Quote:A money-laundering fraud ring is targeting donation sites, taking advantage of the outpouring of charity sparked by the global pandemic.
 
Dubbed Cart Crasher by the Sift security firm, the fraud ring leverages guest checkout options on donation sites to steal money and launder stolen payment cards.
 
The scheme is straightforward: First, fraudsters set up recipient accounts on various donation sites. Then, they create and post fake causes for which to receive donations.
 
From there, the crooks use stolen credit cards, and fake usernames and emails, to “donate” thousands of dollars to their own fabricated causes (via automated scripts). The donations are made in denominations of $5 or less. And, using the option to check out as a guest in order to skip the need to create accounts makes the activity much harder to trace.
 
“Using stolen credit cards, fake accounts, and automated scripts to do the dirty work, this fraud ring repeatedly funneled small amounts of money to themselves by setting up fake causes on various giving sites in order to request donations,” according to Sift’s annual report on evolving fraud tactics, released Wednesday.