free shit. Already paid for. Ordering Mechandise ------------------- Don't try this if you have a high voice! One exception to this though, you might want to fake it like a lady. Some of the best places to get stuff from is advertizements in magazines. When you do this, try to schedual it at the begining of the month, after the bills have been sent. This will provide you for more time for unexpected misshaps that might occur. You must be sure that this is going to work, or just pull out imediately! When you call the merchant, try to make it at night or late in the day. Most operators are very tired then and not really thinking of what they are doing. Make sure you know exactly it is you want and everything about card by memory if asked. When you finally get your packages, completely forget where the drop was, for you will NEVER want to use the same one again. One more thing, the insurance companies pay for all stolen goods gotten by credit cards. A word of caution: Many a hacker have died this way... <-><-><-><-Acknowledgements:-><-><-><-> (1) Britash Bloke (2) Major Havock (3) Team Hackers (4) All Administration Members (5) Adolf Hitler (6) William Poundstone (7) Shoshio Kinkski <-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-> <-> <-> <-> This article was written for <-> <-> informational purposes only. <-> <-> All of it's content can not <-> <-> be held directly or indirectly <-> <-> if a violation of the law <-> <-> occurs. I, nor any member of <-> <-> The Administration can be held <-> <-> responsible if a violation of <-> <-> the law occurs. We do not in <-> <-> any way promote the use of <-> <-> stolen credit cards. <-> <-> <-> <-> David Lightman, <-> <-> The Administration, <-> <-> and Team Hackers <-> <-> <-> <-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-> <-> <-> <-><-><-><-><-David Lightman-><-><-><-> <-> -=The Administration=- <-> <-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-> <-> <-> <-> The Administration Officers <-> <-> <-> <-> David Lightman -=- Leader <-> <-> Britash Bloke -=- Co-Leader <-> <-> Major Havock -=- Team Hacker <-> <-> <-> <-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-> <-> <-> <-> -=The Administration=- <-> <-> <-> <-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><->