Thieves Using Stolen Credit Cards to Make Donations 104
JagsLive writes with a link to a Newsday.com article about 'philanthropist identity thieves'. Credit card thieves appear to be donating to charity with their stolen goods. While it may sound like a strange form of generosity, it's really a method to determine whether a stolen card is valid. "The verification method has become popular because the monitoring software at credit-card companies may not question donations to charities, according the Symantec blog. Santoyo said the schemers usually donate less than $10. American Red Cross spokeswoman Carrie Martin said, 'This happens all the time. We have people at the Red Cross who deal with this type of activity.' Last month alone, the Red Cross refunded 700 fraudulent credit-card transactions, Martin said. That figure doesn't include the transactions the charity blocked because they appeared fraudulent."
