Expired credit cards revived by researchers to make unauthorized payments

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Researchers affiliated with the University of Massachusetts Amherst have found that you can get payments out of certain expired contactless credit cards, a process detailed at the recent USENIX Security 2026 conference. Credit cards, the authors explain in their paper, have expiration dates, but the way these dates get checked and enforced isn’t consistent. Thus, they were able to devise an attack that makes expired contactless cards appear to be valid to payment terminals.

Secret Service cracks down on credit card skimming at gas pumps nationwide

Secret Service cracks down on credit card skimming at gas pumps nationwide The agency recovers about 20 to 30 skimmers a week, with the average skimmer having information from about 80 cards on it, according to one agent. The U.S. Secret Service said it is kicking off the holiday season with a nationwide initiative to crack down on credit card skimming devices installed at gas stations. The operation, called “Operation Deep Impact,” was launched on Thanksgiving Day and is set to coincide with an increased demand for fuel over the holidays.