Hiring Staff Through Third Parties Leads To Credit Card Theft

Credit card information theft is nothing new under the sun these days, as most databases and third parties protecting this data, do not offer optimal security measures. A recently discovered security flaw allowed for the theft of various credit cards belonging to Good to Go customers, adding up to nearly US$64,000 in financial losses. Credit cards have never been a safe way to make payments, and this is another example of why new solutions are needed.

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Another Credit Card Theft

What makes this story even more worrying is how the human element in the trust relationship was the culprit for stealing credit card information. No fancy software or hacks have been used as one person took it upon herself to take consumer’s credit card details as they handed her their card details to pay for tolls.

That being said, the company responsible for running the Washington State Department of Transportation tolling system is Electronic Transaction Consultants Corporation [ETCC]. Some of our US readers may have heard this name in the media before, as the company has been plagued by billing problems, delays in launching new tools, and various ticket glitches.

But it looks like technical issues are not the only problem, as their staff hiring process needs to be revamped as well. Even though the card information theft took place in 2013, the person hired by the ETCC to weak at the Seattle Good to Go customer service managed to take advantage of every credit card coming her way.

All of the information was communicated over the phone, and a total of 13 customer cards were used for fraudulent purchases. But instead of keeping the ordered items for herself, the ETCC staff member returned all of the items to a local store and converted them to cash or store credit in an attempt to remove all traces leading back to her.

The exact amount of funds stolen through this deliberate scheme ranges anywhere from US$63,000 to US$160,000, as no official number has been released at the time of publication. Ever since the issue was reported, the ETCC has allegedly improved how they monitor incoming phone calls and employee supervision.

Perhaps the biggest issue is how these events took place three years ago, yet hardly anyone was aware of the situation. The Washington State Department of Transportation was not made aware of this situation until a few days ago, Communication between all parties seems to be a major issue, even though this is a major threat to consumer security. The person responsible for this credit card theft was sentenced to 18 months of jail time in 2015.

Source: My Northwest

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