Wikipedia Used to Test Stolen Credit Cards
The Wikimedia Foundation, the parent company of the Wikipedia online encyclopedia, is being targeted by fraudsters seeking to test the validity of stolen credit cards, reports the Washington Post. The online dictionary had to increase the minimum value of donations that it would accept recently, after it was inundated with a large number of donations for 1 U.S. cent each.
The cost of processing small donations is far more than the value of the donations themselves, Wikimedia spokesperson Sandra Ordonez told the Washington Post. Moreover, PayPal, which processes donations made to Wikimedia, refused to process donations of under 32 cents, she said. Sites belonging to online charities, non-profit bodies or political candidates who accept donations online are used by criminals because they have weak fraud protection capabilities, says the Washington Post. These sites are the online equivalent of unattended payment devices at gas pumps which criminals can use to find out whether a stolen card is still valid. A comment posted on the Washington Post blog Website points out that the sites are only useful to criminals if they offer immediate validation for credit cards. If the site has a delayed response, then it is of limited use to criminals, the comment says. Related Links
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