Anyone been the victim of credit card fraud recently?

[sluz]

Yesterday, someone apparently used my credit card information to manufacture a counterfeit card and made a charge on it at a Wal-Mart in Las Vegas. It was immediately picked up because it was a brick-and-mortar purchase and I reside in Pennsylvania.

While I charge a great deal, all are with reputable merchants in my local area or large mail order companies (Amazon, etc.).

The only small businesses I deal with are vaping supply companies. I am just curious if anyone else has recently seen fraudulent charges. I am asking if anyone else has had any recent trouble because we might be able to find out if there is a common denominator. I sincerely hope not, but I think it's still worth a try. I'm very curious about this because my credit card is never out of my sight, and only an online business would have my information.

If you have been told your card information was stolen and used to make a counterfeit card, I am especially interested, as it is probably the same operator. Please PM me to avoid public discussion.

 

[sailorman]

Unless you only use your card online, don't assume your card number could've only leaked from an online business.

Your number is no safer, and maybe less so, when you use your card at a B&M.
Nearly every online store has data protection measures in place.
No B&M is too "reputable" to hire a clerk that turns out to be a CC number thief.

Any employee of any B&M could get your number. There are websites where people buy, sell and trade credit card numbers they pick up during their jobs at your local restaurant, gas station, convenience store and high class department store.

Every one assumes that their biggest risk is online. In fact, most CC fraud is started at B&Ms.

 

[Nosha]

Yes mine was about two weeks ago but all the purchases they were making were for stuff online at places like iTunes and netflix witch i never use. The credit card picked up on really quick and locked the account the only way i found out was when i went to make a purchase and it was declined.

 

[sailorman]

Another thing that happens at B&M's but never at online stores is that the B&M sometimes throws copies of your card imprint in the trash. You'd be amazed at how many CC numbers are in that dumpster out behind your favorite department store.

 

[juicejunky]

There have been a few problems over the past few months. Here is one thread for example http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...n-fraud-immediately-after-my-first-order.html .

I haven't used that particular vendor or had a credit card problem, but I think it is important for people to speak out publicly so we can compare notes and stop problems. Many ecig vendors are more ejuice artists or engineers rather that IT security experts, so you have to be aware of the risks. They don't have Amazon levels of security on their sites.

Good thing you were on top of it and caught it. You might want to check into those pay as you go credit cards for shaky shopping. Knock wood, I have been lucky so far with the ECF vendors.

 

[r77r7r]

Yes, mine rejected a $24 Pizza Hut purchase out of Maryland. Card was never used online and my wife and I had ours in our wallets. It was a real card presented and swiped at the pizza store.

We have Mastercards from Citizens Bank.

 

[Bradder]

I got a call a few weeks ago from one of my CC companies to ask if I had just purchased $7,000 worth of computers in India (I hadn't). But they did ask me to check to see if a small charge had been made (under $10) earlier often used by a thief to verify that the CC was valid. From what I understand they used these two pieces of info to track the location of the 3rd party. Hope it works out for you as well.

 

[Nosha]

Unless you only use your card online, don't assume your card number could've only leaked from an online business.

Your number is no safer, and maybe less so, when you use your card at a B&M.
Nearly every online store has data protection measures in place.
No B&M is too "reputable" to hire a clerk that turns out to be a CC number thief.

Any employee of any B&M could get your number. There are websites where people buy, sell and trade credit card numbers they pick up during their jobs at your local restaurant, gas station, convenience store and high class department store.

Every one assumes that their biggest risk is online. In fact, most CC fraud is started at B&Ms.

Mine was from online all i have ever used it for is to buy vaping supplies.

 

[dchest02]

Mine was a couple of weeks ago, now I have a pre-paid card that I use for online purchases only. If someone hijacks my information they can't do anything with it because there usually isn't any money on it.

 

[Nosha]

Good idea to have a prepaid card just wouldn't put a lot on it so if they got the info some how you wouldn't be out much.
Im not really to worried about it because mine has zero liability for fraud .

 

[sluz]

It's true - it could have been a kid at the pizza shop, who traded it online.

I am very concerned about the security of the mom & pop webstores we're dealing with though. Most of their websites are so primitive it would probably be trivial to attack their databases.

Nosha - color me curious. I'd rather not drag people's names out in public, but maybe we should just list all the merchants we've purchased from. I only started vaping last March, so the list is thin, and a few I can eliminate because I didn't use my Discover card:

Vapors4Life
FreedomSmokeUSA
NorthwestVapors
MountainVapor
BlueMist

 

[Forkeh]

I haven't had a problem with MadVapes or any other online vendor. With online purchases, from my understanding, most of the time stolen numbers happen from keyloggers, viruses, and malicious scripts running on the site, that vendors aren't even aware of.

