Supplier Reviews that I read (Fraudulent Charges)

[SARDOG]

I just read a post about fraudulent credit card purchases after making a purchase from madvapes. Well I never put the two together but I just checked the dates of my order from Mad Vapes and a fraudulent charge on my credit card. The Fraudulent charge took place 2 days after the madvapes order. I'm not saying its MADVAPES fault, just be careful. Especially if you use your card from your bank account. Luckily for me Capital One red flagged it and called me, we shut the card down. Personally I would never use a card directly tied to my personal bank account online. I won't be using a credit card anymore either. Now I go to a convenience store or the grocery store and get a gift card and use that for purchases. I'm sure everyone have seen them, all the major credit card companys have them. Its a pain in the .... but I've seen what credit card fraud has done to people.


I don't know where people got the gadgets that show up under their posts but here is my stats:
22 days 20hrs 35min since my last cig
685 cigs not smoked
My wife says I don't snore anymore
Coffee taste absolutely incredible
My 5yr old daughter told me my breath smells like cookies (Cinnamon Danish- my fav)
Started ecigs at 24 mg for 1 week dropped to 12 mg getting ready for 6 mg and DIY flavorings
I love my Vision CE2's and my Variable Voltage mod

 

[jdiulus]

Oh Boy, now your going to cause a ..... storm!

 

[DarbukaDave]

In the last week I placed a few orders with different suppliers and within 2 days my credit card was used in China. It was picked up by my bank and I was lucky.

My orders were not with the company you mentioned, but it makes me wonder if china thieves are targeting American e-cig sellers. In no way do I believe suppliers are at fault, but maybe some of their CC processing companies are getting hit. I have no way of knowing how wide spread it is, but maybe others will come forward with a similar problem.

 

[SCTony]

Welcome to ECF Sardog and thanks for posting. Congrats on quitting smoking!

 

[PaporPlas]

I was hit two weeks ago after using two different eJuice suppliers on-line, nether of them were the company mentioned above. It was a pain, too. So, yep, get the gift card and use it is my motto now.

 

[kren]

With the gift card, is there one you can get that doesn't have an activation charge? Cause I hate those things...

 

[Elendil]

I don't know where people got the gadgets that show up under their posts but here is my stats:
22 days 20hrs 35min since my last cig
685 cigs not smoked
My wife says I don't snore anymore
Coffee taste absolutely incredible
My 5yr old daughter told me my breath smells like cookies (Cinnamon Danish- my fav)
Started ecigs at 24 mg for 1 week dropped to 12 mg getting ready for 6 mg and DIY flavorings
I love my Vision CE2's and my Variable Voltage Mod

If you want a banner for your stats, just click on the one in my sig and then input your info and copy and paste the code into your signature after you hit the 15 post mark when you are allowed to have a sig.

 

[Rickajho]

Things that are being "picked up" by your bank are most likely because you account was already presented to them by VISA or MasterCard as a compromised account a long time before any fraudulent charge(s) appeared. It's a bit over simplified to go down the path of "I bought something and 20 minutes later this happened."

The most recent Master Card security breach I am aware of occurred at a Master Card data processing center, covering just about any Master Card debit or credit card that was used to make a purchase between September 2010 and April 2011, and the account data was stolen directly from a Master Card transaction processing center, NOT from an individual retail establishment. The scope of these type security breaches is too large (expensive) for issuing banks to replace practically every plastic card they have ever issued preemptively. They put the list of compromised accounts provided by Master Card or VISA on a watch list, tweak up their monitoring software a notch for those accounts, and sit back to see what happens. Wow! Gee! Your bank notified you really fast and took care of it! Great! Well, no. If MasterCard didn't have some of the oldest and crappiest security protocols in the business your account wouldn't have been compromised and ended up on a watch list to begin with.

The fact that you actually used your card to make a purchase and OMG! a fraud happened is exactly why it happened: Because you used the card anywhere to begin with. In this high technology game of theft pointing a finger at a specific source with no basis for the accusation is unfair and over simplified. Your card data may have been stolen weeks or months before it was actually used to commit a fraud, and neither your bank or VISA or MasterCard is under any obligation to tell you when the card may have been compromised - only to reverse the fraud should any occur.

