TJX Hacker Gets 20 Years in Prison

Convicted TJX hacker Albert Gonzalez was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday for leading a gang of cyberthieves who stole more than 90 million credit and debit card numbers from TJX and other retailers…..Gonzalez’s crimes were committed mostly between 2005 and 2008 while he was drawing a $75,000 salary working for the U.S. Secret Service as a paid undercover informant.

The stolen magstripe data was routed to servers Gonzalez leased in Latvia and Ukraine, and ultimately passed to master Ukrainian card seller Maksym “Maksik” Yastremskiy, who peddled them to other carders in the underground…Maksik’s customers programmed the magstripe data onto counterfeit credit cards. …Yastremskiy, whom authorities say earned $11 million from card sales, was captured in Turkey in 2007 while on vacation and was sentenced in 2009 to 30 years in prison by a Turkish court. U.S. authorities seized a treasure trove of data from his computer that helped build a case against Gonzalez.

Russia arrests WorldPay hackers after FBI plea

By John E. Dunn | Techworld
Published: 11:27 GMT, 22 March 10

Another story of government catching up with technology, sort of-this story comes from Barbara Weltman on AuctionBytes.com

Internet sellers who don’t report their sales will no longer be under the radar. Starting next year, any bank or other payment settlement company that processes credit cards, debit cards, and electronic payments such as PayPal will have to issue information returns telling the IRS what merchants receive. The new returns are Form 1099-K, Merchant Card and Third-Party Payments.

Purpose of Reporting
The IRS believes that many online sellers fail to report their transactions. Some don’t report because they mistakenly believe that Internet sales are invisible. Others do so because they are trying to evade taxes.

The IRS has found that using information returns, such as W-2 forms for employees, Form 1099-MISC for independent contractors, and Form 1099-INT for bank interest, goes a long way toward improving the reporting of income. IRS computers can match income reported on these information returns with the income reported on tax returns.

Who’s Subject to Reporting
All merchants who accept payments through credit cards, debit cards, gift cards and PayPal will receive information returns telling them – and the IRS – the gross amount of the merchant card transactions. This will be broken down month by month. While the form uses the word “card,” the IRS has made it clear that this is interpreted broadly to include third-party network transactions (i.e., PayPal).

Exception: Very small merchants won’t be issued information returns. “Small” for this purpose means annual gross sales on merchant cards of no more than $20,000 or 200 or fewer transactions. In other words, reporting is required only if gross amounts for the year exceed $20,000 and there are more than 200 transactions.

Read the full story here.

Related articles by Zemanta

Image via Wikipedia

• IRS to Track Online Merchants – Will You Be Affected? (marketingpilgrim.com)
• What will it take to make mobile payments mainstream in the US? (venturebeat.com)

“Because the bank stopped the service.  We do not sell the debit card any more.  Our cards will be stopped in few days.  The old users please cash out the money as soon as possible.”

http://www.libertygold.co.nz/content/

Welcome to the world’s first MasterCard® that is tied to your holdings of gold and silver.

Liberty Gold & Silver is the most convenient way to buy and use gold and silver with the new MasterCard. It works just like any other prepaid or debit card, except your account is 100% backed by gold and silver. This means that as the price of gold goes up and down, the value of the balance in your account goes up and down. You can spend the money on your card any time, at any retail location, or you can withdraw cash from any ATM where MasterCard is accepted. Almost everywhere!

The Liberty Gold MasterCard is the easiest, most convenient way to use gold and silver as money. Anyone can use it, anywhere MasterCard is accepted.

Sign up now to get your own Liberty Gold Card for only $50 $39. Please send any amount over the minimum of $100 and the balance will be deposited in gold into your account. Don’t wait. Fund your card NOW with any amount so when it arrives you are ready to test drive the latest and most value based MasterCard in the world.

Sign Up Now