More CC fraud

[optsmk]

So, I guess I am the latest victim of the CC fraud going around with the e-cig stores. At this point I don't want to say who the possible vendor is until I figure out how this happened.

Here is my story.

A couple weeks ago I ordered products from two different vendors with the same CC. When I created account on one of the sites i used my email address with a .com at the end of my domain name. I realized this was wrong because my domain name ends in .net so the next day I changed to the correct .net domain, but this was after I had already placed the order. After that I figured it was no big deal because a few days later I got all the stuff that I ordered and all was good. The site in question uses a 2048 bit key to encrypt the transaction so I doubt that my info was stolen over the Internet.

So a couple days ago I get a call from my bank saying that there may be some fraudulent activity going on with my account. I asked the person to tell me what the charges were. They were some hotel reservations, and a few other charges that totaled a couple hundred dollars. The good news is that they told me they would refund any charges after I send in the form they are sending to me.

Then yesterday my office called me and told me that they got an email from a guy that has the same domain name as us except his ends with .com instead of .net. Apparently the emails he received were confirmation emails for all the stuff that was charged to my card. I just sent him an email to forward all those emails to me. Hopefully he will do that for me so I'll have a little more information on what the heck happened here.

So, my question is this. Is it really the vendors that are stealing our CC information and using it? Or is it the billing companies that they use to charge our CC's that is stealing the information? Since PayPal will no longer allow the vendors to charge us, it seems like they were doing a mad scramble to find other companies that to CC billing like PayPal. I have never heard of some of the billing companies that the vendors are using. I personally use PayPal For all of my online billing that I do for my clients because I know that they are a reputable company, but are the other ones just as good or are they a bunch of thieves? I know which vendor the problem started with, but I can't say for sure if it is them that did it or the CC billing company.

Anyway, hopefully I will get to the bottom of this soon and figure out what happened. At least I will know what vendor it got stolen from.

 

[CaSHMeRe]

We use Authorize.net, as do probably 75%+ of other PV vendors. Authorize.net is one of the largest gateways on the net, and one of the most respected. When someone purchases something with a CC, we - even as the vendor - don't see the CC info. We see the last 4 digits and the card make, and that's it.

What I recommend -- Keep 1 card you strictly use for internet purchases ... This way, if something happens or the card itself gets compromised, you can quickly shut it down -- allowing your CC company to investigate and eventually credit the charges back to you. In the mean time, assuming you still have seperate cards you use locally for every day purchases, you can continue to go about your daily business

Personally, I have 1 CC used for everything internet (even for my business) Neither the personal or business card is hooked to any type of bank account, they are strictly credit. Joanna and I went through fraudulent activity last year with Wells Fargo, except the fact that they had CC #'s that hadn't been used literally, in 5-6 years. Both Wells Fargo and us were mystified ... We think it was some sort of inside job, but who knows.

Good Luck!

 

[5cardstud]

Have you ever bought anything in the classifieds? I think it will be narrowed down soon. On mine the companies they bought from refunded my money.

 

[optsmk]

We use Authorize.net, as do probably 75%+ of other PV vendors. Authorize.net is one of the largest gateways on the net, and one of the most respected. When someone purchases something with a CC, we - even as the vendor - don't see the CC info. We see the last 4 digits and the card make, and that's it.

It's the same way with Paypal. I only see the last four digits of the CC, thats why I think it's the CC billing comapny that is doing this. I don't know what comapny my vendor is using though. I will have to find that out.

What I recommend -- Keep 1 card you strictly use for internet purchases ... This way, if something happens or the card itself gets compromised, you can quickly shut it down -- allowing your CC company to investigate and eventually credit the charges back to you. In the mean time, assuming you still have seperate cards you use locally for every day purchases, you can continue to go about your daily business

Thats a great idea, and I think I will start doing that. I think I will also make a bunch of different email addresses as well and use one for each vendor. That way if this happens again, I will know what vendor it is that is having the problem. Thankfully the guy in Florida that got all the confirmation emails let us know he got them. If it was not for him, I probably would never be able to say for sure where the problem started.

 

[optsmk]

Have you ever bought anything in the classifieds? I think it will be narrowed down soon. On mine the companies they bought from refunded my money.

I have never ordered anything from the classifieds. I know which vendor it is because of the email address mix up.

 

[5cardstud]

It's the same way with Paypal. I only see the last four digits of the CC, thats why I think it's the CC billing comapny that is doing this. I don't know what comapny my vendor is using though. I will have to find that out.



Thats a great idea, and I think I will start doing that. I think I will also make a bunch of different email addresses as well and use one for each vendor. That way if this happens again, I will know what vendor it is that is having the problem. Thankfully the guy in Florida that got all the confirmation emails let us know he got them. If it was not for him, I probably would never be able to say for sure where the problem started.

I just opened a seperate account for online purchases. If there is no money in it then nothing will post. I move money to it when I want to purchase online.

 

[optsmk]

I just opened a seperate account for online purchases. If there is no money in it then nothing will post. I move money to it when I want to purchase online.

