While writing this story down I came across this when I entered the number in Google...so take it for what you want...
Back in the 80's before the internet of today, you had to be wealthy to get a credit card and debit cards did not exist. If you used a CC for a purchase, the company would verify purchases over a certain amount. At 12yo friend and I got stuck behind this when a guy used his CC to buy a BBQ grill. We immediately thought, why can't we call that number until we find one that works. The number was 1 (800) 554-2265 I still have it memorized, as of today it goes to a business. It was an automated process where you entered your company info and then the card and amount. We replicated the process of Ernst Hardware Co. in Seattle (University Village) which they did for any purchase over $50. We would wait for someone with a CC and then get in line behind them buying candy, we were 12yo, until we had the entire process, merchant number, bank code etc. We made many trips because we would go home and get stuck..buy more candy and eventually got it all. We would spend hours trying to find numbers, then most of these were intro cards with a $20 limit that would increase if you signed up or something. After months of us doing this at night since you only had one landline, my friend wrote a program. The computer would call the number, enter Ernst information then 12 numbers of a known CC then start at 0001 and go up. Before school we connected the physical handset of the phone to a modem, started the program and 8 hours later maybe one number would be valid. (part of the movie War Games, which is very similar was filmed in my neighborhood at the same time) Then we could try increasing amounts until it declined or beyond our need. Since statements were mailed monthly, we would use mail order catalogs and order stuff 2-day shipping to an empty house being sold. This was when you actually needed a real estate agent, we rode our BMX bikes a lot for this. There were no names associated like today so we would make one up. The night before we would ride to the house pull the forsale sign out and toss it in the backyard or something and leave a note with the signature of the made up name asking them to put it behind the screen door or on the back patio. 75% success rate. I was bad at placing orders because I sounded my age of 12. They would question me assuming I took my parents card and do some additional verification or who knows. Out of 10, 1 worked so I stopped. My friend sounded older and his older brother even...older. I bought ski movies, watches and paintball guns that were just being sold...did have a vist from the police due to the paintball gun though, but a different story. He first bought paintball stuff, then computer equipment.
My friend grew up in a wealthy, socially active family and was able to hide a lot due to a huge house, parents out at charity events and a nanny/housekeeper who had no control. While he had his own door lock, eventually, he left it open and his mother found vast amounts of computer equipment which he could not explain. Now 18 or close,we had been doing this for 6 years. In addition to what I was doing, I would sell CC info for $50 each to middle school friends, but stopped due to attention. His parents knew he would go to prison if discovered. At this point I'm out of it and away at college, so the remaining is based on a talk years later. They contacted an attorney and eventually reached an agreement with MasterCard and Visa to explain everything in lieu of charges against him. He mentioned they were surprised and did not take it lightly. During the process he never mentioned ever going to a court with a judge, it sounded like CC lawyers and theirs in an office. We ordered stuff from all over the US so this would have been a federal case, but, I do not know the details regarding the police or FBI involvement. He mentioned he was worried about going to jail even with this agreement, so clearly someone was pissed and trying to catch him on something they could charge him with. When I left everything was going smooth, it wasn't until running into him randomly at a party while home for xmas did I get this part of the story. He told me I was never mentioned because of how big it got immediately and I would be pulled in. He said that electronic card readers were being created but this created urgency, he joked about that at the end in the sense of well at least something beneficial happened. I imagine they assumed a statement or two and that would be all. This must have cost his family a fortune in legal fees. I just put his name in google and he has a very impressive resume. Founded a couple companies in the early 2000's, sat on some boards and currently a top executive and a couple rows down in google showed the $6.5M house he just sold.
To those who are going to call bull Sh*it, for one, I'll check back in a week and answer any questions, but, I only found this site because I entered the number while writing this story down for something else, thus, will not be here beyond checking in for questions. While I cannot claim we were the first to do this, due to the 2+ years one (the other took a back seat) of the CC companies spent on this and how serious it was, this could not have been the second time or later because he had a legal agreement so no money was to be gained. A business like a CC company would never put these resources into something with no financial return if it was not something new they needed to understand. In the late 80's when this started, computers were only owned by fat white guys with beards. They must have assumed someone would try to call this number, but, the verification numbers you needed and the amount of time to then find a valid number was probably beyond anything they imagined. It took two 12yo buying candy at a hardware store on their BMX bikes. In the end, I think it was writing a program which used the phone moden where randomly entered numbers for 8hrs a day that they didn't expect. Looking back, how did nobody notice an 8hr phone call back when long distance calls were fairly expensive. In the beginning we were doing this for weeks at a time, until we had more numbers than we needed. We would then just validate them and discover the limit then once the 72 hour hold for the amount expired...order.
. The fastest possible way .