| Cracking ATM machines by MP3 |
|
|
|
| Tuesday, 21 November 2006 | ||||
|
This time we talk about MP3 players. Indeed those cute devices that are commonly used for listening to music have now acquired a new unexpected function: if properly handled they could turn out to be very effective instruments to carry out profitable (but also illegal) activities! Anyway this is not a Zone-H discovery: the idea was exploited by a British man who managed in outwitting British banking security system by using a normal MP3 music player to steal customer’s credit card details by bugging cash machines, the Times-online reported last week . The responsible has been identified as Maxwell Parsons, 41, a well known criminal figure that not only is involved in a series of robberies all around England, but also did he spend 32 months in prison for deception and unlawful interception of a public telecommunications transmission. Anyway, the MP3 technique isn’t his own invention, indeed he learnt how to use it from Malaysian gangs that have widely used But how did this technique work and how did he manage in carrying out the frauds? See Parson's step in the picture on the right. The fraudster recorded data transmitted from common ATM cash machines using MP3 portable music players, and then he converted data to readable numbers using a separate computer programme. “The phone line running from the machine to an ordinary BT white socket was unplugged and a two-way adaptor inserted. The MP3 player was then placed between the ATM machine’s output cable and the phone socket” the Times explains. “The player would record the tones, which resemble the kind of sound emitted by a fax machine. These were then interpreted using a modem line tap, or MLT, acquired from Canada, or passed through a computer software program bought illicitly in Ukraine.” Parson, who was also the key member of a gang that carried out several robberies in few months, used such data to encode and clone a number of credit cards and he purchased a plunder that amounted about to £200.000. The targeted ATM were placed in bars, bingo halls and bowling alleys. The irony in this story is that the man was not arrested during a police operation, but.. for an illegal U-turn that he did driving his car in London! His mistake was that of carrying with him one of his counterfeit credit cards. Once the policeman discovered it, he immediately alerted police headquater that obteined the authorization for a search in paron's house in Manchester. There, police came across 26 bank cards of which 18 were cloned and the rest counterfeit and all the technical equipment necessary to carry out the scam. Justice done: the criminal was caught and his secrets exposed: MP3 music players will be simple music players again.. for the time being.
Powered by a Zone-H(ified) version of AkoComment 3.0! DISCLAIMER: Forum postings are the opinion of the posting author alone, and should not be taken as the opinion of Zone-h. The author is entirely and solely responsible for all content that he/she uploads, posts, or otherwise transmits via the website. Zone-h is not responsible for such content. However, Zone-h shall have the right, but not the obligation, to delete, move, or edit any content that violates this agreement or is otherwise objectionable as determined by Zone-h in its sole discretion and without notice. |
||||
Techology can always be surprising, if associated with human fantasy.. 
this metod for long.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
