Slashdot Mirror
Stealing From Banks One Cent at a Time
JRHelgeson writes "In a story strangely reminiscent of Superman 3, a 'hacker' allegedly stole over $50,000 from PayPal, Google Checkout as well as several unnamed online brokerage firms. When opening an online brokering account it is common practice for companies such as E-trade and Schwab to send a tiny payment — ranging from only a few cents to a couple of dollars — to verify that the user has access to the bank account listed. According to the story, the attacker wrote a script that opened thousands of accounts at dozens of these providers. He was arrested not for taking the money, but for using false names in order to get it."
Of course he wasn't arrested for taking the money. Said institutions willingly deposited that money into his account(s), yes? And these institutions did so under the pretense that this was to identify the customer? So the charge makes sense. The guy didn't steal money, it was given to him... a "him" with a fake identity.
Proudly supporting the Libertarian Party.
I don't understand how he managed to do this. He can't use 50,000 bank accounts. There aren't 50,000 payment services. So why would any of them send a few cents to the same bank account more than once?
Can anyone explain this to me? It makes no sense at all.
Most always, the bank sees the foolishness in sending a letter (costing at least 42 cents) to correct a small error. So they apparently just write off the difference, and leave the ATM deposit as reported.
So I get richer, cents at a time.
Kids, don't try this at home.
This may just be the missing statement, right before "4. Profit"