credit

In an international hacking case, a Dutch man appeared in U.S. federal court today and pled not guilty to stealing at least 44,000 credit card numbers, according to the Associated Press.

Apparently, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

David Benjamin Schrooten, aka "Fortezza," is being targeted by federal prosecutors for allegedly hacking into computers and stealing massive amounts of credit card numbers. Once he obtained the numbers, he allegedly sold them in bulk quantities via different Web sites. The 44,000 is reportedly from just one sale.

Police caught onto Schrooten's alleged heist … Read more

Business owners looking to turn their mobile devices into credit card machines can now purchase the Square Card Reader at Walgreens, Staples, and FedEx stores across the U.S., according to a Market Wire press release.

The card reader enables anyone with a mobile device, like a smartphone or a tablet, to accept credit card payments.

Square, the company that makes the Square Card Reader, announced today that the technology is now sold in more than 7,000 Walgreens stores, 1,500 Staples stores, and 1,500 FedEx Office stores, making the product available at more than 20,000 retail … Read more

PayPal announced today it is partnering with 15 more U.S. retailers aiming to get shoppers to use PayPal's offline payment system.

"Consumers are relying on technology now more than ever to simplify their lives when it comes to shopping and paying, and retailers must adapt to this shift or risk becoming irrelevant," PayPal President David Marcus wrote in a blog post. "Innovative retailers everywhere are looking for ways to improve the shopping experience, extend loyalty programs and better engage with their customers."

The new retailers include, Abercrombie & Fitch, Advance Auto Parts, Aeropostale, American … Read more

Just when things couldn't get much worse for Nokia -- the mobile phone maker's credit rating is taking it on the chin.

Standard & Poor's today cut the rating for the Finnish mobile phone maker to junk, anticpating lower sales ahead.

Following a similar move by Fitch Ratings earlier this week, S&P cut Nokia's rating to BB+ from BBB-. BB+ is considered the highest speculative grade, "speculative" being another word for junk.

S&P said that the weaker rating reflects a lower estimate for sales from Nokia's Devices and Services … Read more

Links from Wednesday's episode of Loaded:

One of the things I love best about my iPhone is that it single-handedly replaces a bevy of other devices. Alarm clock? Gone. Digital camera and camcorder? Gone. Reward cards? Gone.

Now I can add one more item to the list: wallet.

The Poddities Money Clip for iPhone 4/4S adds a metal clip to the back of your handset, allowing you to keep cash, credit cards, and the like close at hand. It also gives you the option of hanging your phone from your belt or the top of pants pocket.

There are, of course, iPhone cases that have slots for credit cards and whatnot, but most of them add bulk ranging from a little to a lot. The Poddities is about the slimmest solution out there. It can hold up to three cards, according to the manufacturer.… Read more

I hope Global Payments doesn't strain itself patting its own back for containing a massive breach that occurred on its watch.

The company, which processes credit, debit, and gift card transactions between merchants, banks, and consumers, let a staggering 1.5 million credit card numbers get out in the open as a result of a still-to-be determined attack on its system. Yet it has barely shown any signs of contrition.

Most companies would have shown a bit of remorse for what has happened, but Global Payments has struck an almost self-congratulatory tone for how it identified the problem, alerted … Read more

As many as 1.5 million Visa and MasterCard accounts may have been compromised by the recent Global Payments security breach, the payment processor announced this evening.

Credit card numbers may have been exported, but no customer names, addresses, or Social Security numbers were accessed, the company said in a statement. The company believes the breach, which was revealed Friday, was confined to North America.

The nature of the breach, which was originally pegged at 50,000 accounts, has not been revealed. The company also did not say whether it knew of any fraudulent charges resulting from the breach on … Read more

A Visa network update briefly prevented some customers in the United States from using their credit and debit cards to pay for purchases today.

A company representative told the Associated Press that the outage was caused by a recent system update, but that the system was now operating normally. The 40-minute outage began at 11:40 a.m. PT, an unidentified banking industry source told the AP.

A Visa customer told CNET that he tried to use his credit card to pay for a fill-up at a Boston-area gas station around 12:30 p.m. PT but couldn't complete … Read more