Thats what I am going to do from now on as well as making different email accounts for each vendor I buy from. Hell Im so paraniod now, I think I'll make a new email address for everyone I purchase from online.

It's kind of funny, because when the bank first called me, I though my CC # was stolen by an employee at a loca Pizza place in my town. I had ordered a pizza from them and gave them my CC # over the phone. I did feel a little weird giving my card number over the phone, but its a place that I go to a lot and didn't even think twice about giving them my card number. Now that I know there were confirmation emails sent to the wrong email address that I had given my vendor, I'm pretty sure that It originated there.

 

[Bageone]

How do you get a virtual debit card? All this fraud lately is making me real nervous!

 

[optsmk]

I am not sure how to ger one yet. You may only be able to get one on a CC and not a debit card, but I could be wrong.

 

[D4rk50ul]

I'm kind of tired of people saying I know who it is, but I can't say. That is just creating a panic attack for ordering things. In my opinion CC fraud is above forum rules, it is possibly life ruining. If people know which site it was they need to warn other users, that is the point of a place like this. We warn of bad PV's on the market to save people money, but we can't warn people of a possible thief because they might be linked to the forums?

 

[spider362]

How do you get a virtual debit card? All this fraud lately is making me real nervous!

My CC company (FIA) offers a feature called "ShopSafe" which lets me create a new virtual CC number. I can set an upper limit (the amount of the purchase + a bit over, for example) and an expiration date (default is 2 months, but you can set it for as much as 12). Once the number is used it's "locked" to that vendor and will not be accepted anywhere else.
Also, if someone tries to use it (even at the same vendor) and their purchase exceeds the amount left over on the card, it is refused.
After the expiration date the card is useless to everyone, even me.

I always create a new number for each order I place.

If your card is from CITI, go to their website, your account, and look under "Tools" for how to create your own virtual CC number.

 

[cyberwolf]

I am curious how you narrowed it down to one of two vendors. I have had my card compromised in the past and the bank narrowed it down to a gas station. No internet transactions involved.

 

[Sandi Penn]

i just purchase thru e-commerce. i dont know if its safer than using cc. but i feel safer

 

[spider362]

I've read that you can buy these CC or Debit cards at places like Walmart, but the extra fees can be as much as $10 or more.

I'll just stay with the free one from my CC company.

 

[Quick1]

In my opinion CC fraud is above forum rules, it is possibly life ruining.

"life ruining"? Isn't that a bit dramatic? We're talking about CC fraud, not identity theft.

 

[flbutterfly1]

when you live paycheck to paycheck and your monthly bills bounce because of fraud then it is life ruining especially sitting and waiting for the bank to determine it is fraud before crediting the money back to you meaanwhile your kids have no food bacause that was the weekly grocery budget it is life ruining.

 

[Quick1]

when you live paycheck to paycheck and your monthly bills bounce because of fraud then it is life ruining especially sitting and waiting for the bank to determine it is fraud before crediting the money back to you meaanwhile your kids have no food bacause that was the weekly grocery budget it is life ruining.

all this on your maxed out credit card?...

 

[optsmk]

I am curious how you narrowed it down to one of two vendors. I have had my card compromised in the past and the bank narrowed it down to a gas station. No internet transactions involved.

I have only purchased stuff from two vendors in the last few weeks. And one of them I accidentally created an account with the wrong email address. I corrected my email address, but it was not until after I placed the order with them.
Lucky for me, the guy that owns that domain name I had entered for me new account emailed me and sent me all the email that he got. He even had the original confimation for my order from them along with all the fraudulant email confirmations.

 

[BlueMoods]

I purchased gas at a station I don't normally use about three months ago and 2 days later got hit for over 500.00 in various online products. Mind you this was me slide card and enter pin number, the card never left my hand and I still got ripped. Oddly I have never had it happen via an online purchase, just Kucho Truck Center in Hooks, Texas, whom I promised I would mention for such whenever I could.

Lucily the online vendors were understanding, stopped the orders, none of which went to my address and, promtly refunded my money. I did turn the card off and have my bank issue a new on which took all of 3 days but, i was ready for it and already had fraud alerts with the reporting agencies so, it was cleaned up in a matter of days- be ready BEFORE it happens, it saves headaches and time when it does happen. In the mondern world it isn't if it happens, it WHEN it happens.

 

[Quick1]

I purchased gas at a station I don't normally use about three months ago and 2 days later got hit for over 500.00 in various online products. Mind you this was me slide card and enter pin number, the card never left my hand and I still got ripped. Oddly I have never had it happen via an online purchase, just Kucho Truck Center in Hooks, Texas, whom I promised I would mention for such whenever I could.

Might not have been anyone at Kucho Truck Center... That sounds like one of those readers. Extremely thin, goes in the real card reader slot. You swipe your card, it stores your info, it passes the info through to the real card reader slot as if a card was passed through it like normal. They figure you're local (zip code) and they don't need your pin for online purchases. something like that. They found one of those at a gas station around here.