Short takes on payments

Following are two items The Green Sheet found compelling today. For more of the latest news, see News From The Wire on the left-hand side of this page.

Industry shows heart with holiday giving

Generosity is a hallmark of many in the payments industry. Charitable giving is very much a part of the holiday season this year, as many companies are reaching out to help those less fortunate.

Here are just a few of the charitable contributions we've learned of this month:

• Fifth Third Bank ISO Certified Payment Processing teamed with Metrocrest Social Services in Dallas to donate 700 lbs. of food and $1,400 in a holiday food drive to help local families.

• Chosen Payments, a Wells Fargo Bank N.A. ISO, partnered with the Ventura County, Calif., Children's Services Auxiliary through the Spark of Love program to host a holiday storefront where parents and foster parents can shop for toys for their children. The event helped 65 Ventura County parents acquire gifts for approximately 325 children.

• Atlanta prepaid company InComm delivered five gifts of $1,000 Vanilla Visa Gift Cards to the winners of its A Million Options sweepstakes.

Robbing hoods giving

Hackers claiming affiliation with the collective known as Anonymous broke into the website of Stratfor Global Intelligence Service recently, making off with 4,000 client names, emails and credit card details, which were posted online. In an online post Anonymous claimed it stole information on more than 90,000 credit card accounts.

The hackers have been using the information from Stratfor to steal money from Stratfor client accounts for donation to charity. Anonymous said in a Twitter message it intends to steal up to $1 million to donate to charity, and it will launch more, similar attacks this week. The New York Times reported Stratfor clients include Bank of America Corp., the U.S. Department of Defense, Doctors Without Borders, Lockheed Martin Corp., Los Alamos National Laboratory and the United Nations.

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