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Tag: chase bank

  • JPMorgan Refunds $389 Million to Customers for Ill-Suited Credit Card Practices

    JPMorgan Refunds $389 Million to Customers for Ill-Suited Credit Card Practices

    JPMorgan Chase & Co. have had coarse week that has cost them well over $1 billion in fines and refunds. Only hours following the announcement of admission in the London Whale trade devastation, which cost the bank $920 million in fines, JPMorgan made yet another announcement. The bank informed the public that they’d executed a massive reimbursement of over $309 million to credit card customers as well.

    As the United States’ largest banking empire, JPMorgan’s two largest financial subsidiaries – Chase Bank, USA and JPMorgan Chase Bank – the bank serves as a major contributor to the financial sector in regards to both business and consumer relations. According to Fox Business, The massive refund was disbursed to approximately $2.1 million customers as a result of “illegal credit card practice,” said the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

    The ill-suited credit card practices against consumers also came with another fine of $60 million in addition to the $309 million, which bumped the cost up to $389 million.

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also stated: “The agencies found that Chase engaged in unfair billing practices for certain credit card ‘add-on products’ by charging consumers for credit monitoring services that they did not receive,” the CFPB said, they also alleged the bank, “charged customers as soon as they enrolled in these products even if they were not actually receiving the services yet.”

    The ill-suited practices took place over a span of 6 ½ years, from October 2005 until June of 2012, ranging from approximately $7.99 to $11.99 in monthly fees. These fees were assessed for services that were not provided. For example, any consumer who paid the additional monthly fee with the intent on receiving credit protection or other perks that supposedly came with the card as an additional feature actually didn’t receive anything.

    JPMorgan Chase’s Head of Operations for Consumers and Community Banking issued a statement on behalf of the bank as well:
    “We stopped new enrollments in these products in mid-2012 and will fully exit them by the end of this year. We have already credited or refunded the customers affected. Any mistakes like these are regrettable and we are committed to ensuring our partners and vendors hold themselves to the same high standards that our customers expect of us.”

    The latest announcement provided a combined total for JPMorgan’s regulatory fines in addition to customer refunds bringing the total to a staggering $1.289 billion.

     

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Hacker Releases Visa and Mastercard Information Stolen From Chase Bank

    According to a hacker who calls himself Reckz, or Jeremy, he has gained access to Visa and Mastercard files through several large banks.

    He then released the information minus several critical aspects including card number, security code, and expiration date. The message was posted via Pastebin on the 18th of June.

    Reckz comments in his Pastebin post about the bank hacks and the release of information:

    “Today’s target is VISA & Mastercard, I will be only leaking a portion of the credit card information, as I cannot leak the entire data, it’s too large, and this is the certain proof that i’ve hacked into VISA & Mastercard….”

    “I’m also censoring the credit card information such as CC Number, Secret Code, Expiry date for security measures, I also edited the way the information will look, the original one looked bullshit.”

    He further explains that his purpose for hacking the banks involves good old fashioned curiosity rather than some malicious intent. He also claims to have no special talents, just passionate curiosity.

    He mentions Chase Bank as one of the institutions he infiltrated, but suggests there are several more involved. ZD Net speculates the hacks could be related to a credit card security breach that occurred in late March where big banks sent out letter to customers that a security leak may have compromised their information.

    According to another message on Pastebin from Reckz posted on the 12th of June, he is retiring from the hacking business, realizing he has no real purpose for his unusual skill. He says he will use his talents for only good purposes from here on out.

    Reckz comments on his retired status:

    “I’ve realized that I am doing this shit for nothing.”

    “I am officially..a whitehat.”

    “I will use my intelligence for good.”

    “I’ve done over 50 large hacks, and leaked many essential information, I am sorry if I harmed you, or affected your families.”

    “This is my departure from the hacking scene.”

    In his post from yesterday, he reminds us that of the purpose for his hacks; all in the name of curiosity and challenge. What I have to wonder is whether his latest hack falls in line with his new mission to use his hacking prowess for only good. Perhaps he hopes to reveal to the general public just how antiquated bank security really is.

    If he doesn’t have any overarching goal or message, and his hacks are just for curiosity sake, he probably should retire. He really doesn’t, “fulfill your (our) ‘lulz’ attention with some excitement & entertainment!”, as he suggests.

    Visa and Mastercard are most likely very interested (and probably Chase Bank as well), the general public however, doesn’t really care. Find something more exciting to do, you bore me Reckz.