21 Million German Bank Accounts For Sale

anerva writes "Black market criminals are offering to sell details on 21 million German bank accounts for €12M ($15.3M), according to an investigative report (German; Google translation) published Saturday. In November reporters for WirtschaftsWoche (Economic Week) had a face-to-face meeting with criminals in a Hamburg hotel, according to the magazine. Posing as buyers working for a gambling business, the journalists were able to strike a price of €0.55 per record, or €12M for all the data. They were given a CD containing the 1.2 million accounts when they asked for assurances that the information they would be buying was legitimate." 21 million is three in four existing German bank accounts.

Comments

On your marks (no pun intended)

[pin0chet]

In theory, if the banking system were known to be compromised in such a huge way, and there were no way of knowing if your own bank account was compromised or not, shouldn't there be a massive bank run? Because everyone wants to withdraw their money right away to minimize the chance that this ridiculous security leak negatively affects them, right? Such a massive erosion of confidence can completely destroy a banking system.

Exactly

[tomhudson]

But an account number is not the equivalent of a direct debit card. It's not that easy to withdraw money from an account when all you have is the account number.

Every time you write a check, you're giving the recipient your bank address, bank account number ... AND a specimen of your signature. OMG! Quick - millions of people compromised their bank accounts today!

Re:Exactly

[dropadrop]

Wire transfer does not cost anything in Europe. I have a close friend from the US living here, and can't stop wondering at how the way your banks work are so 1980...