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An FBI Agent's 3 Years Undercover With Identity Thieves
snydeq writes "InfoWorld offers the inside story of how FBI Supervisory Special Agent J. Keith Mularski, aka Master Splynter, penetrated and took over DarkMarket.ws, the infamous underground carding board hacked by Max Butler and later transformed by Mularski into an FBI sting operation. The three-year tour sent Mularski deeper into the world of online computer fraud than any FBI agent before, resulting in 59 arrests and preventing an estimated $70 million in bank fraud before the FBI pulled the plug on the operation in October."
You mean like at http://www.fbi.gov/quickfacts.htm ?
The FBI's jurisdiction is essentially being the nation's police force as opposed to your local city force. You can't say "ignore these sections of the state, county or city code" to a local police force just like you can't tell the FBI to ignore the U.S. Code.
He probably wants a new assignment that involves less time at a computer. Did you RTFA? He was spending 18 hours a day on his computer, and was online every day of the week. His relationship with his wife was strained because he had to be available on his computer as often as possible to avoid suspicion and to keep his credibility up. He had to report his vacations to the people he was trying to bust weeks ahead of time, to keep up that reputation. To me, that sounds like the sort of assignment that you only participate in once, if only to keep your heart healthy.
Palm trees and 8
I think you're right here in the US. When I visited London last year, though, it seemed like every single person had chips in their cards. I felt like a Luddite asking the guy to actually swipe the magnetic strip on a card (and him having to try a couple times before it took), then go find a pen, sign it, then find a place to put the paper signature. Us old-fashioned Americans.
E pluribus unum
For online purchases one-use card numbers already are available.
Bank of America has them, it's called 'Shopsafe' and it's a free feature if you have a card with them. I've used it for every web purchase now for years and it works great. You set your limit & expiration date, generate a number and your set. Easy and it limits your exposure.
(MBNA developed shopsafe and then Bank of America got it when they bought them out. Probably other companies have something similar)
TECHNICALLY, under YOUR agreement with Mastercard, Visa, or Amex, NOT signing your card with your signature is a breach of your cardholder agreement. In fact (though granted, in practice rarely), Visa requires merchants who come across an unsigned / ASK FOR ID card are supposed to not finish the transaction until the card is signed. If you refuse to sign, at least up until recently, the last time I looked at a merchant contract, they're meant to retain your card (uh oh, you do remember the clause in your cardholder agreement that states that the card remains the property of the issuer, not you, right?).
Not good advice.