A friendly vendor asked me a question that required a pretty long-winded response. My answer was centered around one of the more-involved methods from my past, an explanation of the requisite methods, the reason why the exploits worked, and what could be done to stop someone like me from using this method.

Outlining the method (6 methods, actually. All wrapped up into one procedure) really drove home the premise of my work within the fraud prevention community:

“Company-wide strategy is necessary to stop the big boys.”

This method leveraged information gathered from car dealerships alongside a manipulated profile. Used the profile information against financial institutions, stolen payment information against insurance companies, and then struck at the disconnect between two in-house operations, resulting in 10’s of thousands of dollars worth of losses.

If you’re keeping score, that’s 3 different companies, a stolen identity, 6 methods, and 10’s of thousands of dollars all wrapped into a single method….. and this was circa 2015.

For those who have spoken with me, you know I’m ashamed of what I’ve done in the past and am working diligently to be the best that I can be for my daughter. I’m not proud of what I did, but I know how my unique insight can be helpful.

That being said, business is business and the truth is: Stopping the one-dimensional bad guys (who buy cards on some forum, type the info into a checkout form and cross their fingers) is ever-evolving, but a straightforward process once identified. Just read the headlines. They are begging to be busted. There are plenty of providers who will be effective in their own unique ways.

That’s step one.

The big guys seek vulnerabilities at every engagement. Therefore, an entire operation needs a strategy and training, step two.
You want to stop the big, bad guys from entering your system?
Let’s talk strategy. I’ll tell you where your gaps are and how to apply the armor.

Be proactive, my friends.