On Sat, 27 Apr 2002 09:52:00 GMT, cdb wrote:
>Just recently I have found more and more US firms are finding
>that their credit card company will not accept foreign credit
>card transactions.
>
>I wonder if this is due to tightening financial awareness post
>Sept 11, or if there is just a greater amount of bad debt?
>

It's because there are a lot of organized hackers (mainly in
eastern europe and asia) that specialize in stolen credit card
numbers. I've heard stories of crackers breaking into online
merchant's databases and stealing literally 1000's of valid
credit card numbers, along with all the personal information
recorded with the transaction as well. It's very difficult for
anyone in the U.S. to verify personal information outside the
U.S. borders, so it's a much greater risk if the "ship to"
address is foreign. Also, it's much more difficult to pursue
criminal charges in another country than in the U.S., even if
fraudulent use of the card is detected.

The credit card thieves have made it into a multi-billion dollar
business and the banks are tired of taking huge losses.

Matt Pobursky
Maximum Performance Systems

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