Carding

What is Carding?

Carding is the term used for credit card fraud. The ones involved in committing this fraud are called carders. This form of credit card fraud involves stealing credit cards and using them to charge prepaid cards.

In the recent past, it has been noticed that the United States of America has been a significant target of carding. The credit card or Debit Card is used commonly. These cards usually have only a magnetic strip or employ a chip and signature technology. In Europe, the case is quite different. A personal identification number technology is used there.

When it comes to carding, the hacker gains access to a store’s or any online website’s credit card processing system. He then obtains a list of credit and debit cards that were used to make a purchase. They exploit any weakness in the security software that is employed to protect the valuable information on the credit card. They could also use a scanner to copy the coding that is found on magnetic strips.

How does Carding Work?

The credit card information is compromised as the hacker would now have the personal information of the person to whom the credit or debit card belongs to. He could now gain entry to the card holder’s Bank accounts. The hacker will sell the information to a third party who is called a carder. This party will use the stolen information to purchase a gift card.

Many-a-times the cardholders realise regarding the loss of their credit or debit card. But by the time any information is out there, the carder has already made a purchase. The gift cards are used to purchase expensive things like cell phones, televisions and computers.

If the carder purchases gift cards from electronic retailers like Amazon or Flipkart, the third party will be employed to receive the goods and then ship to other locations. The carder could also sell the goods on a website Offering anonymity.