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Clerk uses photographic memory to steal credit card info from 1,300 customers
[....] In Japan, though, a store clerk has stolen credit card information the old fashioned way: Looking at and memorizing the details of over 1,300 customers, according to local news.
The 34-year-old clerk worked at a mall in Koto City, near Tokyo. Police allege he memorized the 16-digit credit card number, security code and expiry date of customers during the small period of time it takes to complete a purchase transaction. This is all according to a translation by SoraNews of reports from Sankei News and Hachima Kiko publications.
Police added that, after arresting the clerk, they found a notebook containing the credit card details of 1,300 victims, reports ANN News. The scammer, despite apparently having a Sherlock Holmes level of memorization ability, led police straight to him by using stolen credit card information to buy two bags valued at 270,000 yen (approximately $2,500) -- which he then had mailed to his own address.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by ledow on Tuesday September 10 2019, @08:12AM
He has a good memory, that's not difficult.
Try it. Next time you take out your card, memorise the number. How hard is it really? Maybe tricky until you've done it a few times. Now practice on random cards (loyalty cards etc.) for a month and see how good you get.
I work in IT. We have a policy not to show even the IT guys your password. It's partly best practice (we have no need of them to access your stuff, but we also don't need to know what they are), but additionally because otherwise I do end up knowing your password just by you typing on a keyboard in front of me. Yep, even the complex ones.
It doesn't take that much to do.
Not being stupid enough to order stolen things to your home address... that's another matter entirely. Hell, put it into buying Bitcoin or something, and then launder it through the network if you really want to do this. Thank god for stupid criminals.