 

[oldsoldier]

The truth is that MadVapes and just about every other reputable Vendor does not have access to your credit card info at all. They get a verified transaction number from their credit card processor. and then they ship your goods.

All they get on their terminal is the last 4 of your card plus a transaction code. Your card is more likely to be compromised when you pay for dinner at a nice restaurant ...

 

[dormouse]

One way to protect yourself at online retailers is never let the site remember your credit info - uncheck any box for remembering your info. There are only 5 places I let remember my credit card info - 2 where I have recurring payments (Blizzard for WoW where nobody can log in without the specific random number generator I own, and a magazine where I am charged every year), Paypal, Amazon and only because it insists - iTunes. No other site gets to remember my card info.

Also I am extremely careful to not let a keylogger virus get on my system. A keylogger can capture what you type on your computer (passwords, credit card info, etc). I never click a link in any email unless it is from a friend AND I know the filetype is benign (like eml is an embedded email, jpg is image etc). I never ever click any ad or warning popup - not even the "close" or "x" because ANY click can give the popup an opening to install something on your system. Instead I CTRL-ALT-DELETE, bring up task manager, and kill the process of my Firefox browser. If nothing else works I will power my system off rather than click any part of a popup.

Every ecig online vendor that anyone ever thinks led to fraudulent charges is a vendor I and many others have used with no problems. The one time my credit info was stolen was before I vaped and it seemed to be from an independent gas station in another state, middle of nowhere, where I had to hand my card to a person inside. Idiot then used my credit card to register a website.

 

[DarbukaDave]

Things that are being "picked up" by your bank are most likely because you account was already presented to them by VISA or MasterCard as a compromised account a long time before any fraudulent charge(s) appeared. It's a bit over simplified to go down the path of "I bought something and 20 minutes later this happened."

The most recent Master Card security breach I am aware of occurred at a Master Card data processing center, covering just about any Master Card debit or credit card that was used to make a purchase between September 2010 and April 2011, and the account data was stolen directly from a Master Card transaction processing center, NOT from an individual retail establishment. The scope of these type security breaches is too large (expensive) for issuing banks to replace practically every plastic card they have ever issued preemptively. They put the list of compromised accounts provided by Master Card or VISA on a watch list, tweak up their monitoring software a notch for those accounts, and sit back to see what happens. Wow! Gee! Your bank notified you really fast and took care of it! Great! Well, no. If MasterCard didn't have some of the oldest and crappiest security protocols in the business your account wouldn't have been compromised and ended up on a watch list to begin with.

The fact that you actually used your card to make a purchase and OMG! a fraud happened is exactly why it happened: Because you used the card anywhere to begin with. In this high technology game of theft pointing a finger at a specific source with no basis for the accusation is unfair and over simplified. Your card data may have been stolen weeks or months before it was actually used to commit a fraud, and neither your bank or VISA or MasterCard is under any obligation to tell you when the card may have been compromised - only to reverse the fraud should any occur.

Thanks for the post. Makes a lot sense that my card info was most likely stolen from a processing center at some point. One of the suppliers i bought from, I've been a customer of theirs for 14 months and always receive great service.

I think pointing fingers at any one supplier is unfair since there is no way of really knowing where the breech occurred. I guess it's just coincedence it happend after I got some new supplies. I guess I'm going the route of the gift cards, i would pay a little extra for more piece of mind.

 

[hulsey76]

I had a fraud alert put on one of my cards by my bank, but that is standard procedure to protect me in the event my card is charged from, say...Pakistan an hour after I just used it to pay for gas in Jacksonville, where the bank knows I live. As for the particular business you mentioned, I have read a concerning number of posts in various places saying that when they order from them, they are getting charged later for things they didn't order. I almost hate to bring it up because I don't want to cast aspersion on a company that I have used before with great satisfaction, and that others here swear by. I can't imagine it is Madvapes that is doing this. Perhaps their system has been compromised on occasion? It's no secret that these attacks are prevalent now especially from China - and they can hit any business. I would not hesitate to use Madvapes, but given the information or misinformation I have seen, I would be inclined to monitor my account just to make sure. Again, just to make this clear: I am a satisfied Madvapes customer and am not trying to defame the company in any way.

