தீவிரவாதிகள் சர்வதேச நாடுகளின் கிரெடிட் கார்டுகளை உபயோகிப்பது: இந்தியாவில் மறைமுகமாக செயல்படும் பயங்கரவாதிகள், தங்களது நடவடிக்கைகளுக்கு தேவையான நிதியை திரட்டுவதற்காக, சர்வதேச நாடுகளின் கிரெடிட் கார்டுகளை பயன்படுத்துவது வெளிச்சத்துக்கு வந்துள்ளது. லக்னோ, டில்லி ஆகிய இடங்களில் போலீசார் நடத்திய சோதனையில், பல்வேறு நாடுகளின் வங்கிகளைச் சேர்ந்த 65 கிரெடிட் கார்டுகள் பறிமுதல் செய்யப்பட்டன.
தாவூத் ஜிலானியின் ஒப்புதல்: மும்பை தாக்குதலில் தொடர்புடைய முக்கிய குற்றவாளியான தாவூத் ஜிலானி என்ற டேவிட் ஹெட்லியிடம், அமெரிக்க அதிகாரிகள் நடத்திய விசாரணையில் பல திடுக்கிடும் தகவல்கள் தெரியவந்தன. பயங்கரவாத நடவடிக்கைகளுக்கு தேவையான நிதியை திரட்டுவதற்காக, பல்வேறு நாடுகளின் வங்கிகளைச் சேர்ந்த கிரெடிட் கார்டுகளை ஹெட்லி பயன்படுத்தியது தெரியவந்தது. ஹெட்லி பயன்படுத்திய கிரெடிட் கார்டுகளுக்கு பண பரிமாற்றம் செய்தது யார் என்பது குறித்து, தொடர்ந்து விசாரணை நடந்து வருகிறது. இதுகுறித்த தகவல்கள், இந்திய அதிகாரிகளுக்கு தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டது. இதைத் தொடர்ந்து, இந்தியாவில் சர்வதேச நாடுகளின் கிரெடிட் கார்டுகளை, பயங்கரவாத நடவடிக்கைகளுக்கு நிதி திரட்டுவதற்காக யாராவது பயன்படுத்துகின்றனரா என்பதை அதிகாரிகள் தீவிரமாக கண்காணித்து வந்தனர். சமீபத்தில், தலைநகர் டில்லி ரோகிணி பகுதியில் உள்ள ஒரு வீட்டில் போலீசார் அதிரடி சோதனை நடத்தினர். அந்த வீட்டில் வசித்த நபரிடம் இருந்து, பல்வேறு நாடுகளின் வங்கிகளைச் சேர்ந்த 45 கிரெடிட் கார்டுகள் பறிமுதல் செய்யப்பட்டன. மேலும், அவரிடம் இருந்து ஆறு லட்ச ரூபாய் பணமும் பறிமுதல் செய்யப்பட்டது.
வட-இந்திய நெட்வொர்க்கிற்கு நேபஆளத் தொடர்பு: இதே போல், உ.பி., தலைநகர் லக்னோவிலும் போலீசார், இது தொடர்பான கண்காணிப்பில் ஈடுபட்டிருந்தனர். அப்போது,லக்னோவைச் சேர்ந்த இரண்டு பேர், பயங்கரவாத நடவடிக்கைகளுக்கு நிதி திரட்டுவதற்காக கிரெடிட் கார்டுகளை பயன்படுத்துவது கண்டு பிடிக்கப்பட்டது. இரண்டு பேரையும் கைது செய்த போலீசார், அவர்களிடம் இருந்து, சர்வதேச நாடுகளின் வங்கிகளின் 20 கிரெடிட் கார்டுகளை பறிமுதல் செய்தனர். இந்த இரண்டு வழக்குகளிலுமே, கிரெடிட் கார்டுகள் மூலம் எடுக்கப்பட்ட பணம், நேபாளத்தில் உள்ளவர்களுக்கு பரிமாற்றம் செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளது. இந்த நிதி, யார் மூலமாக, இந்த கிரெடிட் கார்டுகளுக்கு வந்தது, யாருடைய உத்தரவின் பேரில், இந்த நிதி நேபாளத்துக்கு அனுப்பி வைக்கப்பட்டது என்பது தொடர்பான தகவல்களை போலீசார் விசாரித்து வருகின்றனர். இந்த இரண்டு சம்பவங்களிலுமே, ஐந்து கோடி ரூபாய் வரை, பண பரிமாற்றம் நடந்துள்ளது.
The credit card-terrorism connection
How terrorists use cards for everyday needs and to fund operations
By Jeremy M. Simon
http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-cards-terrorism-1282.php
If you’ve ever used your credit card to buy plane tickets, go grocery shopping or do some online gambling, your monthly statement may not be all that different from that of a terrorist. 
Interviews with terrorism experts and readings of case studies from around the world reveal that the credit card has become a favored tool of terrorists. In the hands of a radical, credit cards enable terrorist funding through money laundering operations and identity theft schemes, while allowing the same everyday transactions that law-abiding citizens enjoy.
