Prepaid Card Fun

[SBTlauien]

Hypothetically, do you think someone could pull this off on a large scale?...

Basically if a person just carefully cut out the gray scratch-it sticker so that it covered the PIN...



and then he/she stuck it over the PIN and rubbed it over well...



Also, when a MSR is used to read the data on one of these prepaid cards, it reads it just fine...



...but when the data is erased from the card, and then it's attempted to write it back onto the card, an error appears...



Is it possible to write to these cards?  The prepaid Master Cards give the same error.  My friend just a MSR, he is new to this.

[STD]

I think the prepaid cards are extra thin, maybe that's a problem for the MSR?

You should be able to use the info on the front and back of the card to make purchases too online.

[Suicidal Fish]

Lucky Buggers

All UK cards have to be activated at the till

[SBTlauien]

I think the prepaid cards are extra thin, maybe that's a problem for the MSR?

I don't think that's the issue.  I can read the info from the card as well as delete the info from the card.  I tried two of these cards.  They are thinner than the plastic cards, but if I can read and delete info on the cards, shouldn't I be able to write info to it as well?

All UK cards have to be activated at the till

These cards would need to be activated at the till as well.  A person would need to actually shoplift the card, then peel off the scratch-off sticker to see the PIN, then place a new scratch-off sticker over the PIN, then return the card to the store(reverse shoplift), then wait until someone buys the card so that they could use the card.  The PIN would be needed to use the card.  This is only a $50 card and really wasn't the best example.

Alternatively, I think a person could just lift gift cards, make copies of the cards using a MSR, return the gift cards to the store, wait until the cards are activated, and then use the cards at the store.  I think this would work.  I've actually noticed similarities on the back of cards, not even under the scratch-off, and the digits on Track1 and Track2.  I have a nice write up I'm doing on this.  I may post it here.

[ngalo1983]

I think the prepaid cards are extra thin, maybe that's a problem for the MSR?

I don't think that's the issue.  I can read the info from the card as well as delete the info from the card.  I tried two of these cards.  They are thinner than the plastic cards, but if I can read and delete info on the cards, shouldn't I be able to write info to it as well?

All UK cards have to be activated at the till

These cards would need to be activated at the till as well.  A person would need to actually shoplift the card, then peel off the scratch-off sticker to see the PIN, then place a new scratch-off sticker over the PIN, then return the card to the store(reverse shoplift), then wait until someone buys the card so that they could use the card.  The PIN would be needed to use the card.  This is only a $50 card and really wasn't the best example.

Alternatively, I think a person could just lift gift cards, make copies of the cards using a MSR, return the gift cards to the store, wait until the cards are activated, and then use the cards at the store.  I think this would work.  I've actually noticed similarities on the back of cards, not even under the scratch-off, and the digits on Track1 and Track2.  I have a nice write up I'm doing on this.  I may post it here.

That's a pretty stupid idea because after you open it or even return it, most likely they get tossed away. Let's say they don't it would be a very long wait. Time to move on to another idea. Get fast money.

[SBTlauien]

That's a pretty stupid idea because after you open it or even return it, most likely they get tossed away. Let's say they don't it would be a very long wait.

I'm referring to the gift cards that aren't sealed, and it wouldn't be a long wait if someone did this with a lot of gift cards at a lot of stores.  The person may also be able to set up an automated system that checks which cards have been activated and alerts them once one is activated.

[Ninja]

That's a pretty stupid idea because after you open it or even return it, most likely they get tossed away. Let's say they don't it would be a very long wait.

I'm referring to the gift cards that aren't sealed, and it wouldn't be a long wait if someone did this with a lot of gift cards at a lot of stores.  The person may also be able to set up an automated system that checks which cards have been activated and alerts them once one is activated.

Yeah, this works. I've seen it elsewhere.  You basically steal the unactivated cards, copy them, then return them to the store and wait for someone to actually buy them and activate them.  Well, i don't know about the prepaid phone cards, but stuff like prepaid Visa's and shit. 

[SBTlauien]

Yeah, this works. I've seen it elsewhere.  You basically steal the unactivated cards, copy them, then return them to the store and wait for someone to actually buy them and activate them.  Well, i don't know about the prepaid phone cards, but stuff like prepaid Visa's and shit.

The prepaid Visa cards that I've seen are in a package, but I have noticed a security flaw in some common ones.

[Daran]

I remember an epic thread on totse where a poster discovered the numbering convention on prepaid cards and he was able to just successively try one set of numbers after another in a series and buy things online with the activated cards he stumbled upon. Does anybody remember what I'm talking about?

[ngalo1983]

That's a pretty stupid idea because after you open it or even return it, most likely they get tossed away. Let's say they don't it would be a very long wait.

I'm referring to the gift cards that aren't sealed, and it wouldn't be a long wait if someone did this with a lot of gift cards at a lot of stores.  The person may also be able to set up an automated system that checks which cards have been activated and alerts them once one is activated.

I guess this is a pretty good idea. Maybe you have family or friends that work in stores. Ask them to grab you a hand full. You take it down then return it back to the store.

[General Fault]

I'm not familiar with the contents of the data stream from the tracks, but wouldn't there be some sort of read only bit that would be set on that type of card?

[SBTlauien]

I'm not familiar with the contents of the data stream from the tracks, but wouldn't there be some sort of read only bit that would be set on that type of card?

I'm new to this, but I was able to erase all of the data off of the card and then write it back on.

My friend went out today and lifted a bunch of gift cards and some of those packaged up prepaid VISAs.  He was able to care fully cut open one of the prepaid VISAs, could copy the card and information on it, close it with glue, place in a book to dry, and then return it to a store.  Then he could check to see if he can register it online, and when he can, he can just go out and use the copy of the card.  He could also delete the data that's on the actual card that he returns(after copying it) so that the buyer can't use it.  In addition, he could scratch off the numbers on the card that he returns, so that the buyer can't register it.

Sounds like something a tweaker would do though, lol.

[SBTlauien]

Didn't seem to work.  My friend tried to use the card that he made and it wouldn't even scan.  He sledd it through, and the machine acted as if nothing happened.  Then he pulled out the original, sledd it through and it registered it fine.

[SBTlauien]

Update...

My friend tried again, except he put the data onto a different card(not one of the cards that came with his MSR, those cards had a taller stripe) and it worked perfectly.  He was able to buy an item without using the original card he had bought.

So, if someone lifted these cards, made copies of the track data, made a copy of the barcode on the back of the card, made sure to know which data went with which barcode, and watched the cards at the store to see when they are bought, then they could use the gift cards that other buy.

 

[Freegamer]

know what would be more fun?  hacking gift cards and preloading them for free.  but i dont know how to do that.