Credit cards are a boon to modern society. The range of benefits it provides is commendable. However, credit card hacking is emerging as a grave concern as the world moves towards online payments. If you have a credit card, you must know how to be safe.
For this, one thing to know is – “How do hackers hack credit cards”?
This question emerges mostly out of curiosity. But you must not, by any means, practice such things yourself. Keep in mind that credit card hacking is illegal wherever you are in the whole world.
This article will give you a brief idea of how a credit card hacker would generally hack credit cards. We highly suggest you read on further only to learn for informational purposes. Knowing how hackers hack credit cards would help save you from getting your credit cards hacked.
Also read: Real Active Credit Card Numbers with Money
Understanding Credit Cards to Prevent Credit Card Hacks
Understanding how a credit card works is a major step toward understanding credit card hacking. Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB, and Diners are major credit card providers. These are not actual banks but just provider networks. Credit card providers are a unique financial body that is the intermediary between banks and individuals.
The typical working of a credit card network includes a three-step process. Offering credit to the individual, paying the merchant for their service, and then cashing everything directly from the individual’s bank at the end of the month. It may seem that your bank issues the credit card as they provide it. But in reality, credit cards are issued by these networks.
The above explanation simplifies that two major areas of attack can get your credit cards hacked. They are- the credit card network and the individual. These areas are exposed to potential cyberattacks.
If credit card hacking happens in the credit card network, the number of credit cards hacked would be immense. The credit card hacker might end up controlling the transactions of multiple cards. He can look into all the expenditures, carry out new transactions and do this without leaving a trace.
The second area of attack for credit card hacks is on an individual level. It is a much simpler and more common means of credit card hacking. In an individual credit card hack, the credit card hacker will be able to access the card details and use them for himself.
How a Credit Card is used?
You know how to use a credit card, but how this affects credit card hacking is a thing to note. Knowing the importance of using credit cards correctly will help us save from credit card hacks from credit card hackers. There are two places to use credit cards- offline at a POS (Point of Sale) and Online.
While using the credit card at a POS, the card is inserted or swiped into a machine that processes transactions. This payment method is generally used at a restaurant, shopping center, etc., wherever the physical mode of usage is convenient. Using a credit card for online purchases or transactions is the second most commonly used way. You can carry out any transaction by providing your card number, security number, and cardholder name.
Now, with that clear in mind, let’s look into the different ways how credit card hackers hack credit cards.
Also read: Unlimited Credit Card Numbers That Work
How do Hackers Hack Credit Cards?
1. Credit Card Hacks at Point of Sale
With a POS device, you either insert the card, swipe it, or just hover over it to make the transactions. The first two methods are pretty safe, but with contactless technology and new enhanced features, the wifi enabling payments has become a risk factor. The payment is made from the card without even physically touching the machine. This technology has emerged more as a bane for credit card users and a boon for credit card hackers.
Several instances have witnessed credit card hackers found with a POS machine in crowded places. They move with the machine and hover it near the wallet of unaware individuals. This is the most simple and clean way that credit card hackers use credit card hacking. You must be alert at such places to avoid getting your credit cards hacked.
While this is a thing to be careful about, it is worth noting that it only works for small transactions. For transactions with larger amounts, the PIN code is required. Besides, the POS must be certified by the credit card network to work, which credit card hackers generally do not have access to. The credit card network only issues a digital certificate to the registered POS holders to control the credit card hacks. This certificate minimizes the number of credit cards hacked by keeping a record of POS owners.
All in all, this method is relatively used by novice credit card hackers as it has a lot of limitations. Even if you end up with your credit cards hacked by this method, you may not jeopardize your finances majorly. This method is safe for small credit card hacks.
2. Credit card hacks online
Credit card hackers come up with unique and creative ways each day to hack credit cards online. They tend to choose to hack individuals over credit card hacking. Hacking people is easier than credit card hacking. This should not come as a surprise in this technological age.
Credit card hackers use a technique called phishing to hack credit cards online. They try to send you an email or call you disguised as someone else and ask for your credit card details. The most dangerous technique for credit card hacks is when they send a mail to a well-known company and ask you to input your credit card details. The website and even the payment gateway they redirect you to will look totally legit. And by the time you realize, you’ll get your credit cards hacked.
Thus, all this means that not only credit card hacks, one must be careful of individual hacks as well. Phishing is the most popular and widely used way of credit card hacks. Some credit card hacking traps are obvious and can be identified as SPAM, whereas some credit card hackers go to great lengths to create finely designed websites to carry out these credit card hacks.