Plastic pays for terrorism
Like any business organization, terrorist groups have both one-time costs and recurring expenses. Staging a terrorist attack can be relatively cheap, but there are also the various day-to-day expenses of maintaining a terrorist cell, including food and travel costs. To cover their needs, terrorists require funding.
| Case study 1
Where: United Kingdom.
Credit card-terror connection: A terrorist cell in the United Kingdom used credit card information stolen via phishing attacks and laundered money through online gambling sites to finance Web sites “promoting martyrdom through terrorist violence,” according to British press reports.
Credit card information was put on the black market, which the UK terrorist cell eventually used to establish a network of Web sites that enabled communications among terrorists. The sites also provided information on such topics as computer hacking and bomb-making and hosted videos of beheadings and suicide bombings in Iraq. In 2007, three men — Waseem Mughal, Younis Tsouli and Tariq al-Daour — were sentenced to jail terms in the UK for encouraging others to commit acts of terrorism. |
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That’s where plastic comes in. “Credit cards are one avenue available for terrorist financing,” says Carol Van Cleef, a partner in the international law firm of Bryan Cave and an expert on anti-money laundering compliance and payments. “Criminals — and I don’t think terrorists are any exception — will use all types of payment alternatives. Credit cards are just one thing they will look to.”
A February 2008 report, “Terrorist Financing,” by the Paris-based international anti-money-laundering agency, Groupe d’action financière (Financial Action Task Force) reaches the same conclusion. Recent use of credit cards by terrorists, it concluded, “shows the vulnerability of credit cards to misuse for terrorist financing purposes and other illegal activities.”
Experts consulted for this article would not go into detail on specific cases, for fear of providing instructions, but in general, they said the appeal of credit cards is simple. Terrorists and their global support networks choose to finance activities with debit and credit cards for the same reason that the rest of us do: Plastic makes for easy payments. “Any financial vehicles that are convenient for consumers are also convenient for terrorists,” says Debra Geister, director of Fraud Prevention & Compliance Solutions with LexisNexis’s Risk & Information Analytics Group in New London, Minn.
Where’s the python?
Plastic helps terrorists by enabling easy movement of funds — which is ideal for money laundering purposes.
While a drug trafficker may seek to hide the source of ill-gotten gains when transferring money into the legitimate financial system, terrorists launder money “not to hide the source of the money, but to hide the ultimate purpose of the money,” says Chris Myers, chair of the Compliance Services National Practice Team and partner in the law firm Holland & Knight, based in Tyson’s Corner, Va. For example, by funneling funds from a legitimate charity, terrorists may not need to derive their funds illegally.
Ed Wilson, former acting general counsel of the U.S. Department of Treasury, agrees that for law enforcement and others, there is an important distinction between drug and terrorist money laundering. “In one you’re trying to find the bulge moving thru the python, in the other you’re trying to find why the python isn’t there,” Wilson says.
Moving the money
As an example of how terrorists employ credit cards, Myers gives the hypothetical scenario of a terrorist cell in the European Union that wants to carry out an attack on U.S. soil. A credit card obtained in Europe is simply handed to the cell member who travels to the United States to execute the attack. Bringing a wad of bills into this country would violate cash reporting laws (potentially preventing entry into the country), but there is nothing illegal about carrying credit cards from Europe into the United States. Credit cards can even be mailed internationally, Myers says.
| Case study 2
Where: Australia
Credit card-terror connection: In what’s described as Australia’s largest homegrown terror case, credit cards played a part in a plot to blow up the Melbourne Cricket Grounds during the 2005 Australian Football League Grand Final between the Sydney Swans and West Coast Eagles. Twelve men went on trial in April 2008, accused of plotting the act, which was thwarted by authorities.
One witness explained to Australia’s Victorian Supreme Court how he purchased plane tickets and a mobile phone for the suspects using stolen credit card data. The witness, Izzydeen Atik, said he paid taxi drivers $10 for credit card information, according to Australian press reports.
Atik said that the terrorist group’s alleged leader, Abdul Nacer Benbrika, had indicated plans to target several Australian sporting events, with the jury shown a secretly filmed video of Benbrika and an undercover policeman detonating explosives in an apparent terrorism test run. |
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Prepaid cards and gift cards offer a similar benefit: They can be loaded with money and then easily transported to another place for terrorist activity. “Stored value is convenient and it can be anonymous,” says Geister. Since wallets are generally not checked when people move across borders (as opposed to scrutiny of passports or other documentation), “You’ve now brought money across an international border without detection,” Myers says.
Geister says another technique used to transmit funds involves cell phones linked to a prepaid card or credit card account — a common option overseas. A terrorist can link the card to his mobile phone, which can then be used to wire money over the wireless network to a fellow cell member who may be in another country altogether. Geister highlights the speed of this process, saying that it takes just two minutes to register the cell phone and seconds to transfer funds to the person on the other end. The evidence of the transfer would perhaps amount to little more than a transaction detail on the terrorist’s credit card statement.
