My thanks to Mookie and my BVB (best vaping buddy) Jackie for passing this info along to me. Got a prepaid card today!!
Hugs to everyone!!
Credit Card Fraud
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My thanks to Mookie and my BVB (best vaping buddy) Jackie for passing this info along to me. Got a prepaid card today!!
Hugs to everyone!!
I also was hit. Never did I once think to look to ECF for threads on it tho! This surprised me. Like you, nv, I should technically be wearing quite the posh European outfits at this point, since I was also charged in the area of $1500. for some UK purchases.
Happy Vapes and off to check out Shop Safe. GREAT idea!
Well, add me to the list of hacked credit cards. They made a test purchase at some hotel in California on 6/8, then two other small charges 0n 6/14. Visa called because they caught the smaller charges on 6/14, but their alert system had missed the larger charge on the 8th. Real PIA since now I have to get hold of several bills that are paid from this card monthly.
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i think we should do our part to keep this bumped tothe top every day so peopel can help each other
I agree that it's important, but it might be better to see if it can be stickied. Bumping every day will eventually have thousands of posts, that only say "bump".
I work in the Visa fraud department of a large credit union. Let me know if you have any specific questions.
How about telling us how you personally handle your credit cards to lower risk?
since this has started happening, I go to my CC website. there is an option to get a "virtual: CC # I can set how much it will be for and/or how long it is valid. not hard at all ... obviously the virtual number charges gets charged to my regular CC#
So far I've been lucky. I rarely use Credit Cards for online purchases of vaping stuff but i do use my debit card for that VERY frequently. So far, no problems. I do keep a VERY close eye on my bank account, though. That way, if there is a charge, I'll notice it right away. I check daily.........................
Most folk here do not check the stickies daily. I say let the crime rate and frequency dictate the awareness level! Just my $.02 FRN...
Good point Iffy, I know that I don't re-check them often, myself. Stickies are good to keep something from being buried months later.
This really isn't so much of a vaping thing, as just a "part of doing business online" thing, really.
This really isn't so much of a vaping thing, as just a "part of doing business online" thing, really.
Ummm... no 'puter whiz here, but I have read that the o-s method can still be 'captured'. Any 'xperts out dere?
I only got the free version, but my anti-virus program, if upgraded, has a "sandbox" with it for online purchases.
Chalk up another that got their account hacked. The bank caught it within minutues of it happening - amazing. They shut the account down over a suspicious $33 charge to a doctor in TN. And they contacted me. I suspect that doctor in TN was charging up a storm to many accounts.
The bank said that I did business with someone whose merchant account was compromised, and they were aware of the compromise and had been watching the compromised accounts. That is really great, actually. I wish I would have been notified about the compromise, and they did not tell me who it was. But I set up a separate account now for online purchases that is not tied to my debit acct. I will keep a small amount of funds in it.
About a year ago my paypal account was hacked. I caught it early with several small charges going to the Philippines, and Paypal restored the money. Nothing is 100% safe.
Be aware out there!
The bank said that I did business with someone whose merchant account was compromised, and they were aware of the compromise and had been watching the compromised accounts. That is really great, actually. I wish I would have been notified about the compromise, and they did not tell me who it was. But I set up a separate account now for online purchases that is not tied to my debit acct. I will keep a small amount of funds in it.
About a year ago my paypal account was hacked. I caught it early with several small charges going to the Philippines, and Paypal restored the money. Nothing is 100% safe.
Be aware out there!
This ^^^ I work with computer security, and as mentioned earlier in the thread, I am very confident my personal PCs and network are safe. If we do business with some place that has been cracked, it doesn't make any difference how safe our stuff is. It doesn't have to be the mom and pop vaping shop themselves that got cracked. There are a zillion online credit card processors. Even though they do SSL online, if their backend database gets cracked, there could be all of their customers' info right there. SSL means the transmission is encrypted, and cannot be (easily) intercepted en-route. If their backend stuff is broke, that's just as bad or worse.
I do have to put in a plug for Crystal Clear Vaping, they encourage the use of money orders, and have great 15-pack deals on cartos. No affiliation, just a happy customer.
Join the club. Every since I ordered from a few vendors who use this forum to promote their site I have been the constant target of credit fraud which continues to this day. The worst seems to be if you use a BofA credit or Debit card. (If I mention or anyone mentions by name you could be banned from ECF and harassed by Fanboys relentlessly.) Check out my first new member post for proof. Be warned. It is not the smallest vendors but some of the largest with the largest base of fanboys. Use PayPal, Dwalla or some other protected form of payment or don't buy at all.
