Disqus
All me cash - goin down a black hole!
Yes, strange as it may seem, the favourite pastime of those people who steal bank details may well be topping up Prepay Mobile phones!
When you give some consideration to this however, it might not be quite as odd as you think – with the preponderance of ridiculously cheap devices in the market at the moment, it’s simple for crooks to ‘launder’ (if that’s the right word?) money in this fashion – particularly since it’s easier to top up at ATM machines now. There’s also the fact that to keep the fraud less noticeable, ‘everyday amounts’ are used, such as £20 or £30.
The problem of cards (and details) being stolen / cloned / frauded is one which is a big problem for the banking industry at large, and you will see maybe a couple of reports a year in the news about the scale of the problem – from what I remember it was several millions of pounds, just in the UK.
I’d imagine the issue isn’t limited to the UK either, since similar mechanisms exist across Europe, and the US too.
Just remember, the next time you check your account, look for spurious mobile prepay top-ups (particularly if they are not for the network of your carrier!) – as you may then have a frauded account on your hands!
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
