Credit Card Fraud - TLG COMPHME

[Scott EE]

if we use paypal can we get recurring charges on that? Or do you have to go into your paypal account and accept incoming charges and agree to them? I use paypal every once in a while, but am still not horribly familiar with it....

I believe paypal uses a push pull type system. First you authorize them by signing in and clicking pay now. Then the vendor has to accept that temporary authorization. They don't have the power to pull from any account not previously authorized. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Edit found this on paypal site:

As a merchant, what can I do with an authorization?

Question :
Answer :
You can capture funds, which is a request to process the payment your buyer authorized. If successful, the capture moves funds from your buyer's account to your PayPal account.

You can also reauthorize, which offers you a new honor period for your authorization.

Finally, you can void the authorization, which removes your ability to capture funds on the authorization, and returns PayPal balance funds to the buyer if applicable.

Note: If the capture is performed outside the honor period, there is a possibility the funds will not be available at that time.

 

[Quick1]

I would not be all that worried about vendors directly ripping off your card or selling it to the bad guys than I would be worried about them being hacked. Many (if not all) vendors here are small businesses. Some are working out of their basement. Some do there own "cash register" some use a service. They may not be especially computer savvy or have the resources to be bullet proof against hacking. The services they use may be more or less sophisticated.

 

[M & M]

I use PayPal with the VOB option which cuts down the risk to almost nil.

 

[Quick1]

If you're going to use paypal use your credit card through paypal instead of your bank account. Paypal really sucks at dispute resolution unless it's eBay. If you use your CC you can use their dispute resolution instead of paypal's

 

[DarKm4773r]

Just an FYI, I received a charge on my credit card this morning from '[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]TLG COMPHME[/FONT]' for $14.99 Not a big amount, hardly noticeable...except I have email alerts set up every time my card is hit, so I researched it immediately. If you google this company, it is big time cc fraud. They hit you for small amounts at first, then if it goes unchallenged, they hit you again. Just a head's up for those of you using a credit card for your online charges. I'm not going to speculate on any vendors, etc...but I can tell you this card has only been used to purchase e-cig supplies. The moral of the story....keep an eye on your cc statements.

Cherice, please tell us from whom you've purchased supplies from. That way, we can contact them to let them know that this has been happening, so they can take certain measures in insuring their customers. I don't think badly of any suppliers through this forum(and a few off of the forum).

 

[Woodawg]

And I've used PayPal at many online merchants over the years. I've also used direct card purchases with similar success.

At my recent attempts to purchase from Chineese vendors a verification window opened during checkout requiring bank account info and feeling uncomfortable with that I just cancelled the transaction.

After logging into PayPal directly (not through vendor's site) the verification appeared to be legit but due to a delivery timing issue it created, I was forced to turn to US suppliers.

My concern with this thread is not with the Chineese suppliers but with the handfull of domestic ones where I used direct card purchases.

 

[mn shutterbug]

I've been told that when ordering online via a shopping cart, the merchant never even sees your credit card info. I'm actually in the business, so I'll see what I can find out tomorrow. I have only a couple merchant set up this way.

 

[TheBlueAdept]

I've been told that when ordering online via a shopping cart, the merchant never even sees your credit card info. I'm actually in the business, so I'll see what I can find out tomorrow. I have only a couple merchant set up this way.

As a software engineer / ecommerce web developer, I can tell you there is no single answer to that. There are thousands of shopping cart solutions that a vendor could use, and some of them do in fact allow viewing of any/all card data. My apologies if you meant Paypal specifically; I don't know about them.

As to naming the vendor(s) in this thread, it would be better to inform them privately, rather than to possibly cast doubt on them and impact their business. I know that I would sure appreciate that if I were the vendor!

Just my $0.02

 

[wave42]

Watch your accounts like a hawk! My mom's identity was stolen two years ago by this group:

New York City officials break up international credit card and ID theft scam | Business - cleveland.com - cleveland.com

The Georgia branch somehow got hold of her account number, mother's maiden name and social security number. They were able to do a change of address to California and request a new card. She had a high limit card with no balance so they started making small(ish) charges and paying them off with cash advances from other stolen cards. After several transactions, they started making expensive electronic purchases from Bahrain. They abandoned the card when it hit the limit at 40K. When they didn't get paid, the CC company realized there was something wrong and contacted Mom at the "original" address. To say she was furious would be a bit of an understatement.

 

[Katattack]

I believe I will be buying pre-paid cc's for my purchase just to be safe. The small fee to charge it is worth it IMO.