To protect yourself against these things, download and run a reputable antivirus, antimalware, and antispyware (unless you can find a program that does all these things, in that case you only need one. Also, if you run Firefox, you need to add on two programs. Adblocker plus, and Noscript. Keep them running unless you're absolutely have to use a chat function or Javascript.

With B&M stores, it's a bit more difficult. You just have to be careful out there.

 

[Shizzle]

i never believed the stories about this happening due to ecig purchases until two days ago, when it happened to me:

i went to use my bank card and it was declined...luckily, my bank got suspicious after "the diabetes association" (as the thieves called themselves) made two attempts at obtaining a "charitable donation" from my checking account (the first was for $1,500 and the second was for slightly less)...had it happened just days sooner, they would have succeeded, as my entire paycheck gets direct deposited...my bank says i would have been reimbursed, but it wouldn't have been instantly -- in other words, i would've been TOTALLY BROKE until they got it straightened out...now, that's scary.

and, just like the rest who've stated similarly and emphatically: i had made only ONE online purchase with it recently -- **for ecig supplies from a trusted vendor**...and the only place i used my card at a brick & mortar this month was at the grocery store -- and there have been no reports of any credit card fraud happening at that store recently...sure, maybe they wouldn't tell me if they had, but my son's girlfriend definitely would -- as she works there (and she's an honor student, volunteers for habitat for humanity, plays the violin, yadda yadda -- so, no, she's not in on it, lol)...

also, Mr. Shizzle is *super* paranoid about online security, and we have all of the latest, up to date stuff...he also happens to have a degree in comp sci, so i'm fairly certain that we didn't leave ourselves vulnerable on our end...and again, since the vendor is very reputable, he didn't do it, and he and his wife run the entire operation, so no lame employee did it either...

therefore, that leaves one possibility: the vendor's security is lacking. instead of spouting off to him, i'm simply going to do what most others did and get a "virtual" credit card -- one in which i can add the exact amount of funds to when making a purchase, bringing the balance back down to zero each time...problem solved.

oh, and i just thought of one more thing that happened on the very same day, something that has NEVER happened to me before: i received a spam text and two suspicious calls from unknown sources on my cell -- and my cell phone number was listed on my ecig order....coincidence? i think not.

 

[Malduk]

Well guys, vendors should not keep any of your info in their own database. Few tips:
1. Do NOT order from vendors that process card payments themselves, even if its your brothers website. Reason is simple, only big companies can afford somewhat decent online security. Sites usually have a banner/icon/logo of the payment processing software/company. Make sure you check it out before entering your CC numbers.
2. Make sure you're using secure protocol (its marked as https://... in your browser) when entering card details.
3. If possible, do not save CC info on the website. Its not that hard to type down numbers on each purchase.
4. If you're still worried, as other have stated, separate card for online payments works like a charm.

 

[LookMa`NoSmoK]

I use a prepaid card and just put as much money on it for what I want to order.

 

[inter_ceptor00]

Perhaps using a virtual keyboard can help too. no buttons pressed just mouse clicks

 

[Warren D. Lockaby]

All good tips, folks, and I've just begun using several of them myself. Prior to vaping I almost never made online purchases and when I did I held my breath & forged ahead. These days things have changed, and these security tricks are nice to know!

Happy (& secure) Vaping!

 

[FenixFlame]

I'll chime in with my experience, even tho it has nothing to do with vaping. My credit card number was stolen last August and the credit card company informed me that these crooks have started generating random CC numbers until one works and that's how they thought my number had been acquired. Luckily, Discover contacted me with hours to verify the charges since the activity was so out of the ordinary and things were shut down quickly. I thought this was worth mentioning as it's possible that the stolen card numbers had nothing to do with your vaping purchases at all.

 

[Shizzle]

I'll chime in with my experience, even tho it has nothing to do with vaping. My credit card number was stolen last August and the credit card company informed me that these crooks have started generating random CC numbers until one works and that's how they thought my number had been acquired. Luckily, Discover contacted me with hours to verify the charges since the activity was so out of the ordinary and things were shut down quickly. I thought this was worth mentioning as it's possible that the stolen card numbers had nothing to do with your vaping purchases at all.

in my case, the chances of that being true are slim to none...because my cc company also requires a 3 digit security code for all online transactions -- and, the chances of even a computer driven, random number generator getting BOTH the cc number and the security code correct would be close to non-existent.

 

[KABird]

Shizzle - This topic comes up at least once a week, the results are always the same - First you will be the one at fault due to you not employing either good computer safety/security, or someone at a place you purchase from is the problem, But In No Way Can It Be A Vape Supplier, Then it will progress to people offering advice to better protect yourself, followed by more acussing you for being at fault, then someone will name a vape supplier, and finally this thread will get deleted by a Mod to protect the Suppliers Reputation.