Police are investigating a possible link between compromised
credit card readers found in
Birmingham and
Ireland.
Detectives suspect an international organised crime gang may be
behind the dodgy readers, a spokesman for payment industry trade
body Apacs and
the DCPCU, a dedicated UK
police unit to investigate cheque and plastic card fraud, confirmed
today.
A Garda (Irish police) spokesman told Computer Weekly, "Recent
activity in Ireland has a similar modus operandi to the UK. It is
the latest trend in this type of fraud in moving from targeting ATM
machines and targeting retail outlets to skim card details."
Compromised readers capture card holders' Pin numbers and
personal details and transmit them via a Bluetooth connection to a
PC where they are captured and later sold on to criminals.
Irish police recovered 47 devices and UK police say they found
compromised readers in "less than 30" UK shops.
Computer Weekly
reported earlier that police are telling retailers to check
their card readers for signs of tampering. Apacs recommends keeping
readers under guard to avoid them being taken home, their
electronics replaced secretly, and put back into service to steal
customers' details.
Researchers at Cambridge University showed on Christmas Eve 2006
how to compromise a card reader and make it play Tetris, the
popular computer game.
In February 2008 they showed how to use them in a
way
similar to how police say were used in Ireland.
Apacs said at the time, "This type of attack requires far
greater effort and engineering to execute than you currently
estimate, is significantly difficult to industrialise to the number
of devices that would gain criminals the return they would expect,
and therefore, is not economically viable to criminals."
Yesterday an Apacs spokesman said the association stood by that
assessment.
The Garda spokesman said all Euopean police forces liaise and
exchange fraud information through Europol and Interpol. He said
the Irish and London fraud bureaus were in close contact. "In these
investigations we are not in a position to comment further for
operational reasons," he said.