If you feel compelled and must order then your comments on prepaid cards or virtual cards which same banks will issue for a one time purchase for the exact amount. Don't use real cards that you use daily. You might also want to check out the new American Express Serve card which has no fees and is a re-loadable debit card. It is all I use online.
If you feel compelled and must order then your comments on prepaid cards or virtual cards which same banks will issue for a one time purchase for the exact amount. Don't use real cards that you use daily. You might also want to check out the new American Express Serve card which has no fees and is a re-loadable debit card. It is all I use online.
Just a word of caution and myBe careful using your credit cards to make online purchases.
I just got notice from my bank today that my credit card was frozen due to fraudulent activity. This is the second credit card this week this has happened to. And one of the cards I've only had for two months. I have purchased online extensively for many years without ever having a problem. Because I've never had any problems I admit I've gotten pretty layed back about paying attention to the website's security.
I'm not pointing fingers at anyone BUT the only purchases I've made online since Christmas have been for vaping supplies. Also I generally always use my debit card for local shopping not my credit cards. I have bought from so many places I couldn't even begin to guess where it may have happened. It could just be a coincidence but with it happening twice in one week it's a little too fishy for me. I'm only guessing but possibly some of these smaller vendors don't have the proper security net's set up. As I said it could have happened in a variety of ways but I'm not taking chances anymore.
I am going out tomorrow and buying some prepaid throw away cards to use for on line shopping. It's probably the safest way to go that I know of for now.
**Remember secure web site starts with HTTPS:// instead of HTTP://.** Here are a few tips I copied off about.com in case anyone is interested:
Here are five tips for shopping safely online:
Price and selection are two of the best benefits to shopping online. But don’t let the benefits lull you into complacency. Take the time to shop securely, and use caution with the sites that you choose to shop on. Then, not only can you find great deals, but you can do it without the worry that your identity will be stolen in the process.
- Choose Credit Over Debit: You probably don’t often hear advice to use a credit card instead of a debit card or cash, but if you can do it responsibly, you absolutely should. Credit cards offer protection from identity theft that debit cards don’t. For example, with a credit card, your liability for fraudulent charges caps at $50 as long as you report the fraud within 30 or 60 days (depending on the company). However, if you’re using your debit card online and someone gains access to it, they can clean out your checking account before you even learn there’s a problem. It’s likely you’ll get part of that money back, but possible that it can take a while, and that you won’t get it all. So, use a credit card instead and pay the bill off monthly.
- Disposable Is Better: Even better than using a credit card is to use a disposable credit card. Disposable credit cards work just like most gift cards. You add a specified dollar amount to the card, and it’s good until that is gone. Once it’s gone, you can add more, or purchase a new one. And both Visa and American Express now offer these cards in varying amounts, so they’re easy to get hold of. The bonus is that if the number from a disposable credit card is stolen, it’s anonymous, and criminals can’t gain access to anything more than the dollar amount that’s still available on the card.
- Verify Website Security: The variety that’s available when shopping online can be dizzying, but it doesn’t stop at just the products and prices that are available online. There are also different levels of security that are available online, and you want to be aware of them. Some online web sites don’t offer secure shopping. That means that savvy criminals can capture everything that you enter onto a form on those sites, including your personal and credit information. If you’re going to shop online, limit yourself to secure sites. You can tell if a site is secure by the URL. A secure web site starts with HTTPS:// instead of HTTP://. Secure sites will also have a small lock icon in the lower right corner of the screen.
- Don’t Shop Publically: If you plan to do any shopping online, do it at home. At home, you can shop in your pajamas (or nekkid) and you can do it any time of the day or night. You also know who accesses your computer at home. If you’re using a public computer—at the library, at a cyber café, or at work—to do your shopping, you have no control over who might be using that computer as well. You also don’t have any control over what kind of spyware or malware might be infecting that computer. So, just don’t do it. Shop at home. It’s much safer.
- Don’t Store Information Elsewhere: Many shopping sites, even the major ones, offer you the ability to save your credit card information on their servers to speed the shopping process. Think Amazon.com’s OneClick shopping. It’s definitely faster, but there are some risks to maintaining your personal information elsewhere. If a company that you’re shopping with has a data breach, your personal information could be put at risk. It takes a little longer, but instead of storing your information on some server that you have no control over, just enter it yourself each time you shop.
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