Meebo Enables Credit Card Fraud

Meebo serves as an excellent tool for credit card fraudsters. It is used by them every second of every day, even right this very second as you read this. I know this because I saw it used first hand everyday at my old job. See, I used to be a software developer at a deaf relay provider. Read on…

What’s deaf relay? Deaf relay allows deaf people to both make and receive phone calls. Deaf people can place and receive calls on a TTY device, their computer, or any AOL enabled device. So a deaf individual can instant message a relay providers’ screenname and call anyone they want in the US for free! That’s right free. Who pays for it? You and I , the tax payers. Well guess who else can use AIM to instant message relay providers? You got it, ANYONE!

So what happens is this, credit card fraudster’s get a hold of a stolen credit card, or stolen identity and in order to convert their stolen card to cash, they get on Meebo and start placing calls to every 800 number they can and start ordering all sorts of ****. Why Meebo? Because it’s based in the US. It basically serves as a free proxy for them. Only people in the US can make deaf relay calls and Meebo has US-based IP addresses. Often times, the credit card fraudster is from outside the US (ahem… Nigeria) and cannot speak English well. So..they use US based Meebo, and tax payer payed for deaf relay (staffed with English speaking American citizens ) to do their dirty work. The merchants 800 number receives an American voice ordering stuff off of a US credit card and so the order goes through.

The ****ty part of it is, the relay providers can do absolutely NOTHING about it! They are not allowed to disconnect a call based on conversation content ( as outlined in FCC rules), even if it is blatantly fraud. Often the fraudster will call and place orders with merchants and the card will get declined. Well, on the same frickin’ phone call, the same caller will suddenly become someone completely different, with a differnet name, address, and card number and start making other calls and orders. Crazy ****! Meebo is heavily freqeunted by fraud shops in Nigeria placing these exact types of fraud calls.

In summary credit card fraudsters are using US credit cards, to order US goods from US companies using US tax payer payed for services and Meebo to steal from the US.

How do I know? Again, I was a software developer for one of the top relay providers in the US.