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July 16, 2008

Credit Card Fraud Is Funding Terrorist Networks: Not Digital Gold Currency

By Carl Mullan

The next time you pull out your plastic at the retail counter or type in your card number online, ask yourself, will my data be stolen today and used to fund a terror network? It happens all the time. What is your credit card company doing to prevent it?

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We should be extremely concerned about the scope of the credit card fraud problem involving terrorists. There is limited or no empirical data to gauge the extent of the problem. However, there are compelling signs that an epidemic permeates. [1]

Recently, there has been a string of articles in the main steam media attempting to link Digital Gold Currency and terrorist financing. However, the reality of the situation is that no Digital Gold Currency has ever been connected to a terror financing case or crime. Last month, even one very visible government report on Digital Currency stated, "Such emerging electronic payment systems are vulnerable to money laundering and terrorist financing." [2]

As far back as January 2006, the main stream media began an effort to connect terrorist funding and Digital Gold Currency. This trend seems to have started when a BusinessWeek "investigative report", quoted some dialog from Mr. Phil Williams, a professor of international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh and consultant to the United Nations on terrorism financing.

The article points out that while discussing digital currency, Mr. Williams says, "At some point, this is going to be used" by terrorists. Of course it is obvious from his comment that Mr. Williams has never seen the extensive Customer Verification Process required by GoldMoney, e-dinar or Crowne Gold. It is also doubtful that Mr. Williams has ever transacted an exchange of dollars into e-gold digital currency using a professional exchange agent.[3](Businessweek Article By Brian Grow, John Cady, Susann Rutledge, and David Polek)

Credit card fraud has become an ever present tool for funding terror networks while Digital Gold Currency has never even been mentioned during the prosecution of a terror crime. Look at the facts as far back as 2001.

Ali Al Marri was arrested in Illinois in December 2001 for having lied to FBI Agents about having contact with facilitators of the 9/11 terrorist attack. At the time of arrest, Al Marri had 36 credit card numbers and account information in his possession. A subsequent search of his computer found he had compiled over 1,000 credit card numbers and other identifying information. [4]

Doesn't "The truth" still have a place in main stream media? Isn't it important to discuss the facts as received directly from law enforcement professionals and not the suspicions and gossip of investigative reporters?

The facts show us that for many years credit card fraud has been used to fund murderous bombings and acts of terror. The facts also show us that companies like e-gold which have been in business for over a decade, have never been connected to an act of terror funding.

The October 2002 the Bali nightclub bombings killed 202 people, most of whom were just visiting tourists.

Iman Samudra, convicted and now awaiting execution for taking part in the 2002 bombings of two Bali nightclubs...urges Muslim youth to obtain credit card numbers and use them to fund the struggle against the United States and its allies. *John Rollins & Clay Wilson, Specialists in Terrorism and International Crime, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division - "Terrorist Capabilities for Cyberattack: Overview and Policy Issues" Updated January 22, 2007, CRS Report for Congress

The next time that your credit card is used to buy gas, dinner at a restaurant, clothing, or for online shopping please recognize that your card numbers and personal information just might end up buying plan tickets, binoculars or a GPS system to outfit a terrorist and equip an extremist planning to kill innocent civilians. This is the everyday reality of credit card fraud.

That decade old bank "customer not liable for fraud" technology, along with the magnetic stripe and the 40 year old plastic card design is widely abused by criminal every waking moment of every day. Card fraud is a decades old global epidemic. Credit card fraud has been omnipresent throughout the past 3 decades.

The Nigerian credit card fraud problems of the late 1970s and 1980s attests to this. Epidemics can only be treated and eliminated through detective and preventive treatment. [5]

What is your bank doing to prevent such crimes? Why doesn't the media focus more on correcting this global epidemic?

Tariq al-Daour, is one of three British residents who pleaded guilty in July of 2007 to using the Internet to incite murder.

Investigators said al-Daour and his compatriots made more than $3.5 million in fraudulent charges using credit card accounts they stole via phishing scams and the distribution of Trojan horses -- computer programs embedded in innocent-looking e-mail messages or Web sites that give criminals control over infected computers. On a computer seized from al-Daour's West London apartment, investigators said they found 37,000 stolen credit card numbers. Alongside each credit card record was other information, such as the account holders' addresses, dates of birth, credit balances and credit limits. ...[Tsouli] and his two associates used at least 72 stolen credit card accounts to register more than 180 domains at 95 different Web hosting companies in the United States and Europe. Investigators said he became the de facto administrator of the online jihadist forum Muntada al-Ansar al-Islami, which once was the main Internet public relations mouthpiece of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq who was killed last month. [6]

The public should correctly, place blame for these horrible crimes squarely where it belongs and that is with the profitable credit card companies. Do not pander to the public's ignorance of digital currency and their fear of the digital unknown. Don't follow the path that Fox News has cut in today's digital media.

Did you know that the according to a German intelligence report, the Madrid bombers partially financed that attack through credit card fraud? According to the Associated Press, 190 innocent people died in that attack.

According to FBI officials, Al Qaeda terrorist cells in Spain used stolen credit card information to make numerous purchases. Also, the FBI has recorded more than 9.3 million Americans as victims of identity theft in the past 12 month period. Report by the Democratic Staff of the House Homeland Security Committee, Identity Theft and Terrorism, July 1, 2005, p.10. [7]

The media needs to expose the actual funding sources for these terror crimes and not try to point the finger at Digital Gold Currency. The public should focus on fixing the problem and stop being guided like scared sheep away from promising new technologies like m-payments and Digital Gold Currency.

