Beware!!!!!!

[2nd chance]

True Cherry, I retract the politics part

 

[patkin]

I've read three threads on this crap the last week or so and have to say... what's the point? If members are not going to say where they used their card... what's the point? Are vendor's backs being covered? Members should cover each others back, not vendors. I've spent hours reading and, so far, its boiled down to only one vendor.. possibly two... but recall alien Visions and heard they closed their site for a while. I have things to order and would really appreciate those who have been hit calling a spade a spade.... share the particulars. Not saying where the cards have been used is, most likely, affecting MANY vendors because folks like myself are not going to order anywhere until they get more info. I thought it had more to do with the processing center and, probably, a ring of thieves operating getting the card numbers. I'm also worried about identity theft frankly having nearly been a victim of that and my daughter having been. All it takes is three identifiers for online purchase and all that info has been given to the vendor's site and on to the processing center.

I'm so sorry for those who've been hit and hope this settles down or I won't be buying vape supplies online anymore. This is already bad but could be worse... check your credit report to see if your identity has also been stolen and, if using a small bank debit card, make sure the bank hasn't linked your card to a larger one for overdraft protection. In case anyone reads what I've said wrong, I'm not saying the vendor stole info... nope... but they're using a processing center that did... same thing in my book... I'm still at risk buying from them.

 

[Wizzlefits]

We had one of our CC numbers stolen. Come to find out, the merchant was using a processing company that used prison inmates to process the transactions.
Never found out who the merchant was.

The pre-paid cards are a VERY good idea!

 

[JMarca]

I've read three threads on this crap the last week or so and have to say... what's the point? If members are not going to say where they used their card... what's the point? Are vendor's backs being covered? Members should cover each others back, not vendors. I've spent hours reading and, so far, its boiled down to only one vendor.. possibly two... but recall Alien Visions and heard they closed their site for a while. I have things to order and would really appreciate those who have been hit calling a spade a spade.... share the particulars. Not saying where the cards have been used is, most likely, affecting MANY vendors because folks like myself are not going to order anywhere until they get more info. I thought it had more to do with the processing center and, probably, a ring of thieves operating getting the card numbers. I'm also worried about identity theft frankly having nearly been a victim of that and my daughter having been. All it takes is three identifiers for online purchase and all that info has been given to the vendor's site and on to the processing center.

I'm so sorry for those who've been hit and hope this settles down or I won't be buying vape supplies online anymore. This is already bad but could be worse... check your credit report to see if your identity has also been stolen and, if using a small bank debit card, make sure the bank hasn't linked your card to a larger one for overdraft protection. In case anyone reads what I've said wrong, I'm not saying the vendor stole info... nope... but they're using a processing center that did... same thing in my bood... I'm still at risk buying from them.

A search here on ECF would easily give you a vendor name, I don't want to break any rules or give the vendor a bad name but even said vendor has a message on their site saying they are investigating the problem. Here is a quote from their site:

We will be staying closed over the next few days as we address a payment vulnerability in our system. We were able to address the issue speedily thanks to our customers getting the word out. We've been able to find the intrusion, eliminate the remnants, and protect against similar intrusions.

To our knowledge the chaos that followed has resulted in the normal hassles of suspicious charges and little else. Luckily the credit system in place has protections for disruptions and losses of this kind.

However, we will remain closed for awhile longer as we look for other avenues of access. We would be silly to think there are concrete protections against this type of hacking and disruption. What we can do now is to do our best to create hassles and eliminate the incentive for future attempts.

They use Authorize.net and if you go to other sites who also use that service you'll notice a pattern. = )

 

[stefania123]

I only use prepaid cards online 'just in case'.

 

[patkin]

Again I completely disagree, the standard for most e-commerce use is for the most part the same - only transmits a series of encrypted packets which are completely useless to hackers because it cannot be decrypted until it reaches the gateway on the other end (the cc processor) who has another encrypted code on their site with a vendor ID, it's only then when you put two and two together that you can even make use of anything that was sent.

I mean you could be a complete ..... and send un-encrypted packets across the internet or store CC information on the local server in plain text or a low grade encryption but no reputable company I've come across has done that. Either way hackers and trust me I see alot of them at work don't go after small vendors because it's not worth their time, organized hackers go after major CC processors where they can steal tens of thousands of CCs at a time.

This wasn't political learn to read a little better, this is just a list of high value targets that have gone above and beyond to secure their intellectual property, have above average security standards, yet still have been hacked.

I don't know... good point but so many types of cards have been hit. Some were even the bought kind but it wasn't stated if Mastercard or Visa, etc. That kind of info would be helpful to members also but usually isn't given. Even those using shop safe have been hit. I do find it unlikely that all these companies processors could have been hit at once... there's a rash of this but, from those kind enough to name the vendors, only at certain ones.

 

[JMarca]

I don't know... good point but so many types of cards have been hit. Some were even the bought kind but it wasn't stated if Mastercard or Visa, etc. That kind of info would be helpful to members also but usually isn't given. Even those using shop safe have been hit. I do find it unlikely that all these companies processors could have been hit at once... there's a rash of this but, from those kind enough to name the vendors, only at certain ones.

Well the type of card doesn't really matter, I mean take Authorize for example they accept various cards not just Visa and Mastercard, now I'm not saying that all effected came from the same intrusion. Hackers work day and night 24/7 and attack many many different sources. Is it possible that more than one hack happened and various vendors got hit? Of course, it's even possible they've been hit and don't know it yet, or even may never know it unless a big enough group of people start noticing a problem. Hackers won't stand up and say look at me I just hacked you, it's in their best interest not to overuse the exploit if they plan to bleed it slowly rather than to just take all the numbers and try to sell them asap.

 

[tA71ana]

We had one of our CC numbers stolen. Come to find out, the merchant was using a processing company that used prison inmates to process the transactions.

Say what...

 

[Butters78]

We had one of our CC numbers stolen. Come to find out, the merchant was using a processing company that used prison inmates to process the transactions.
Never found out who the merchant was.

The pre-paid cards are a VERY good idea!

I knew O'Reilly had something to do with this.

 

[Wizzlefits]

Say what...

Sorry, can't repeat what I said when the bank called & let us know what was going on.

 

[cherrycakes]

We had one of our CC numbers stolen. Come to find out, the merchant was using a processing company that used prison inmates to process the transactions.
Never found out who the merchant was.

The pre-paid cards are a VERY good idea!

Yea that won't have bad consequences like EVER

0.o

 

[SissySpike]

Here is a very simple solution. Open an account for on line purchases. Keep only 50 dollars in it. just add only the amount to it when you make a purchase. Then if they get you it wont be a big deal. You can stand to wait a few days for a new card for you online account. If if get froze ect... still no big loss.

 

[TheSneakerHoarder]

PRE-PAID
PRE-PAID
PRE-PAID

Just do it...Online vendors (especially small ones) have many security issues--most vaping websites are very small online vendors considering the scope of the internet. Just buy a pre-paid card and be done with it. Since I went pre-paid (had fraudulent charges after purchasing e-cig stuff with my now closed bank account) I've had ZERO issues with theft--there is nothing to steal.