Card Fraud

[Judge Dredd]

Hi,

I just called my bank to learn that my debit card was recently blocked due to some fraudulent activity.

After some purchases from the Apple App Store and two reputable vaping vendors, there were three declined charges on my card:

Walmart.com - $600
Crystal Hotel - 2x $3.49

I'll name the vendors if I can get some hard evidence pointing to them, but at this time I do not want to make any accusations, and I've already written emails to them in the mean time.

For now, please fill out this form if you've suffered from fraud after purchasing from a vendor:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1rlxmFudpl1SJhtPaes6Fby5WGqRbOcZSU9Lc-vJroJc/viewform

Please note your personal information will NOT be recorded. This is just to collect basic information.

Thanks much!

 

[Ref Minor]

It's bizarre, I have never been on a forum with as many posts about credit card fraud.

Bad luck OP, I hope you don't have too much hassle sorting it out.

 

[Mud Pie]

I've noticed a lot of fraud, also.

It's almost like the vaping community should have a new motto:

"Vape on !! Feel Better !! Get To Know Your Bank's Employees on a First Name Basis !!"

This fraud has gone way beyond ridiculous.

 

[Judge Dredd]

It's not something to do with the forum, but since ECF is the largest of the e-cigarette message boards, it doesn't surprise me that people want to share their experiences with as many people as they can. Unfortunately, the fraud issues are indeed getting out of hand and I'm not quite sure why vendors haven't switched to more reputable and secure payment gateways.

 

[TraceyS]

Just yesterday....must be the same people, mine also was tried at walmart.com.

Tracey

 

[Judge Dredd]

Just yesterday....must be the same people, mine also was tried at walmart.com.

Tracey

Thanks for the info, Tracey. Any attempts at Crystal Hotel or another hotel?

 

[grandmato5]

The vendors haven't switch for two reasons. Many of them don't believe there is a problem related to their processors and for those vendors that do think there could be a link there aren't a lot of options in processors that WILL do business with ecig vendors

There are a lot of other large forums out there for many different hobbies and if the reports by many here involved in them are to be believed none of them seem to be having the same amount of fraud reports as have been reported here in the past few months. Ya I know there is a lot of fraud issues out there and it can come from anywhere but there are a lot of us that are certain our issues these past few months are coming directly from our ecig purchases. Its frustrating that there seems to be a lack of being believed by many of our vendors.

 

[SDave1969]

Madvapes sent me an email saying their system was compromised and that some info was stolen. They immediately canceled all orders placed within the time frame, informed us to watch the cards we used, and took steps to prevent further fraud. Pretty good response from them. I suspect most vendors don't even find out about it.

BTW I had to replace 3 credit cards within a week period last month. But with fraud monitoring, the banks caught it before I could.

 

[wv2win]

There are many of us who have had their card numbers "hacked" in the last 3 months from vaping sites, even ones we've used for several years without a problem. I strongly suspect it is the credit card processing companies these suppliers are using because it is spread over too many different vaping sites. Being small businesses, I suspect they use less than "top tier" CC processing companies. And it's all vaping sites in the US. I have not read of any problems with overseas vaping sites where customer's numbers were stolen.

I have moved to "virtual card numbers" through citi bank so I don't have to worry about it any longer.

FYI: the second time my number was hacked, they also attempted a large buy from Walmart.

 

[godowar]

I began to get nervous reading of all the fraud. So I too have moved to Virtual Credit Card numbers from CITI.

War and Peace,
GoDOWaR

 

[Visus]

I was hacked at a gas station into my debit card once

 

[DaveP]

BofA tells me that the chief method of credit card theft is nothing more than generating a list of numbers and pins using computer programs that match standard sequences and number lengths. Then, they try them down the line until one works. Then they hit it hard until the bank shuts them down through various methods of detection. It's on to the next number after that, and the next, and the next.

Mine was hit 4 times in a few minutes. BofA shut it down and called me. While I was on the phone another one hit and was declined. I got a new card with a new number and haven't given it to an online vendor since. Luckily, I had several hundred milliliters of juice and several packs of heads for my tanks, plus a bagful of cartos.

