Big Secrets Volume #1
                            by: The Wyvern
                      Call DBN: 618/397-7687 now!!!!!
 
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In big secrets volume one we will be talking about credit cards, the lie
detector test & fingerprints with alarms.
 
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 (> Credit Cards <)
 ------------------
 
Well when they made the credit card they put three things on it, which were
supposed to be top secret, they did not want a person to know what they did or
what was behind them.  The three things I'm talking about are: the account
number, the signature panel, and the magnetic strip.
 
Well let's see here, most things I have seen have 6-10 digits right?  Yet
credit cards have around 20 digits, why?  Well its not necessary of course for
a credit card to have that many, but it does!  Each card holder must have a
unique number of course though.  Visa has maybe 70 million card holders at this
time, Mastercard too.  Which leads us to 70 million available numbers!
 
There are one hundred million possible combinations of eight digits, from
00000000 to 99999999.  So eight digits would be enuf.  To allow for future
growth, Visa could have 9 digits-enuf for one billion different numbers!
 
In fact, a Visa card has 13 digits and sometimes even more.  And American
Express has 15 digits.  Diners Club cards have 14.  Carte Blanche has 10.  They
are obviously not expecting billions of card owners with those digits.  But all
the extra ones are only a security device.  I mean if they were 4 digits each
most people would have no problem getting themselves 3232 fake credit cards!
 
Say your Visa number is 4321 876 132 564.  Each purchase must be entered from
a sales slip.  The account number tags your purchase to your account. 
Sometimes the sales people get bored and enter the wrong number.  There are 10
trillion possible 13 digit Visa numbers.  Only about 65 million of those are
working accounts!  Which means it is very hard to find one.  Those are slim
odds to find the number you could fill up a book full of 13 digit numbers. 
Still you would not duplicate a Visa account number.
 
Then we have Mastercard of the quadrillion possible combos only about 11
million are active accounts.  Among other things, that makes it possible for
them TV, radio and other ads to invite card holders to call up and order.  How
can they be sure the guy even has a card?
 
They must base there confidence on the security of the credit carding system.
If someone calls up even making sure to use the right number of digits the
number will surely not exist.  To be practical the only way to get a credit
card number is to get it right off the plastic card.
 
So how do I get the credit card numbers you ask?  There are two very easy ways
that you can use anytime, one is getting it off the old copy that was run off
in the store, so if they don't throw the copies away pick them up and it's
yours..then you can also do this very simple trick over the phone:
 
You: This is bank 1.  We are calling to tell you that the credit limit on your
     Mastercard has been raised to twelve hundred dollars.
 
Person: but my limit has always been 10,000 dollars!!!
 
You: Hmmm.. There must be some error or problem in the computers.  Do you have
     your card handy?  Could you read off the number?
 
Right there the person is very worried and wants his limit back so of course he
gives you the number.
 
The signature panel and magnetic strip will be covered in later volumes.
 
 
 (> Alarms and Fingerprints <)
 -----------------------------
 
Lets make this fast so we can get to the lie detector part.  This trick is
quite simple.  You walk into a big business office that has it so you must
enter a certain number of digits before you can enter.  Then it will open the
door for you.  So you go over and clean off the panel and wipe out all the
fingerprints, stand outside the door and wait for a guy to go in.  He will
punch the numbers and go in.  Take out sum fingerprint dust and you will see
the digits.  Write them down....you now know that those digits in some kind of
order open the door!
 
 
 (> The Lie Detector Test <)
 ---------------------------
 
I'm sorry but because of my rush to start typing: How to Write an Adventure
Tutorial section I will have to cover this in a coming up volume.
 
 .....be looking for it in volume 2.....
 
Yes the lie detector test!  The signature panel on credit cards the void pop-up
a little metal slip is fun.
 
 
                     ))) lato! The Wyvern/300 (lub (((