NSA Allegedly Spies On International Credit Card Transactions

Germany’s Der Spiegel newspaper –joining the NSA revelations train – reported that the intelligence agency is interested in international credit card transactions and may have found a way to monitor payments processed by companies including Visa. Spiegel alleges it has even set up its own financial database to track money flows.

The paper says that in 2011, the NSA possessed 180 million records via its “Follow the Money” branch dubbed ‘Tracfin’, according to information acquired by former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden. The vast majority of information is from credit card transactions.
[link to i-hls.com]