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Woman loses $35,000 when purse thief guesses her bank card PIN
Incident Date: April 24 2004 Incident Location: Inuyama Aichi Japan A graduate student at Kyoto University in Japan once again confirmed a suspicion of security professionals: that people often use PINs composed of familiar numbers. On April 24, 2004, Katsura Nakayama stole another woman’s purse from a public bath. Her ability to come up with bank card PIN quickly escalated the impact of the crime. Ms. Nakayama pocketed the 130,000 yen (US $1,255) in cash contained within the purse, but wanted more. So, she used the victim’s bank card to withdraw 3.7 million yen (US $35,700). This transaction required the card holder’s PIN, which Ms. Nakayama determined was the victim’s birth date. A hospital registration card also found in the purse provided this piece of information. Police say that Ms. Nakayama admitted her crime and confessed she was going to use the money for entertainment. Information was unavailable about Ms. Nakayama’s punishment for the crime. Story Sources Title: Kyoto University woman student busted over theft at public bath Author: Date: 11/17/2004 Publication: Mainichi Daily News Publication Location: Japan Publication URL: http://www12.mainichi.co.jp/news/mdn/search-news/922600/password-0-4.html Do you have additional information to contribute regarding this story? If so, please email siteupdates@passwordresearch.com with the details and source.
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