 

[jkmtwo]

I'm a newb, but one solution that works for me is a prepaid credit card, I have used one for 3 years now, and its as simple as putting a little cash on the card and using it online. May not work for everyone, but it works for me.

 

[VprMan]

I opened a second bank account and use it for all online purchases and small monthly subscriptions like netflix. The balance is minimal, only add $ when I want to buy something. If it gets comprimised, I won't lose any sleep over it. It used to be free, but now $10/month.

 

[Karla Lyle]

Walmart sells those prepaid credit cards and I love them. Not too expensive to use either. It's worth it to keep your money safe.

 

[bigtiime]

Scan your PCs regularly. Keyloggers can be installed on it and you'd never know.

Keystroke logging - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What is keylogger? - A Word Definition From the Webopedia Computer Dictionary

Protecting Yourself From Keylogging Thieves - New York Times

 

[kren]

With the gift card, is there one you can get that doesn't have an activation charge? Cause I hate those things...

Walmart sells those prepaid credit cards and I love them. Not too expensive to use either. It's worth it to keep your money safe.

quoting myself here - so is there an alternative to karla lyle's cards that cost extra $$?

 

[Retriever]

I see more and more of this being reported. I may have to invest in a pre-paid card too.

 

[dragosbold]

I just read a post about fraudulent credit card purchases after making a purchase from MADVAPES. Well I never put the two together but I just checked the dates of my order from Mad Vapes and a fraudulent charge on my credit card. The Fraudulent charge took place 2 days after the MADVAPES order. I'm not saying its MADVAPES fault, just be careful. Especially if you use your card from your bank account. Luckily for me Capital One red flagged it and called me, we shut the card down. Personally I would never use a card directly tied to my personal bank account online. I won't be using a credit card anymore either. Now I go to a convenience store or the grocery store and get a gift card and use that for purchases. I'm sure everyone have seen them, all the major credit card companys have them. Its a pain in the .... but I've seen what credit card fraud has done to people.


I don't know where people got the gadgets that show up under their posts but here is my stats:
22 days 20hrs 35min since my last cig
685 cigs not smoked
My wife says I don't snore anymore
Coffee taste absolutely incredible
My 5yr old daughter told me my breath smells like cookies (Cinnamon Danish- my fav)
Started ecigs at 24 mg for 1 week dropped to 12 mg getting ready for 6 mg and DIY flavorings
I love my Vision CE2's and my Variable Voltage Mod

Like you, I 've quited smoking because of LOVE- for my 3 years boy, for my wife, for me and for life,in general..It was, I guess, after 17 yars of smoking, a new born..

 

[VapoVamp]

Oh My Gosh! This happened to me 2 weeks ago!!!!! With my card, Thank God my bank is on the ball & seen an obscure charge(out of the norm for me) and called me. We cancelled the card(Which is VERY inconveiant!)but, they did'nt clean me out!. Now I'm not trusting any site at this moment. I had just ordered from two seprate sites both popular e-cig suppliers. It was one of those two. I will stay away from them and go back to the ones I've had no prob with.

I just read a post about fraudulent credit card purchases after making a purchase from MADVAPES. Well I never put the two together but I just checked the dates of my order from Mad Vapes and a fraudulent charge on my credit card. The Fraudulent charge took place 2 days after the MADVAPES order. I'm not saying its MADVAPES fault, just be careful. Especially if you use your card from your bank account. Luckily for me Capital One red flagged it and called me, we shut the card down. Personally I would never use a card directly tied to my personal bank account online. I won't be using a credit card anymore either. Now I go to a convenience store or the grocery store and get a gift card and use that for purchases. I'm sure everyone have seen them, all the major credit card companys have them. Its a pain in the .... but I've seen what credit card fraud has done to people.


I don't know where people got the gadgets that show up under their posts but here is my stats:
22 days 20hrs 35min since my last cig
685 cigs not smoked
My wife says I don't snore anymore
Coffee taste absolutely incredible
My 5yr old daughter told me my breath smells like cookies (Cinnamon Danish- my fav)
Started ecigs at 24 mg for 1 week dropped to 12 mg getting ready for 6 mg and DIY flavorings
I love my Vision CE2's and my Variable Voltage Mod