 

[Spankmeister]

As to naming the vendor(s) in this thread, it would be better to inform them privately, rather than to possibly cast doubt on them and impact their business. I know that I would sure appreciate that if I were the vendor!

Totally agree...if there have been several folks that have been victim of fraud (either successfully or unsuccessfully) and have recently purchased ecig merch, then perhaps via PM or another way we can cross reference whom we have ordered from and then contact vendors directly.

There are 1001 ways to steal information (being an IT guy, I know all too well), and although a vendor (not ecig specific, just a general statment) probably isn't doing this intentionally, it would be good for them if we bring it to their attention without causing a lot of public hoopla...

 

[harpo]

If you're going to use paypal use your credit card through paypal instead of your bank account. Paypal really sucks at dispute resolution unless it's eBay. If you use your CC you can use their
dispute resolution instead of paypal's

I did that once when I didn't receive an item. Paypal claimed in my favor but the other party closed their account right after my purchase. As a result paypal said I can't recover any funds. I disputed it with my CC company and got my money back. Paypal sent me to collections. I'll never use them again.

 

[Quick1]

As a software engineer / ecommerce web developer, I can tell you there is no single answer to that. There are thousands of shopping cart solutions that a vendor could use, and some of them do in fact allow viewing of any/all card data. My apologies if you meant Paypal specifically; I don't know about them.

As to naming the vendor(s) in this thread, it would be better to inform them privately, rather than to possibly cast doubt on them and impact their business. I know that I would sure appreciate that if I were the vendor!

Ding! Even IF it is a vendor here, it's almost certain they have no idea they've been compromised. Informing a bunch of vendors that credit cards are being compromised will probably have little effect. It's not like online security is surprise. They've already decided on their current solution and the fact that one of a whole lot of vendors may have been compromised is not likely to prompt a re-evaluation.

If a number of people have experienced this then you might narrow it down with some commonality. I'd recommend bringing it up with the moderators/site admin here. Maybe everybody who has had fraudulent charges show up could privately submit a list of the vendor's they've dealt with to site admin and they could look for vendors common to everybody's list. Might narrow it down.

 

[Woodawg]

I did that once when I didn't receive an item. Paypal claimed in my favor but the other party closed their account right after my purchase. As a result paypal said I can't recover any funds. I disputed it with my CC company and got my money back. Paypal sent me to collections. I'll never use them again.

I am leaning in your direction now too, PayPal wanted me to verify with my bank account info and then make it the default method of payment thereafter. Thats what made me uncomfortable and caused me to back out and cancel the transaction. Unfortunately the vendor only accepted PayPal and lost the sale as a result.

 

[Quick1]

I am leaning in your direction now too, PayPal wanted me to verify with my bank account info and then make it the default method of payment thereafter. Thats what made me uncomfortable and caused me to back out and cancel the transaction. Unfortunately the vendor only accepted PayPal and lost the sale as a result.

That is pretty lousy of them but not something to be concerned about unless you want to keep your bank account info private. Making you bank account the default just means that you have to click a few times every time to select your CC instead of your default bank account.

By the way, it's not that hard to open up a bank account at one of the online banks. Like Orange or the likes. Then keep a minimal amount of cash in there and use that for all your online transactions.

 

[Poeia]

PayPal and eBay are the same company. They have a policy against e-cigarettes. I searched eBay and "learned" that a personal vaporizer is a prescription item in the United States. That's why PayPal lets PV vendors from other countries use them.

I wish some of the suppliers would set up with Google or Amazon checkout.


ETA: Mine's good. But it's funny. My credit card bill used to be drug store, drug store, drug store (cigarettes). Now, in the 2 weeks since they cut my last invoice, 7 of the 12 charges were to PV suppliers.

 

[Quick1]

PayPal and eBay are the same company.

Yes. eBay bought PayPal not too long ago. That's why paypal does much better when it's an eBay purchase dispute

 

[harpo]

PayPal and eBay are the same company. They have a policy against e-cigarettes. I searched eBay and "learned" that a personal vaporizer is a prescription item in the United States. That's why PayPal lets PV vendors from other countries use them.

I wish some of the suppliers would set up with Google or Amazon checkout.

Jeff from Thagbuilt uses Amazon. He builds the Chuck and sell adapters. I wish more suppliers would offer more payment options.

 

[Poeia]

I know. I ordered one last week.

 

[Cherice]

I have ordered over a thousand dollars in ecig supplies over the last six months. Even though this charge "just" appeared on my card, doesn't mean it was one of my most recent purchases. Therefore I don't want to name vendors that I purchased from. No matter who you bank with, there are safeguards that can be taken. Snoop around your bank's website and see what they offer. It will be a good investment of your time.