French police (OCLCTIC)1 supported by Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) have arrested 18 members of a criminal gang who were illegally using modified, ’ghost’ point-of-sale (POS) terminals. The terminals were used to copy and store magnetic strip card data and confidential PIN codes, and then to steal at least EUR 3 million from victims’ accounts. Of the 18 arrestees, 12 were imprisoned after the final raids last week.
The ghost POS terminals were modified by the criminal gang who skimmed and then cloned the cards of unsuspecting customers. The customers handed over their cards, thinking that they were making payments; however the fake devices were off-line and had never been connected to a bank payment network. Instead, the devices copied the customers’ card data, printed fake receipts for them and their cards were then cloned. Alternatively, the customers were not given a fake receipt but informed of a ‘connection error’. Their card was still skimmed and they were then asked for another means of payment.
Forensic analysis of the devices has revealed a highly sophisticated crime. French investigators have disclosed the technical manipulation of the hardware and POS software which actually enables the use of POS as a ghost terminal and for data compromising.
The fake terminals were used in taxi cabs and discount stores to skim card data, and then fraudulent money withdrawals were later made using cloned cards in the Miami area of the United States, Dubai, and in Thailand.
- Proposal for deconfinement measures arising from Infarmed meeting
- Meeting at Infarmed
- MAI sets minimum numbers of women in security forces
- Portugal climber to scale Everest to fight for gender equality
- Ricardo Jorge Institute points to an end of excess mortality in Portugal
- Communiqué of the Council of Ministers of March 4, 2021 – The integrated management system for rural fires (SGIFR
- There are about 1.5 million legal weapons in Portugal
- Graça Freitas interview with RTP3 concerning current state of Covid-19
- State of Emergency Monitoring Structure Meeting and Security Forces Enforcement Report
- 1969 earthquake. The sea bubbled and the country took to the streets in pyjamas
- Covid-19 Portugal will buy about 38 million vaccines
- Mobil Internet Performance is worse in rural areas study shows
- Prime Minister speaks to the country after Council of Ministers Meeting
- Celebrations planned in 2022 to mark the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first train in Lagos
- United Kingdom and Italy with more impact at the beginning of the pandemic in Portugal