Both of these credit card hacking techniques could be curbed by one simple solution; two-factor authentication. It ensures that the cardholder will get an SMS code on his phone number or mail to confirm the payment whenever any transaction is done. This two-factor authentication has been immensely helpful in minimizing credit card hacks. So, even if the credit card hacker somehow gets your details, he won’t be able to carry out any forgery.
3. Credit card hacking past two-factor authentication
As discussed above, two-factor authentication is pretty insulating in terms of credit card hacks. However, some credit card hackers know how to dodge even this and hack credit cards. They build such a smooth plan that even the most aware person can fall into their trap and get their credit cards hacked.
The first way is to ask for payment on the spot. Suppose a phishing email comes and asks you to enter your credit card details. Now, generally, you’ll be careful of this and not go ahead with inputting your details. But here is how credit card hackers go one step ahead and entrap you. They might bill your credit card immediately so that you receive an SMS from your credit card network. This SMS might convince you, and you put the code on the website through the mail. This trick works like magic, and you’ll have your credit cards hacked in no time.
But as long as you have two-factor authentication on your phone, the chances of getting your credit cards hacked are quite low. But will you be able to avoid these credit card hacks if your phone is hacked? The answer would be most probably- NO.
If the hacker has access to your cell phone, he can read and control all your data. So the message received from the credit card network is accessed easily by him. The credit card hacker can then hack credit cards without you even getting the slightest clue. Your account might get all washed away in seconds with this sort of credit card hacking.
However, hacking a phone and credit card together of the same person is not an easy feat. This can happen only when the credit card hacker wants to target you specifically. Intimidation to download an app one day and a notification to input credit card detail the other may all lead to credit card hacking ultimately.
The most effective way to hack credit cards is to hack the phone. And then, whenever the user enters their card details, the credit card hacker hits the jackpot. Therefore, the safest thing to do to protect yourself from credit card hacks is always to have 2-factor authentication and never download an app redirected from an email.
4. Credit Card hacks via credit card Networks
While most credit card hacking happens at the above three levels, some credit card hackers aim big. Bigger than the imagination. They get the whole network of credit cards hacked. This kind of credit card hacking means getting into a data pool for thousands of credit card holders within that network. Let’s look into how this type of credit card hacking is done.
While the details of how are these credit cards hacked are quite complex, here are a few things that we could get a hand on. The most certain thing is that these credit card hacks are the most targeted and specifically designed programs. Credit card networks are among the most protected companies. They deal with humungous money and can’t afford to get these credit cards hacked. Hence, these credit card hacking programs have to sneak through firewalls, IPSs, deep packet inspection, antiviruses, and a lot more. Such a kind of escape is strictly the work of professionals. Yet some hackers accomplish such credit card hacks occasionally.
Also read: Free Credit Card Generator
How Hackers Hack Credit Cards – FAQs
Q1. What do credit card hackers do after they hack credit cards?
Ans. People commonly think that hackers hack credit cards to buy things and spend on luxury, but this is often not the case. Credit card hackers generally hack credit cards to sell this information on the dark web.
This data is sold in bulk and for a relatively low price. But what is the use of credit card hacking for such small profits? The answer is simple. Spending money from the credit cards hacked can leave trails, and they can end up in jail. By selling this data, the hackers save themselves from getting tracked.
Therefore, hackers hack credit cards and sell the data for longer benefits and safety.
Q2. How to protect ourselves from these credit card hacks?
Ans. Being a victim of credit card hacks can be quite a bummer. To protect yourself from getting your credit cards hacked, you just need to act proactively and follow certain safety precautions.
If you get your credit card hacked, follow these steps to minimize the damage.
- Inform the bank and get a replacement card.
- Freeze the card immediately.
- Be on the lookout for phishing scams. Just because you got your credit cards hacked doesn’t mean you should lose hope completely. The hacker might not yet have the information like the expiration date and CVV. In this case, they will try to send you spam emails or calls to get this information to hack credit cards. It would be best to be alert and not respond to such calls and messages.
- Before you become a victim of credit card hacks, you must do some hygiene checks to stay protected. These include checking your bank statements regularly, checking credit reports more often, and setting up strong passwords.
Q3. What are the tools used to hack credit cards?
Ans. The most common tools to hack credit cards are Remote Access Trojan (RAT) and Angler Exploit kits.
RAT hides inside legitimate software and, once installed, gives complete access to the victim’s computer, which leads to credit card hacking.
Angler Exploit kits are programs that are deeply hidden in websites and look for the system’s security to install malicious software which helps to hack credit cards.
