Article: Fraudsters target flaw in go cards

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Fraudsters target flaw in go cards

Fraudsters target flaw in go cards

    by: Robyn Ironside
    From: The Courier-Mail
    May 01, 2012 12:00AM

GO CARDS are being used in a credit card scam that takes advantage of a loophole on the Translink website.

Poor security has been blamed for the scam in which fraudsters use go cards to verify stolen credit card numbers.

A source told The Courier-Mail it was simply a matter of registering the go card online, then entering the stolen numbers one by one in an attempt to find those that were yet to be cancelled.

"When it works they know they have a good number," said the source.

"There are people using multiple go cards in fictitious names. They are changing their credit card details dozens of times a day."

He said the scam was made possible by the fact Translink had no limit on the number of times a user could enter a different credit card number.

"They do not validate that the address actually exists. They do not validate the email address," he said.

When the informant alerted police to the situation, he was told to report the matter to the Government website "scamwatch" because go cards were a "Government initiative for public transport".

A Translink spokeswoman said they were aware of the claims the website was being used to validate whether stolen credit cards had been cancelled.

"Translink has no evidence that there is any widespread misuse of its website and refers any suspicious activity to police," said the spokeswoman.

"However, changes are now being made to the website as a precaution."

She said the changes meant that after "a small number of incorrect attempts to enter credit card details, the user would be locked out of the website for 24 hours".

"The go card number will then be flagged to system administrators for further investigation," she said.

Robert Dow from commuter advocacy group Back on Track welcomed Translink's response to the issue.

"It's good they've moved rapidly to fix it," Mr Dow said. "I think overall the go card is going reasonably well, but they need to move forward with some further improvements."

He said Back on Track wanted to see the card made "more useful as a payment source" beginning with its integration with the Brisbane City Council's CityCycle scheme.

"To us it's a no brainer," said Mr Dow.