Scammers have found a way to steal money from expired cards
Criminals have learned how to steal funds from bank cards whose expiration dates have long since passed. This may be due to vulnerabilities in the systems of certain banks that allow transactions to be processed even after a card has expired.
An expired bank card should no longer be usable; however, according to the study’s findings, this is not always the case. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst discovered a vulnerability that allows certain expired cards to be used for payments.
This vulnerability can be exploited even in the case of a stolen and already replaced bank card, which could lead to trouble for the cardholder.
According to the researchers, the vulnerability stems from the fact that the expiration dates of the bank card itself and the account linked to it do not match. The researchers used two ordinary smartphones and simple software to trick the payment terminal.
One phone activates the card and then transmits its data, while the other changes the expiration date before sending the data to the terminal. As a result, the system may display a future expiration date on the terminal, even though the card itself is no longer valid.
This trick can work because the expiration date is not properly secured. In addition, the validity period of the digital certificate linked to the card may be longer than the date indicated on the physical card, so this does not necessarily prevent the transaction from going through either. According to the researchers, they were able to pull off this trick at local restaurants and stores.
Not all bank cards are vulnerable, and digital wallets, thanks to additional security measures, proved to be more resistant to this method of fraud. For this reason, it is not recommended to simply throw expired bank cards in the trash; instead, they should be destroyed, and you should monitor transactions on accounts that have already been closed.
This is reported by the publication Raketa.
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