Criminals in Germany are exploiting a loophole in the banking system to get hold of customers' account details. They transfer one cent to random account numbers -- if the transfer goes through, they know they've hit the mother lode.
Paying bills in Germany can be a remarkably simple affair. In a country where checks are shunned, a simple bank transfer -- made either at the bank or from in front of the computer screen -- is the way to go.
But efforts to speed up the system have laid it open to abuse, as a new scam shows.
According to German authorities, criminals attempt to transfer the sum of 1 euro cent to several accounts at a particular bank, using account numbers they have generated at random. If the payment gets rejected by the bank, then the account number does not exist -- but if the transfer goes through successfully, then the crooks know they have stumbled upon a genuine account number. It's a similar approach to that sometimes used by the senders of e-mail spam, who may compile mailing lists by generating random email addresses and checking to see which of those accounts accept the messages.
The beauty of the 1-cent trick is that, even if the account holder notices the transfer, it is unlikely to arouse their suspicions. Apart from anything else, it is extra money in their account -- even if only 1 cent. The fraudsters don't even need to know the name of the account holder, as the account number on the transfer slip is read by a machine, which doesn't check whether the name and account number match.
Illicit Withdrawals
Armed with the account number, the crooks then start transferring sums of money out of that account, disguised as payments for supposed purchases or services. Often, they merely inform their own bank that they have the right to withdraw money from the account by direct debit, a procedure often used by utility companies, government institutions and associations. German banks generally do not check very closely to make sure the recipient has the right to make the direct debit. Instead, the onus is on bank customers to spot illicit withdrawals from their account -- in cases of fraud, account holders have 13 months to cancel a transaction.
Not every customer, however, bothers to examine their bank statements that closely, and the criminals have apparently been keeping the amounts small enough that they do not stand out.
The German Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, which first drew attention to the scam, has now recommended that consumers check their bank statements regularly and alert their bank if they see suspicious 1-cent transfers going in.
The fact that the scam works so easily is due to a change in German law that went into effect at the end of October 2009, implementing a European Union directive intended to speed up the movement of money within the EU. As of 2012, all money transfers have to be processed by the end of the following business day. That is only possible, however, if the transfer process is completely automated. Since the law was changed, banks are no longer required to check if the name and account number on a transfer slip match. The crooks are therefore free to invent a name to go with their random account number when they make their 1-cent transfers.
The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)
Şadan Öz Turkey Local time: 05:57 English to Turkish
Feriştah'ın Fentezileri
Dec 2, 2011
Mehmet Ali Bahıt demiş ki:
"In a perfect world... spammers would get caught, go to jail, and share a cell with many men who have enlarged their penises, taken Viagra and are looking for a new relationship."
SDL provides market-leading translation software to over 185,000 users
SDL offers leading translation management solutions to meet LSPs needs throughout the whole translation supply chain.
With over 185,000 licenses being used by translators and organizations worldwide, our products will help you to connect to a supply chain that guarantees compatibility, making it easier to work with your customers and other users.
Save time by automatically extracting terms. 15% off!
SDL MultiTerm Extract 2011 allows you to automatically create candidate term lists from your existing documentation. This removes the manual effort involved with traditional terminology creation, allowing you to rapidly add terms to SDL MultiTerm.
The translation workplace 
Translation news in Turkey