Credit Card Dump: How Criminals Access Your Data

Credit card dump crime is on the rise and has become a major cybersecurity threat for both businesses and individuals. The goal of this type of crime is to access and steal personal credit card information from customers and make it available to potential buyers. Criminals can do this in two different ways, either by physically copying data from a credit card or by hacking into financial institutions’ payment networks.

In the first instance, criminals physically record the cardholder’s name, card number, expiration date, and the three- or four-digit verification code (CVV or CVC) on the back of the card. In addition, they can also copy the magnetic strip data that contains additional information deposited on the card when it is initially issued. Combining this data, criminals can then produce what is referred to as a “credit card dump.”

The second way criminals access customers’ credit card data is by hacking into payment networks, such as point-of-sale systems or credit card processing networks, to steal data from millions of customers in a single attack. This type of attack can be extremely damaging because it can expose a large population to the same type of fraud.

In the past few years, a considerable number of data breaches have occurred, in which criminals have made off with stolen credit card data from large corporations and financial institutions. For example, in December 2020, the United States Secret Service reported that a criminal organization known as Fin7 had stolen more than 15 million credit and debit cards from 3,600 businesses in 11 countries.

To protect themselves from credit card dump crime, individuals and businesses should consider implementing a few security measures. For example, using two-factor authentication, encryption and tokenization, and data analytics can help protect against data breaches and ensure that customer data is safe and secure. For businesses, it’s important to ensure that customer payment methods are sent securely and employ additional measures, such as point-of-sale and payment data encryption, so as to make it significantly more difficult for a hacker to intercept credit card data.

In conclusion, credit card dump crime is a growing threat that can have serious financial and legal implications for both individuals and businesses. Although it may be difficult to completely prevent these types of attacks, taking the necessary steps to protect customers’ data and implementing the appropriate security measures can help reduce the risk of a potential data breach.