Why doesn't the government make more of an effort to close the 'credit card data' loopholes and prevent data thefts from occurring? Can't the government force the profitable billion dollar credit card companies to advance their 40 year old plastic card technology?

It is no longer acceptable to dismiss credit card fraud as a petty crime. This is not a petty crime when 200 or more people are killed from a terrorist bomb. It is also not acceptable for the media to try and demonize digital currency when the blame for these acts of violence falls squarely on the credit card industry.

A North African terrorist funding group accumulated details of nearly 200 stolen cards and raised more than GBP 200 000 to fund the al-Qaeda terrorist network through international credit card fraud. Twenty to thirty 'runners' collected the names and credit card details of almost 200 different bank accounts from contacts working in service industries such as restaurants. These details were not used in their country of origin (the UK) but sent on to associates in Spain and the Netherlands. These associates used the cards to fraudulently collect more than GBP 200 000 for al-Qaeda cells around Europe. [8]

DGCs have never been linked to terror financing.

In Australia, credit card fraud and identity theft cost hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Internationally, some estimates put the cost of cyber-related identity theft at more than $200 billion – bigger than the entire cocaine market. [9]

Digital Gold Currency has only been around since the mid 1990's and has in just the past 3-4 years gained retail popularity. Credit cards have been in use and popular for over 40 years! The next time you buy a discount shirt or sweater, will your card and personal information be forwarded overseas to aid in the set up of a new terror training camp?

March. 30, 2007, BOSTON - A hacker or hackers stole data from at least 45.7 million credit and debit cards of shoppers at off-price retailers including T.J. Maxx and Marshalls in a case believed to be the largest such breach of consumer information. Associated Press story[10]

Is it possible that while the card companies pocket hundreds of millions in profit....they fail to address or correct this epidemic of fraud? The facts show us without question that credit card fraud offers an easy and direct funding source for global terror networks. Why don't the card companies fix it and stop passing on the expense to their customers?

Case study: Columbus, Ohio: Somali native Nuradin Abdi told U.S. investigators that he provided stolen credit card numbers to a man accused of buying gear for al-Qaida, according to federal prosecutors... The credit card information was in turn provided to an acquaintance who was in the process of buying a laptop, global positioning satellite watch, a laser range finder and other equipment. Abdi is accused of planning to blow up a Columbus, Ohio, area shopping mall along with other al-Qaida operatives, including an admitted member of the terror group, Iyman Faris, who is currently imprisoned for a scheme to sabotage the Brooklyn Bridge. Prosecutors say Abdi attended a guerilla training camp in Ethiopia, with the shopping mall plot hatched shortly after he returned to Ohio in March 2000. [11]

The horrible reality of this situation is that the next transaction you make with that antiquated bank card, may be sending funds for the a future terrorist attack.

Can you guarantee that immediately after your next credit card purchase the card data will not be copied and sold to extremist? It happens all the time....

According to Identity Theft Resource Center there were 167 data breaches in the first three months of this year. At least 8.3 million records containing sensitive information were potentially compromised in the same time period.[12]

The is the ugly truth is that credit card fraud often directly funds terror networks.

One Recent Event: Data from 4 Million credit cards stolen. Recently, Hannaford announced what security experts call a sophisticated attack on their computer network that resulted in the theft of credit and debit card account information. The arrest of Al Qaeda's top cyber terrorist provided hard evidence of their use of stolen credit card data for funding. In one case, terrorist groups use the stolen credit card information to purchase $3 million of materials to carry out terrorist attacks. Al Qaeda's top cyber terrorist 23 year old Younes Tsouli (online name - Irhaby007), recently admitted conspiring to defraud banks, credit card companies and charge card companies.-- Kevin Coleman [13]

In stark contrast, no charges have ever been brought against a terror funding suspect that included any connection to Digital Gold Currency. What is being done by the card companies and banks to prevent future use of card fraud in the funding of terror networks? Surely this is a national security problem and not a petty crime as it is often labeled.

The mastermind behind the international credit card fraud for funding the LTTE terrorist organization has been arrested... He had a large number of Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) and bank receipts issued by both local and foreign banks, amounting to a massive sum of money, over Rs. 100 million, in his possession when he was arrested. In the past, it's been widely reported that Al Qaeda training manuals teach their minions to use credit card fraud as a way to survive in foreign lands. [14]

The next time you read a main stream media article about Digital Gold Currency, which includes ambiguous language like "may be" or "are vulnerable to" please remember the facts. Contact your card company today and ask them what is being done to secure your card and personal information. Let's all work together to prevent the next terror attack from being funded by your stolen credit card.

[1] *http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/02/terrorists_and_credit_card_fra.php
[2] *http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs28/28675/index.htm
[3] *http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_02/b3966094.htm
[4] *http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/02/terrorists_and_credit_card_fra.php
[5] *http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/02/terrorists_and_credit_card_fra.php
[6] *http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/05/AR2007070501945_pf.html
[7] *http://www.cyberconflict.org/pdf/WilsonNov012005.pdf
[8] *http://www.fatf-gafi.org/dataoecd/28/43/40285899.pdf
[9] *http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2005/s1435556.htm
[10] *http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17871485/
[11] *http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-cards-terrorism-1282.php
[12] *http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=25&newsid=127163
[13] *http://www.defensetech.org/archives/004105.html
[14] *http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080615_03



Authors Website: http://www.pcarlmullan.com

Authors Bio:

I publish an online magazine focused on alternative currency. Email him with any thoughts or criticism. Note: This online publication represents Carl's personal views. OpEdNews only publishes a portion of Carl's writings.


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