Another Credit Card fraud case

[Cinjay]

I have just returned from my bank to try to clear up 2 1/2 pages of charges that tried to go through on my debit card. Luckily only 5 posted, but that was 5 too many. I believe I know where it started from and all I am going to say is PLEASE beware of personal sales in the classified section! I have been only dealing with vendors in the US and that are part of this forum and have had great success. This all started right after a private sale. I guess I am going to take the advise of the wiser on here and go purchase a credit card to be used only for my e-cig supplies. I thought I was going to be one of the lucky ones that wasn't going to get hit, but I guess we are all victims at one time or another!

 

[Godzilla]

Thanks for posting this. It would be so nice to find the breach for this entire Forum.

 

[Cinjay]

Oh I am gonna do everything I can to find out who did this. I am working with the bank to pin point it!

 

[AngusATAT]

I didn't know that members took credit card payments in the classifieds. Was this a PayPal transaction?

 

[Cinjay]

Yes and it was attached to my bank account.

 

[AngusATAT]

Unless the member in question had an online store that you bought from... I am having trouble seeing how they could be responsible. Maybe someone else could shed some light on it.

 

[salemgold]

Unless the member in question had an online store that you bought from... I am having trouble seeing how they could be responsible. Maybe someone else could shed some light on it.

I am interested to know too. i just made a purchase from the classifieds using paypal. I think that I will stay out of the classifieds for awhile!

 

[AngusATAT]

I am interested to know too. i just made a purchase from the classifieds using paypal. I think that I will stay out of the classifieds for awhile!

I think it's a bit early to be jumping the gun in such a manner. It very well could be coincidence. My wife's card got hit very recently. We had to close it and request a new card for her. We've never used that card for buying anything e-cig related.

And after talking to my bank, even refraining from buying ANYTHING online can't protect you from this. It is becoming a widespread problem, and it's not just e-cig users getting hit.

 

[Cinjay]

In the past two and a half months I have only purchased from the suppliers on this site and basically all in the US. The only other purchase made was through the classifieds. I have only done two purchases through paypal in the classifieds. One was done about two weeks ago and that went through fine. I am not saying for sure that the second one was the one, my bank is investigating it, but that was the only other purchase I made outside of vendor purchases. And believe me I have been buying like crazy....two to three packages a week!!!!

 

[SimpleSins]

For what it's worth, when it happened to me, my bank told me it was likely unrelated to my purchases. They felt that it was just the increasingly sophisticated thieves with a number generator and it just happened to generate my numbers. Fortunately, a $2 charge to a landscaping company triggered a fraud alert, and although the card cancelling they automatically did was inconvenient, they allowed nothing through that shouldn't have gone through (they looked at my patterns to determine this).

 

[Cinjay]

I don't want to jump the gun either and as soon as I get the info from the bank, I will only post to a moderator to give the info I get. I would never put the name out there like that. I just want people to be very careful. I was hoping not to get hit, but I did and I am just trying to save others from this mess!

 

[Cinjay]

SimpleSins...I have 44 charges, 5 got through. We could see where it started from. Mine were not $2 charges. Mine were $800. charges.

 

[kgeiger002]

Just happened to me about a month ago. I think this is more related to spyware on one's computer than specific to any one person/supplier etc... We all need to be extra cautious these days when making purchases online. The malicious technology is getting more sophisticated each day.

 

[kpax]

I have been using paypal for years. It's the safest way to pay online. No one has access to your bankacct # but paypal. That is the whole point of using it (?)

 

[jmanning]

I also had a single fraudulent charge submitted to my bank account yesterday, for $79.85. I immediately called my bank and that card is now disabled. The only online transactions I have made in the last several months were purchases of vaping supplies. Some of the vendors I have purchased from do not seem to be listed in the forum vendors but are widely referenced on the forum.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

I have been using paypal for years. It's the safest way to pay online. No one has access to your bankacct # but paypal. That is the whole point of using it (?)

Exactly. Whoever receives the money does not get your bank account details or credit card number, that stays with Paypal.

 

[kpax]

I also had a single fraudulent charge submitted to my bank account yesterday, for $79.85. I immediately called my bank and that card is now disabled. The only online transactions I have made in the last several months were purchases of vaping supplies. Some of the vendors I have purchased from do not seem to be listed in the forum vendors but are widely referenced on the forum.

Did you pay with a debit card directly? (Not paypal) That can be scary. I only use my debit card online with verified merchants or not at all. Usually it goes through an encrypted service so no one see it. I prefer to use CC for all transactions. Sorry to hear that.

 

[jmanning]

Unfortunately, not all vendors accept PayPal. I think what I will do is open another account at my bank to only be used for online purchases. I can transfer only enough for the purchase I am about to make into the account very easily online. That way any other charges will simply be declined.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

You can also get prepaid cards which I think are good for small online purchases etc. For example Prepaid Cards | About Our Cards | Personal Cards | MasterCard®

 

[kpax]

Paypal has it's own debit card (check their site) It has the Visa/MC logo and you use it just like a CC ANYWHERE online. If you carry a balance (say if you sell on ebay or people send you money) once you go over that it will debit your Visa, Discover or bank acct (whatever you choose)

If you don't sell online you can apply for a paypal credit card. Makes it really easy to keep track of transactions. Hope this helps