There was a report on this on NPR last week. It was billed as "the first attempted Internet extortion scheme", as the hacker was trying to extort money from cdUniverse in order to not publish the stolen credit card numbers. The hacker published the credit card info, including the cardholder name, card number, expiration date and billing address on his/her site - in short, everything a dishonest person would need to charge items illegally to someone else's card.

NPR reported that if you suspect your card has been used illegally, notify your credit card company to cancel the card. At least in the USA, your liability is limited to $50.

I've always wondered how illegal use of someone's card number could possibly work - if you're ordering something over the Internet or by phone, you have to give a shipping address for the goods, and that can be used to trace the illegal purchase. What's the point? Or do I just not have a devious enough criminal mind?