 

[oxygen thief]

I'm going to prepaid cards or the citi deal. I had an $11 charge on my cc from China. The charge was at a cosmetics store. Luckily I caught this the next day. If a vendor doesn't have https I won't use them. Maybe I can read up on how much cc fraud is out there. Old Soldier has a thread somewhere about online security.
Do not use a debit card ever for one thing.

 

[Smanglish]

Both my credit and my debit card number were used for fraudulent purchases in the past month. In both cases the charges appeared immediately after purchasing from a vapor spot(one online and one B&M). I can't remember all of the charges, but I do know for sure that there was a $900 charge for Walmart.com. This seems to be a common link.

 

[yiddleboge6]

Form what it's worth....pre-paid cards aren't the answer. I personally know of two people who've had the same issues....using pre-paid cards!!

 

[supermarket]

Hi,

I just called my bank to learn that my debit card was recently blocked due to some fraudulent activity.

After some purchases from the Apple App Store and two reputable vaping vendors, there were three declined charges on my card:

Walmart.com - $600
Crystal Hotel - 2x $3.49

I'll name the vendors if I can get some hard evidence pointing to them, but at this time I do not want to make any accusations, and I've already written emails to them in the mean time.

For now, could anyone else who has had their debit and/or credit card used let me know either via post or PM if they had similar charges attempted?

Thanks much!

There is no point to making these threads if you aren't going to list the vendors you recently used.

Also, there are literally 30+ threads since April on ecig/vape related credit card fraud. Just do a search.


Yes, fraud is happening on a MASSIVE scale in the ecig world. The vendors are going to have to do something quick.....before everyone starts going solely to brick and mortar stores...

 

[supermarket]

BofA tells me that the chief method of credit card theft is nothing more than generating a list of numbers and pins using computer programs that match standard sequences and number lengths. Then, they try them down the line until one works. Then they hit it hard until the bank shuts them down through various methods of detection. It's on to the next number after that, and the next, and the next.

Mine was hit 4 times in a few minutes. BofA shut it down and called me. While I was on the phone another one hit and was declined. I got a new card with a new number and haven't given it to an online vendor since. Luckily, I had several hundred milliliters of juice and several packs of heads for my tanks, plus a bagful of cartos.

Bank of America is FULL OF CRAP. That was a common method back in the early to mid 90s......but credit card security these days has made that method almost useless. Now almost everywhere needs the 3 digit security code on the back of the CC. Credit card generators don't generate those.


If Bank of America is telling you BS like that.....it is no wonder why fraud is happening so often.


Credit card generators were NEVER the "main" method. A common method, yea....but not as useful/easy as other methods. Today it is DEFINITELY not a common method.

 

[supermarket]

Form what it's worth....pre-paid cards aren't the answer. I personally know of two people who've had the same issues....using pre-paid cards!!

What are you talking about?

You DO realize the POINT of using pre-paid cards, right?

You ONLY load the amount on the card that you are willing to lose. Say you load $100 on the card. No one is claiming that the $100 is somehow MAGICALLY secure, because it is a pre-paid card.

The POINT of a pre-paid card.....is that if your pre-paid card is stolen, they only have access to the amount you put on the card.

 

[DaveP]

Bank of America is FULL OF CRAP. That was a common method back in the early to mid 90s......but credit card security these days has made that method almost useless. Now almost everywhere needs the 3 digit security code on the back of the CC. Credit card generators don't generate those.


If Bank of America is telling you BS like that.....it is no wonder why fraud is happening so often.


Credit card generators were NEVER the "main" method. A common method, yea....but not as useful/easy as other methods. Today it is DEFINITELY not a common method.

You are probably right. I've thought about what a hassle it would be to generate card numbers and 3 digit pins that match and actually use them on a site manually. You'd seldom find the needle in the haystack and it couldn't be profitable. When I use my card in person I don't have to give the 3 digit number. Some of these crooks must be creating cards and using them in person. My debit card has my picture on it for that reason and I don't use it online.

I'm sticking with the vendors I've used for years and not had problems with. Madvapes and Awesome Vapor are two that I've done CC business with for years without problems. I've ordered from several others lately and suddenly I was hit. I really don't want to name the new ones but it looks like that it will be necessary to find a common thread among people who have been hit. I also think that it's not one or two but a much large number of low security sites that we deal with that are the problem.

 

[TampaToker69]

At least give the vendors names so other users don't encounter this...