With terrorists, there is some gray area in regards to what constitutes money laundering. Everyday costs, like groceries, can also be charged to the terrorist’s credit or debit card. “Is it money laundering?” asks Geister. “By the technical definition, it’s not money laundering. Is it facilitating a terrorist cause? Yes it is,” she says.
Ever resourceful and creative, terrorists have a variety of techniques for moving funds around. “There are as many different schemes and scenarios out there as there are money launderers,” Geister says. Regardless of the scheme, the goal is the easy movement of funds for terrorists: “They can fly under the radar screen,” Myers says.
Terrorism and credit card fraud
Terrorist cells often seek to blend in, so careful use of credit is important. “The terrorist is looking to be as vanilla as possible,” says Wilson. Since they don’t want the risk of drawing added attention, “Terrorists by and large will only open up legitimate credit cards,” he says.
Not necessarily, argues Geister. “Certainly they want to stay under the radar,” she says. “But does that mean they don’t use false identities? I don’t think that it does.” Even when credit card information is stolen or a fraudulent account is set up, terrorists still play it safe, making sure they pass the verification tests and avoiding large account deposits while paying off charges incrementally, Geister explains. “The more anonymous they are, the more problematic they are from a money laundering perspective.”
Having numerous fraudulent accounts also gives the terrorist options, she says. “If I have 100 different identities set up in the system, they’re not going to focus on one,” says Geister. This approach helps with law enforcement crackdowns, too. As a terrorist, “The last thing I want to do is to have someone come straight to me,” she says. Linking an account to an actual terrorist’s identity could expose plotters whose names appear on watch lists. Referring to the Office of Foreign Assets Control division of the U.S. Treasury, “If I’m on the OFAC list, am I really going to tell you my name is Osama Bin Laden?” Geister asks.
| Case study 3
Where: Columbus, Ohio
Credit card-terror connection: Somali native Nuradin Abdi told U.S. investigators that he provided stolen credit card numbers to a man accused of buying gear for al-Qaida, according to federal prosecutors. Abdi allegedly collected the credit card numbers through his cell phone business.
The credit card information was in turn provided to an acquaintance who was in the process of buying a laptop, global positioning satellite watch, a laser range finder and other equipment.
Abdi is accused of planning to blow up a Columbus, Ohio, area shopping mall along with other al-Qaida operatives, including an admitted member of the terror group, Iyman Faris, who is currently imprisoned for a scheme to sabotage the Brooklyn Bridge. Prosecutors say Abdi attended a guerilla training camp in Ethiopia, with the shopping mall plot hatched shortly after he returned to Ohio in March 2000. |
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Fraud techniques
Account information from legitimate credit cards becomes a valuable commodity for terrorists. “Terror groups and criminal organizations use credit card cloning and skimming to fund themselves,” says Loretta Napoleoni, author of “Terror Incorporated: Tracing the Money Behind Global Terrorism.” “Cloning is done primarily via the Internet. Skimming requires use of the actual card, so it is done in restaurants and stores,” she says. “It is a very popular and easy technique.” Experts also note that the theft of a laptop or computer database security breaches can produce a treasure trove of credit card information for fraudsters.
“It happens that various terrorist organizations engage in credit card fraud and related crimes (e.g. phishing), as do individuals and groups of so-called ‘homegrown’ terrorists,” says Aaron Weisburd via e-mail. Weisburd is director of the Web forum Internet Haganah, which tracks pro-terrorist online activity. “Regarding the latter, we are in an age of ‘do-it-yourself’ terrorism and this is a kind of fundraising activity that such people can engage in on their own, freeing them from any need for financial support from a formal organization such as al-Qaida.”
“It is worth noting that often the perpetrator is not the terrorist himself, but rather the individuals or small businesses who are providing services such as hosting a Web site for terrorists,” he adds.
“What I can say is that in the course of investigating online activity of terrorist groups and their supporters, I uncover signs of credit card fraud frequently, and have done so for at least six years,” Weisburd says. Still, “I would not say that it is happening more often now than before,” Weisburd says.
How much credit card fraud is tied to terrorism?
Yet it is happening. Fraud is an unbelievably profitable business. “We don’t have any way to know how much of that credit card fraud is related to terrorism. It may be higher than we even know about,” Geister says.
Therefore, consumers can play an active role in preventing terrorist funding by staying alert to credit card fraud. “The more diligent consumers can be to protect their data, the better,” she says.
“Consumer attention to credit card fraud is crucial because the more that people are aware of fraud, the less likely it is to work,” says U.S. Treasury spokesman John Rankin. “Preventing terrorist financing is an international effort with many components, but consumer awareness is certainly important.”
ஏற்கெனவே ஜிஹாதில் குஜராத்தில் தீவிரவதச் செயல்களை அரங்கேற்றப் போகிறர்கள் என்ற செய்தி அறிந்ததும் தீவிரவாத-எதிர்ப்புப்படை எதேச்சையாக இவனது தொலைபேசி உரையாடல் கேட்டு 14-03-2010 (ஞாயிற்றுக்கிழமை) அன்று பிடித்தனர்!
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