Stratfor Breach Leads To Over $700k In Fraud

wiredmikey writes "It isn't often that after a data breach involving credit cards, the public is given information on the exact amount money lost by consumers as a result. Thanks to the FBI, however, we now have a better understanding of what 60,000 stolen credit cards translates to financially, as this data was included in their investigation notes while working the Stratfor case. The last time the public had something close to actual stats from the source, we learned that the TJX breach cost Visa $68 million in 2007, two years after the TJX network was compromised by Albert Gonzalez. Yet, those were Visa's estimates. Now, in the aftermath of the Stratfor breach, the FBI has attributed $700,000 worth of charge fraud to the 60,000 credit card records taken during the network compromise. AntiSec supporters walked away with 860,160 usernames and passwords, in addition to the credit card records."

Comments

So here we have the real motive

[msobkow]

Money.

Not "leaked documents" or "liberated intelligence."

Plain old fashioned credit card fraud.

Re:So here we have the real motive

[Anonymous Coward]

If you complete the circle here, it does come back to the consumer, via retailers who have to pay processing fees and price their goods accordingly.

In the end, the consumer always pays.

Re:The real losers

[Anonymous Coward]

Quite. And then the merchant is charged for a chargeback, so fraud is actually profitable for banks.

Once again the free market has produced the best solution... for the rich guy.

Re:Charge fraud is the new armed bank robbery

[Theophany]

The FBI "virtually ignore" them because it's the SECs job. That's like bemoaning the LAPD because it spends no time solving homicides in NYC.