fc@all.net wrote:
I think a lot of people miss the distinction between automated message cracking and dumpster diving. Dumpster diving is not free. It costs at least a dollar each to get credit card slips by dumpster diving.
Consider that in order to use the information, you have to get the slip, pull off the numbers, enter them into a computer (or even worse yet, create a phoney card or make a phone call) in order to use the information. The break-even point for an automated cracking and usage system is more than a dollar per stolen card. My parallel processor is actually more cost effective for crimilar theft via credit card fraud.
Well, a few years ago I partially satisfied my phone-phreaking habit in the following manner: I would walk up to a busy intersection in a comercial area and stroll through the various gas stations located there, collecting receipts that careless customers had forgotten to take with them after using the "pay-at-the-pump". Then I would visit the pay phones at the nearby mini-malls. It sure didn't cost me a dollar a number. The cost/value of a card number depends a lot on what you seek to gain. If it's free phone calls, your costs are basically nil. If you want free gas, it'll cost you $500 or so for the card reader/writer and a few old cards. If you have a system for extracting thousands of dollars from each card, economics of scale would probably justify the $10000 rc4-breaker. ...or you could just hack netcom, steal the mother lode and be set for life... (Hi Kevin! drop me a line when you get out; ya gotta love those plea-bargains - 30 year sentence reduced to 8 months! ;-)