Sweet
If you're a large scale credit card details thief.
Not so sweet if you're the victim.
A new cybercrime tool promises to use credit card numbers in a more human way that is less likely to attract the attention of fraud-detection systems, and therefore be more lucrative for those who seek to profit from events like the Target breach. The "Voxis Platform" is billed as "advanced cash out software" that promises to …
Since my card was cloned and the wife's at another Texaco station on the same road a few miles apart (happy to name them as we have absolute proof it was done there). Where ever possible cash is king.
Much harder to clone a £10 note and attempt to clear your bank out with it.
Luckily I was with RBS who detected it in minutes and blocked it even before phoning me up, Barclay's, who the wife is with, were putting it politely, a bunch of arrogant tossers, who did everything in their power to blame the wife, were shit.
Unfortunately, it's harder to send £30 to Amazon in cash.
I avoid using my credit card in unknown locations (even though it has chip and pin), always choose Paypal whenever possible, keep a limit on my authorized monthly payment amount and check my statements.
Maybe not 100 % bulletproof, but every little helps. Haven't had an issue yet that couldn't be handled later, knock on wood.
I am concerned to hear that this malware will now try to leverage Paypal. In my experience, Paypal's escrow like model has always worked pretty well by putting the burden of proof on the seller. Not quite sure how the bad boys will successfully soak card holders via Paypal but I am sure we will hear about it. I will be paying closer attention to PP emails from now on. Human ingenenuity knows no limits.
Anonymous, just in case any carders are reading El Reg as well.
Trust n0on3
I've often wondered why people refer to 'the wife' as if they were just one of many possessed items(as in 'owned' rather than the 'demonic' variety of possession).
eg. Just the other day I was saying to the television...
I know saying 'my wife' is fairly similar, but seems more acceptable as
1) it indicates that there is only one
2) infers a degree of familiarity rather than distance
Can anyone clarify this oddity for me? I've never quite understood it.
@Sir Runcible Spoon
There are many uses of 'the', 'a', 'my', etc. that give fine distinction of meaning. Some are logical (or lexical) and others are simply traditional forms of words. You could compare and contrast "... going to visit the parents" and "... going to visit my parents"; "I'll take the kids to the park", "I'll take my kids to the park", and so on. I'd suggest that it's not an implication of possession but an implication of function/description of people in your life with a suggestion of permanence and familiarity. I also think you're over thinking it. :)
Yeah but "my" followed by a singular noun does pretty much the same:
My wife , my car , my computer. Still implies , albeit maybe not quite as definately , that you only have one.
hmmm "my kids" - only one group of kids? Wait a minute that works for Wives too.
so:
The = definate article
My = ?
A = ?
I call my wife 'the boss'. No more no less.
She lets me use her first name on birthdays and at christmas...
Women dont care what you call them just dont get in their way. They feel less pain, they dont need rationale as a basis for an argument and they dont have to get angry for any particular reason.
This is why I suspect the anonymous tagline was written by a woman.
They do not forgive. They do not forget.
I know saying 'my wife' is fairly similar, but seems more acceptable as
Acceptable to whom?
1) it indicates that there is only one
No it doesn't. Take a society that permits multiple wives and for example a man with three of them talking to his insurer about a car crash:
Man: My wife just had an accident.
Insurer: Sorry to hear that Sir, I do hope she is ok. Erm, which of your wives was driving? Tommika, Dicksesha, or Harryetta?
Man: Dicksesha.
My doesn't mean singular, the does.
Thanks for all the replies and corrections, can't say I disagree with any of them.
It's true I might be over-thinking it, but it has always offended me for some reason (not sure if having ADHD has any bearing on it particularly).
I have a similar (but stronger) reaction when people use the word 'baby' as if it were a name - that one really gets on my goat.
"How is baby today?"
"We mustn't allow baby to rule our lives now must we?"
Grrrr. Still discussing this is a lot better than writing the 'do-or-die' design doc that must be written today :)
Personally I think "the wife" is preferable to "my wife" as I consider "my" to be possessive, as in, she is mine and belongs to me.
For example I would say "my car, my phone,my lunch", not "the car, the phone, the lunch".
"The wife" is similar to "the boss", except that if there is a conflict between "the boss" and "the wife" the wife wins.
To be more succinct: "my wife" would indicate that I own her, or at least that we're equals. "The wife' indicates that she owns me. And she does. I am her possession, she is in charge and I do not question this.
"The Wife" doesn't seem to mind as she's also "The Better Half" and thinks "The Husband" is reasonably adequate to being a companion.
And what a thread hijack this whole discussion turned into... Worries of cloning Chip&Pin cards (soon to be standard in the US latecomer market as a platinum answer to all our woes) all swept aside in a flurry of pedantic semantics.
"The Better Half" tends to look after the bills and finds the discussion a waste of time as card security worries and dealing with credit card companies eats up real time unlike the gust of hot air and insignificance that has been the topic here.