[Mldxcc] Martell MountainMikes, credit card fraud report

[Ken Anderson]

The below is from todays Amador Ledger Dispatch online newspaper.  If you
have recently used your credit/atm card at the Martell Mouintain Mikes,
please read.

Ken, K6TA
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Sheriff’s detectives find major source of ATM/credit card fraud

Sheriff's detectives have now seperated fact from rumors regarding what
businesses were targeted in wide-spread ATM and credit card fraud scheme.
Photo by Scott Thomas Anderson
By Scott Thomas Anderson

The rampant hacking of credit cards and ATM accounts that has hit Amador
County is partly the result of “malicious software” installed at a
Martell business, according to investigators from Amador County Sheriff’s
office. Worse yet, six months of online victimization may not be over for
some locals, particularly for those who entered Mountain Mike’s Pizza
last winter without cash in their hands.

Sheriff’s officials updated reporters yesterday afternoon about a lengthy
investigation into more than 70 cases of ATM/credit card fraud inundating
its investigations bureau. Additional cases have also been reported to
the Jackson Police Department. Undersheriff Jim Wegner said his
detectives had been working closely with fraud units from several banks
affected by the string of crimes, which began at the end of 2010 and
gained an almost overwhelming momentum by February of this year. Rumors
swirled that a secret credit card scanner had been installed at the gas
pumps of Safeway. A lengthy probe of the gas station by detectives
revealed that the source of the card-hacking was coming from somewhere
else. Eventually, the primary origin point of the widespread fraud was
tracked to Mountain Mike’s Pizza, in Martell.

“The owners of Mountain Mike’s have actively cooperated with
investigators since first notified of the credit security breach,” Wegner
said in a statement to the media today. Wegner added that the unknown
suspects had “remotely gained access to the Mountain Mike’s Pizza
point-of-sale,” a computer connected to the Internet, and installed
malicious software. This covert maneuver allowed cyber thieves to obtain
confidential data from ATM and credit cards being use at the restaurant.
Detectives believe the stolen data was then used to engineer phony credit
and debit cards for illegal purchases.

By teaming up with several banks whose customers were violated, the
Sheriff’s Office managed to glean a portrait of their suspects: The cyber
thieves first hacked into Mountain Mike’s Pizza in October of 2010. They
have since routinely used stolen information to make purchases between
$40 and $1,000 at a time; and their fraud spree is now operating on a
global level, reaching as far as Florida, United Kingdom, Australia,
France and Iceland. Perhaps the most daunting revelation to Amador County
Sheriff’s detectives is that — despite eliminating the malicious software
— the first group of locals targeted by the suspects may still face being
victims of fraud.

“The malicious software was identified and deleted from Mountain Mike’s
system in April 2011,” Wegner said. “It’s unknown at this time how many
debit and/or credit cards were compromised during the six-month period
the software was active. Ongoing investigation into this matter
discovered that debit/credit information stolen prior to April 2011
continued to be used for illegal purchases even after that date, as part
of the scheme by the perpetrators to delay discovery.”

Because of the complexity of the fraud involved at Mountain Mike’s Pizza,
the Sheriff’s Office is urging any customer who used a credit or debit
card there between October of last year and April of this year, to
contact their bank or credit union to have their card number changed.
Investigators characterized the recommendation as “a precautionary step,”
since it’s unknown how much stolen credit information the cyber thieves
took, and are saving, to use at a later date.

Meanwhile, workers at Mountain Mike’s Pizza are hoping the public does
not misunderstand the recommendation to mean there is still of chance of
ATM and credit card information being stolen today. “We’ve changed
everything around and taken care of all the problems on our end,” a
manager from Mountain Mike’s Pizza told the Ledger Dispatch yesterday
afternoon, while declining to give his name. “We’re not using the
Internet for any card purchases at all now. It’s totally safe to come
here and pay however you want.”

http://www.ledger-dispatch.com/2011/07/19/sheriff%e2%80%99s-detectives-find-major-source-of-atmcredit-card-fraud/