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Ron Paul Campaign Supporters Possibly Stealing Credit Card Numbers to Boost Fundraising???

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Proof has surfaced that the Ron Paul campaign received monies from people resorting to some unscrupulous donation tactics - in short, credit card theft.

According to Jaye Ruffino, a political contributor, identity thieves tried to run a test charge on her account and it was frozen.

“I told them this doesn’t make any sense, because this isn’t a credit card, it’s a check card, and I’ve got plenty of money in there, so what’s the problem?” Ruffino said.

A customer service representative for her bank informed her of a suspicious charge.

The bank representative explained that someone by the name of Ron Paul has been trying to take $5 out of the aforementioned account.

As it turns out, currently unidentified credit card thieves used Ruffino’s card to run a test charge, with the money allegedly going to the Ron Paul presidential campaign fund.

Identity theft usually works this way: Thieves gather up stolen credit card numbers online and run the test charges to see which numbers will work. If the charge goes through, they know they have an active card. Later, the hit the card for more money. It appears that is what happened here.

Representatives for the Ron Paul campaign said they have discovered more than a dozen mysterious $5 contributions in the past three days and said they’re working with banks to return the money.

A representative for the Texas Attorney General’s Office on Friday said these crimes are rarely prosecuted, because by the time thieves are tracked down, they’re often in other counties, and the Web sites are shut down.

We know that there have been campaign contribution improprieties in other campaigns, but those incidents usually involved one large donor. This situation suggests that the Ron Paul campaign cannot be trusted with credit card security or donations from small donors, and appears to be the first time this issue has come up in any political campaign among any of the current presidential candidates.

In the mean time, you may want to think twice before giving your credit card information to the Ron Paul campaign.

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Posted by Matthew J. Podoba on Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 10:46 am.

51 Responses to “Ron Paul Campaign Supporters Possibly Stealing Credit Card Numbers to Boost Fundraising???”

[…] post by Matthew J. Podoba This was written by . Posted on Monday, November 5, 2007, at 9:46 am. Filed under Politics. […]

Left by Ron Paul Campaign Possibly Stealing Credit Card Numbers to Boost … | Political news - democrats republicans socialists greens liberals conservatives on November 5th, 2007

“a dozen mysterious $5″

So, like $60.00 total?
Andd it was used by theives at the Paul site to test the cards, not abything done by the campaign itself, why should that make anyone “think twice before giving your credit card information to the Ron Paul campaign”? that doesn’t make sense…

Left by miranda on November 5th, 2007

hahahahahahahaha

Left by Matt Letten on November 5th, 2007

So… bogus test charges were detected *by the Ron Paul campaign* and this is a reason not to trust them? I realize you guys have some pretty stark political differences with Paul, but now you’re being silly.
For what it’s worth, I expect an unscrupulous campaign would do what Lyndon Larouche did: as soon as someone submits a credit card donation (whatever amount), just falsify the amount to something much larger. I believe that this is what they eventually sent him to the federal pen for.

Left by bbartlog on November 5th, 2007

12 * 5 = 60. Thats right, sixty dollars. Your gonna have to do better than that, Paul has raised over a million dollars just today, and from voluntary donations.

Remember, remember the fifth of November!

Left by jmklein on November 5th, 2007

Is this post meant to be funny? The first sentence is a complete lie.

Left by Curtis on November 5th, 2007

To Ron Paul Internet Zeolots,

Just reporting what’s going on out there. The Ron Paul campaign discovered the I.D. theft. I’m merely asking if it is possible that people are getting set-up for larger theft and if anyone close to the Ron Paul campaign or his supporters are responsible?

Left by Matthew J. Podoba on November 5th, 2007

I can’t believe I just wasted 53 seconds of my life reading this.

Left by Philly Dave on November 5th, 2007

Matt Letten…

hahahahahahahaha

jmklein…

Are there candidates raising involuntary donations as opposed to voluntary donations?

Curtis…

Never seen a sensational headline before? I remember seeing a headline not long ago that said “Mission accomplished”…

Left by MJ "revoltingpawn" on November 5th, 2007

I guess someone stole a lot of those credit cards today, 2 million raised so far…

Remember, Remember, the 5th of November.

Left by Jason on November 5th, 2007

You state that “The Ron Paul campaign said they have discovered more than a dozen mysterious $5 contributions in the past three days”. Yet your title is a rather blunt accusation that the Ron Paul campaign are the ones stealing people’s credit cards.

Why mislead, Matthew?

It is clearly someone outside the Ron Paul campaign doing this to get him bad press. Only the neocons are dim witted enough to buy into junk articles and poor logic like this sorry attempt.

Seriously, Mission Accomplished!

Time to change America and vote for Ron Paul. We can be a great nation again. Other countries are watching this closely. Ron Paul has world wide support. I know our media has dumbed Americans down to humiliating levels but we can change our path and restore America.

Love to watch Ron Paul’s ticker today! His donations are coming in fast and furious. People are waking up to the revolution. I guess he did not need that $60.00 in stolen money after all…?

Left by VAT on November 5th, 2007

To Matthew J. Podoba…….no you’re not “merely asking” anything. You’re making an accusation of fraud but sliming out of it by putting a question mark at the end. This is sleazy even for someone at a craphole website like this.

Left by kmr on November 5th, 2007

Great link to a better article that addresses this issue
http://www.gambling911.com/Ron-Paul-110507.html

Left by VAT on November 5th, 2007

VAT

Who is “misleading” anyone? I merely digested a story from the net and asked a relevent question. Only someone inside or very close to Ron Paul’s campaign could supply these numbers. A donor contributed and then her number was stolen. That seems quite fantastic don’t you think? By the way, I don’t care if it’s $1.00, it is illegal and sends the wrong message. A political contributor’s credit card number was stolen…A CONTRIBUTOR! Funny how she contributed and then her number got swiped?

Left by Matthew J. Podoba on November 5th, 2007

You’re trying to provoke them, aren’t you?

I’m not a Paul supporter — in fact, I’m rather a critic of him — but the truth of that story is that ID thieves were using the Paul web site to check their cards … and it was the Ron Paul campaign that found the problem and reported it.

I’m certainly no criminal mastermind, but I’m pretty sure that “Don’t report yourself” is somewhere is the top ten tips on how to commit crime effectively.

http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=7305398

The story has a pretty shameless headline, but even the first sentence says that this is increasingly common, and what it leaves out is that probably every Presidential campaign with any money has been used.

I’m guessing that you knew this, and deliberately wanted to stir up the hornets’ nest by taking a shot at Ron Paul.

Especially since you left out the first line of the article when you snagged it from FR.

Sigh … at least we’re keeping the conversation at a respectful and respectable level, right?

Left by wickle on November 5th, 2007

Your title was misleading. If you can not understand that then perhaps you should rethink blogging? It is a simple concept.

You clearly do not understand credit card theft, either. It does not have to be ran from someone from inside the campaign. Please, read about credit card theft and what a “test charge” is. Educate yourself before you pass on flawed information.