How NOT to steal a credit card number

I have a story to relate to you all about how NOT to steal my credit card number... This past Friday night, my buddies and I ordered a pizza from Papa John's. Having no cash on hand, I entered my credit card number online and charged it. As per Papa John's  policy, customers are to present the credit card to the driver upon receipt of the pizza (a reasonable requirement, so that people don't randomly charge pizza to their friends' or parents' cards). This evening, after the driver was half an hour late, he called me from his personal cell phone to come down to pick up the pizza (also reasonable, since our dorm is locked and requires a key-card to access). However, instead of swiping the card into an electronic key store, the driver took a thermal imprint of the card on the receipt as proof the card was physically in my possession.

Sunday morning, I wake up to check my bank account, and lo and  behold, there were four unauthorized charges to my account. Two from Nevada Hair Systems (a wig shop), one from OfficeMax, and one from Sprint Wireless, for a grand total of about 250 bucks. My first reaction was to call my bank and cancel my card. After trying to dispute the charges, I was told I could not until the charges 'posted'. When credit card transactions are processes, the funds are 'authorized', yet not deducted from the account until later. While this is a frustrating techincality (as the charges were definitely not mine), I begrudgingly accepted and had the CSR note my call in my account history.

My next step was to inform Papa John's that my card number was compromised through their system. After speaking to the very helpful store manager, my information was taken down and I was called back in 20 minutes (when our helpful driver came in for his shift that day). The driver, of course, denied anything, but the manager forwarded my case to the district manager and gave me contact information.

After battling with Sprint's call center (the CSR's there speak very broken english, sadly) and stopping for a quick lunch,  I finally got a hold of the Fraud department. After giving her my card number, she found the charge. While she could not give me the account contact information, I give her the driver's cell phone number, and guess what? That was the number he applied my credit card to! The ingoramus, after contacting me through a uniquely indentifiable medium (phone), then used my credit card on his PERSONAL account. Needless to say, I made sure Sprint wrote down everything related to the phone conversation.

So I had the guy behind a rock. I called Papa John's again, immediately escalated to the manager, and informed him of my findings and that he would face fraud and theft charges. Las Vegas Metro, ever the helpful law enforcement agency, told me the only thing I could do for now is wait until my charge clears, dispute through the bank, then the bank assumes legal responsibility for the money (it's now a fraud charge against the bank, not me). If that doesn't happen as planned, then I can claim fraud through their department, yadda yadda.

Moral of the story: don't steal credit card information. If you're going to, never EVER link it to something personally identifiable. You will get pwned.

Nine Inch Nails does Viral Advertising Right!

Nine Inch Nails is releasing a new album called Year Zero on April 17th. While Nine Inch Nails' music stands on its own, NIN has hired 42 Entertainment of Halo 2 fame to produce an alternate reality group of websites that Year Zero is supposed to take place in...

NIN's music has always been dark, almost dystopian. However, this album takes it to a new level. First is http://iamtryingtobelieve.com/ which details the drug "Parepin" that the American Government has been putting into the water supply in order to "protect" the drinkers from bioterrorism. However, this drug has a few negative affects, namely a sedation of spirit and enthusiam. The 'author' of the site profiles his release from Parepin (by not drinking the water) and details his renewed 'clarity'. He becomes skeptical of the Administration and tries to influence readers to not drink the water. Trying to contact the author: water@iamtryingtobelieve.com results in an autoreply:

------------------------AUTO_RESPONSE--------------_--

Thank you for your interest. It is now clear to me that Parepin is a completely safe and effective agent developed to protect us from bio-terrorism. The Administration is acting purely in the best interests of its citizens; to suggest otherwise was irresponsible and I deeply regret it.

I'm drinking the water. So should you.

Sounds very much like 1984's Big Brother and The Party. In this society, the military and presumably the administration has been taken over by Evangelical Christians, headed by the Church of Plano, which has taken over Daycares, Elementary Schools, and High Schools and has sent out a "Faithful Civil Patrol" to police citizenry, much like the Youth League in 1984.

Of course, there are resistors to the oppresive regime: one extraordinarily violent protestor we shall call "The Hammer" who resorts to violence to get the people's attention. An ex-military sniper, "The Hammer" has an innate understanding of how the Administration works and how to get people's attention. He understands that the government controls the citizenry through fear and will use that fear to reverse the control.

Another one of the websites: http://anotherversionofthetruth.com seems like a happy-go-lucky propaganda site, but selecting around the picture reveals a much less happy scene... Inside the website, there exists a 'forum' where other skeptical resistors discuss the happenings of the government. Your standard autocratic activities: faked drug busts, people dissappearing, consolidation of government services, oppresive military police, etc etc. I reccomend digging in there and listening to the audio tracks they post up there. Very creepy...

My favorite part about this whole scheme is the release of the first single: My Violent Heart. Since NIN is currently touring in Europe, the band left a flash drive in the BATHROOM of the colliseum they were playing at. It held the mp3 of the song: downloadable here or here or here. It's a return to the heavier roots of NIN's music, a far cry from the previous album: With Teeth.

Anywho, there's more to be said about the ties between this and the evangelical christian right taking over the current administration, the possibilty of further military campaigns in the middle east, government conspiracy, and the lot, but that's for another post...

Have fun exploring the alternate Year Zero universe!

Clerks II: Hilarious!

Well, last Friday night I and a few of my co-workers went to go see Clerks II. Granted, I believe half the sysadmins in the entire DC area were there, but that movie really does have a cultural following. It was chock full of one liners, insults to people of all races, religions, career choices, high-school experiences, even made a few good cracks at Lord of the Rings and its many followers. The classic elements of the original Clerks are there: talking about movies incessantly, ripping on any and all customers that make the foolish mistake of entering the store of note, Jay and Silent Bob (and the boombox) standing outside smoking, all of the good stuff. However, this movie actually has a plot and character development too, things not really existant (and not really missed by the general public) in the last one.

I will give you fair warning: it earns its R rating very well, and although it could have taken a few more steps in the mature direction, the weak-stomached should avert their eyes when 'Kelly' shows up (don't ask, please for the love of god don't ask).