Credit card "hacker" names accomplice

CEBU, Philippines - The man who was arrested last week for allegedly hacking a credit card revealed during questioning that he connived with a credit card agent in committing the crime.

Jerwin Minglanilla said the agent was the one who provided him with the credit card information of the victim, Dr. Wilson de la Calzada.

De la Calzada was billed P72, 525 for multiple transactions from an airline company, which the suspect sold for a promo rate.

Chief Insp. Fermin Armendarez III of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Metro Cebu, said that aside from the credit card agent, they are also searching for at least four men allegedly involved in the crime.

The suspect has initially identified three computer engineers, identified by their first names as Gerald, Edgar, and Jerry. The police are still withholding the name of the credit card agent accomplice.

The information Minglanilla acquire from his cohorts will be used in incessantly hacking their victim’s account by “trial and error.”

Once they have successfully hacked their victim’s account, Armendarez said Minglanilla’s group will also be producing a fake identification card for their future transactions.

He said the group might have been in existence for quite sometime after they recovered several credit card application forms under various names.

The police also recovered a photocopy of a Social Security System (SSS) identification card and credit card barring de la Calzada’s name.

Since Friday, when Minglanilla’s case was reported on the news, another medical doctor now from Lapu-Lapu City and woman, have sought help from CIDG-7 claiming to have been victimized by credit card hackers.

CIDG-7 is still investigating whether or not their claims are legitimate.

Information Technology experts have advised the public to be cautious in using their credit card following Minglanilla’s arrest and confession, adding that hacking is inevitable and can happen to anyone with a credit card account.  (FREEMAN)