According to an ABC News report, an Adelaide, Australia man is the first official victim of credit card fraud related to Sony’s PlayStation Network security breach. Another report on PS3 hacking site PSX-Scene also alleges that some underground web sites that sell credit card information are trying to sell around 2.2 million credit cards from Europe - which includes user information, credit card numbers, CV numbers and expiration dates. The latter is anecdotal at the moment and has not been confirmed by law enforcement or Sony.
Adelaide man Rory Spreckley checked his banking details on Wednesday and got a shock: $2000 in new charges on his credit card. Spreckley noted a number of $1 transactions on the 23rd - usually a test for hackers to see if the card is a viable source for fraud. Following those transactions, Spreckley saw "including domestic flights within Australia, bookings at Best Westerns [hotels] and what not."
"I logged into my bank account just to check everything was OK and I found out there was some just over $2,000 in charges which I didn't personally accrue," he told ABC News.
Perhaps Spreckley is the victim of fraud unrelated to the security breach through the PlayStation Network; admittedly, there's no proof to prove otherwise. The timing of the fraud is the only indicator that it might be related. Australia's Privacy Commissioner has begun an investigation to make sure Sony has "done everything it can" to keep its customers safe.
On a related note, PSX-Scene is reporting that user data and credit card information from some 2.2 million European PSN users is being sold at underground web sites. Another rumor is that hackers tried to sell the information back to Sony for an undetermined amount of money. This is simply "word on the street" talk about the stolen PSN database and has not been confirmed. Still, PSX-Scene has a pretty good track record when it comes to Sony legal and security problems in the past.
We will continue to follow this story as it develops.
Comments
Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
At the moment it may be coincidental, this man's credit card data may have been obtained from elsewhere, but I can see why he is likely to presume it came from the PSN hack.
Hopefully the data was encrypted (and usually encryption is physically impossible to break) and that the hackers haven't managed to acquire either unencrypted data or the encryption keys.
Currently I'm checking my credit card daily to make sure that no funny business occurs on it.
Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
The problem here will be, with potentially 70 million people involved and the regular rate at which identity theft occurs, expect to see a lot of people connecting the two dots and assuming that the breech was the way their card got stolen. I have seen people reporting this for days now.....
Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
Oh wow.
I cancelled my number as soon as I heard about the breach. I wasn't even taking a chance and anyone who used their card on PSN would be smart to do the same. It might be a hassle but your credit isn't something you want messed with.
Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
I think some folks are confusing cancelling a card altogether vs just cancelling the number - ie, getting a new CC number.
But then, I'm concerned as much with how much other information was taken, even over credit card information (and I am in the situation that the CC number has changed since I last made a PSN purchase).
Stealing a CC itself can only get you so far. But the other details, such as having name, address, and birth date, can lead to a much larger case of identity theft if not detected right away.
Not only that, but the fact that they may have gotten usernamesand passwords - the latter of which should NEVER FUCKING HAPPEN - also ups the ante considering how how many are likely to use that same information on site after site...
Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
Makes me glad I made sure my PSN account password was unique to that account.
Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
While cancelling a card isn't a bad idea, you can easily dispute charges that appear with almost any kind of credit card. I am just saying if you didn't cancel you card and you do get hit with a major purchase it is pretty easy to fix with most credit card companies out there and there is no reason to scream and rage over the issue.
Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
Actually, cancelling your credit card can be a bad idea. It makes a negative impact on your credit rating, which can affect buying a house or a car, or another large purchase. A better idea would be to call your card issuer and put a hold on your credit card(s). The hold can be lifted easily once you're sure you're in the clear. But cancelling a credit card should only be done if you're absolutely sure your information's been stolen and/or compromised, or if fraudulent charges have already been made.
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Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
Only in the US that is a bad idea, because only in the US are creditcards checked for buying stuff. (Where the rest of the Western world only have you income to consider, in the US they somehow find it important how much you spend)
That said, I'm not worried about the whole PSN hacking thing. All the creditcard numbers were encrypted (which probably means a hefty 128bit security code attached to each creditcard). Plus the Cv thingy is not stored at all at Sony.
Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
The impact is incredibly minor.
http://consumerist.com/2010/03/go-cancel-your-credit-card-the-score-ding-is-minimal.html
Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
oh wow...really? i imagine it doesn't have a MAJOR impact but...yeah i can kinda see why.
I mean, if there was no ramifications to it, then i imagine people would exploit it. Still, i've never heard of this before.
I use a debit card instead, so if i did bother canceling that it probably wouldn't reflect on credit score right? I probably won't, i'm just adopting a vigilant position over my account, but if it keeps going back and forth like this as to whether or not CC numbers were actually taken, I might just do it to stop worrying about the damn thing.
Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
GoogleMan to the rescue!
No, debit cards, such as those issued by banks, do not affect your credit rating as they are not reported to the big three agencies.
Your bank account itself may affect your credit score if it reports overdrafts. But the debit card itself is not reported.
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Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
On a related note:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6310570.html?tag=latestheadlines%3Btitle%3B2
Wells Fargo, American Express, and Mastercard report no unauthorized usages for any of their cards tied to PSN accounts. Looks like either their encryption on the CC was enough to keep someone from getting in OR whoever does have said data is waiting to use it.
Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
*sighs* Thank you, as a Mastercard holder that brings a HUGE amount of relief.
Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
Very good news, indeed. I have Mastercard too but I haven´t used it on PSN yet but I was planning to do it around the time when all of this started.
Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
Indeed. Mine may juist be my bank card but I still don't want some pimple faced prick to be using it to by themselves games on my dollar.
Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
One guy doesn't make it Official.
Considering an article on kotaku saying that the major CC companies stated there was no evidence of PSN connected fraud, i remain a tad bit skepticle.
Also i'm pretty sure Sony said it doesn't take one of the numbers or didn't store them on the server...CV i think? i can't remember the abbreviation real well (my brain's a little out of it thanks to finals next week).
Not to mention, if they had started doing this by the 23rd, why exactly has only one person been "confirmed" in 5-6 days of time?
Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
i call bogus. at least on the selling numbers angle. sony doesnt ask for your cv number when using a cc with psn so they cant have gotten those through the sony breach.
Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
Just because that's what MIGHT have happened doesn't mean it did.
I'm keeping an eye on my online banking, sionce they'd need my password still to get in and they couldn't get that from PSN, if they even made it to non European numbers before the connection was severed.
Re: Report: Australian Man First PSN Victim of Credit Card ...
Well, personally, I don't find this just to be a funny coencidence, and all I know is that once the PSN does come back online, Sony will never get my card info, ever.