'I posted winning race ticket in Facebook selfie ... and someone stole it!' An Australian woman says she lost out on AU$900 (US$643, £418) after someone lifted her winning race ticket from a Facebook photo. Chantelle, whose last name was not given, said she won the money on 100-1 long-shot Prince of Penzance at Tuesday's Melbourne Cup horse race. Shortly after the race, the Perth woman snapped a …
>Obviously intelligence is not involved in either betting or boasting.
It seems it's easily done: only a couple of years ago a Reg writer included a photo in an article in which his credit card details could be read (except of course for those numbers on the back by the signature strip). I won't speculate on whether the bank account or credit limit of Reg hack is worth ripping off! : )
I guess credit cards could be printed with a pattern such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation which would then cause a camera to blur the surrounding area.... Yes, I know that's an overly complicated and tech-heavy solution to a problem that could just be avoided with some care, but hey, that's why I read the Reg.
EDIT: Even easier solution for things like betting stubs and gig tickets - print half the required information on the reverse side.
"It seems it's easily done: only a couple of years ago a Reg writer included a photo in an article in which his credit card details could be read (except of course for those numbers on the back by the signature strip)."
It's for that reason that, when I took and uploaded a picture of my Raspberry Pi with a "credit card" for size comparison, what I actually used was my Costa Coffee Club card; no identity information on the front.
"Yes, I know that's an overly complicated and tech-heavy solution to a problem that could just be avoided with some care, but hey, that's why I read the Reg."
On The Reg, NO solution is overly complicated or tech heavy!
This post has been deleted by its author
It already does. When you go to a friend's profile, you can select which "group" they're in and acquaintance is one of them. I put people I don't know well in there and make sure my posts are only seen by people in the "friend" group. That way I stay connected with the others and they don't get bored by my posts or get a peek into my personal life. A lot of people complain about Facebook, but in the spirit of normal users, they simply don't understand how to use the thing properly.
the photo was limited to Facebook friends.
This demonstrates the difference between, "facebook friends", and real friends.
10,000 people who you have spoken to once, are not, "friends", in any sense. They are just people you spoke to once.
Or with the irritating FessBook feature "Add this twit to your friends", someone you have never spoken to or met or would ever want to meet.
Reminds me of when FEMA gave out debit cards to Hurricane Katrina refugees and one of them was persuaded to show it off for the TV news. Exactly what you would expect happened.
I think people have a hard time grasping that when you have something like a ticket or a credit card, it's the information written on it, not just the physical item that you have to protect.
"I think people have a hard time grasping that when you have something like a ticket or a credit card, it's the information written on it, not just the physical item that you have to protect."
It depends. You don't have to protect the information printed on a bank note. (It's not really your problem if someone fakes a tenner with the same serial number, and it's unlikely to affect you if they did.) If you were given a concert ticket made of cardboard or plastic with a hologram in the corner then you probably don't have to protect the information printed on it. If you printed the ticket yourself then you probably do have to protect the information printed on it, but in the case of a flight ticket you probably don't have to worry too much seeing as they typically want the passenger to produce both a passport with a matching name in it and the bank card that was used to purchase the ticket, and for security reasons they probably wouldn't let the plane depart if you were to turn up at the airport and tell them that they have someone on the plane who isn't who they claimed to be...
If a company sold you a physical ticket and didn't tell you to protect the information printed on it then the company should presumably compensate you if the company couldn't accept the ticket because the company had been conned by someone using a fake ticket. Cost of fraud should be met by the people who are in a position to do something about it.
If I remember correctly, gambling debts are rather a special case in English law...
This post has been deleted by its author
El Reg's attraction of snarky tech and vaguely-tech news and the Bastard Operator from Hell couldn't POSSIBLY be of any possible interest to any English-speaking audience outside the United Kingdom (and maybe Ireland, if they're particularly drunk and/or sober,) right?
Hell, El Reg has a San Fran office, don't they? I don't think it's unreasonable for the stories to carry the conversion that those of us yankees will understand without having to visit xe.
Although that couldn't hurt.
What she really needs is a major culling of her activity on Facebook. And the realization that posting your life willy-nilly for all to see does nobody any good.
Well, in this case, almost nobody.
In any case,it's an expensive lesson. I hope she won't need another.
"In any case,it's an expensive lesson."
Well, not really. She spent the equivalent of about £4 for a ticket. Sure, she could have won significantly more, but failing to win something you didn't previously have (and have managed perfectly well without) isn't the same as actually losing something you already owned. If anything, I'd say that lesson was remarkably good value.
This post has been deleted by its author
Just because you've done something unwise that enabled a criminal to take advantage of you does NOT in any way, shape, or form, mean you "deserved" to be victimized, or that the police shouldn't do everything in their power to catch the perfidious party and plonk them in the pen.
If you leave your wallet on your dashboard in an open car park then you are encouraging thieves to target that car park specifically since it is a place with rich pickings. You deserve to have your wallet stolen so you will stop putting other customers at an increased risk of being targetted by car thieves.
The same is true of facebook "Leave it on show, expect it to go" as the police say.
Of course not, but if you get burgled and it turns out you left the door open and unlocked, few people will have the same level of sympathy as someone who properly locked up.
Ignorance can be cured by education and experience. Stupidity can't be cured. Only time will tell which group this woman is in.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
