Credit Card number stolen!

mikea

mikea

Touchdown! Greaser!
Gone West
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
16,975
Location
Lake County, IL
Display Name
Display name:
iWin
I just checked my latest credit card statement and in all of the spending I'm doing I see a nearly $300 charge at WalMart.com. I didn't buy anything at walmart.com.

Preceding that is a $5 charge. It turns out that is a contribution I made to a charity I don't know.

After calling the CC company, I called the number for the $5 charge. They had flagged it as fraud already. The teefs make a donation to see if the number is good, then have at it.

My guess is some web site I ordered from recently got powned. In particular I bought some replacement styli for my PDA phone at a .com which turned out to be really cheap, and at least 1 of the 3 was usable, but hey they have free shipping in return for your credit card number.

Now you know why it takes an act of congress to get stuff shipped to an address that's not your home.

I would like to strangle these miscreants but I don't know if I can take on the KGB.
 
It happens Mike good you caught it so fast. Another way the theifs do it is to charge a few bucks in Gas to the card. Most stations have pay at the pump so if the card is denied there is no one to ask questions.
 
mikea said:
I just checked my latest credit card statement and in all of the spending I'm doing I see a nearly $300 charge at WalMart.com. I didn't buy anything at walmart.com.

..SNIP...

I would like to strangle these miscreants but I don't know if I can take on the KGB.
Click to expand...

TJX (TJ Max) just had a compromise, ever buy anythinng there?

I had a similiar issue a couple years ago, somehow they got enough of my pertinent info to get a Sears card in my name and spent a couple thousand dollars, and I received the bill (and extended warranty paperwork) in the mail. Luckily it was pretty easy to prove it wasn't me (which might have been obvious since I already have a Sears card, why would I open a new account) and get it cleared up.

Don't get me started on the time my wife's company's courier lost a batch of mail that had a bill we mailed out, which allowed some "people" to try and pass some fradulent checks accounts my account. That was a pain because we had to change our checking account number.

All of this, and I work for a bank... ugghh... :(
 
AdamZ said:
It happens Mike good you caught it so fast. Another way the theifs do it is to charge a few bucks in Gas to the card. Most stations have pay at the pump so if the card is denied there is no one to ask questions.
Click to expand...

I have the card. They have the number. Unless they try to make a card.

So far they've done the usual "online advertising" charges.
 
mikea said:
I have the card. They have the number. Unless they try to make a card.

So far they've done the usual "online advertising" charges.
Click to expand...
The bank should instantly cancel your card, and Fedex another with a new number. The last time I had that done they tried to snailmail it and I told them I was about to leave on a business trip and needed the card next day air. They did not argue further.

Now any time I use an online vendor that I don't trust, I use a virtual card number. My cc bank, Citibank, offers a virtual number that is mapped to your real number. The virtual number may be used once only and then it goes TU. It is about the best protection against cc fraud except paying cash.

-Skip
 
Discover card will give you a virtual number for online transactions. It's a one time use number, and if someone tries to use it again - denied.
 
A number of banks have that one-time use thing. Unfortunately, it's no good for things like chart subscriptions, or anytime the order may be shipped in multiple shipments, thus incurring partial payments. It would be better if the "one time use" was actually "one vendor use, with one authentication address". That way, you could safely give your number to an online store because if they try to authenticate it for shipment to another address, it can come back denied.

You know, I think this is a really good idea! Anyone see any "gotchas" that don't already exist with one-time use numbers?
 
gprellwitz said:
A number of banks have that one-time use thing. Unfortunately, it's no good for things like chart subscriptions, or anytime the order may be shipped in multiple shipments, thus incurring partial payments. It would be better if the "one time use" was actually "one vendor use, with one authentication address". That way, you could safely give your number to an online store because if they try to authenticate it for shipment to another address, it can come back denied.

You know, I think this is a really good idea! Anyone see any "gotchas" that don't already exist with one-time use numbers?
Click to expand...

This card doesn't have one time numbers, even though the card supplier does on other cards. My new Discover does. That's one reason I'll be closing this card account.

I think that's a hassle for places you buy from often. It's a hassle in any case. They should have a widget that will give you the next number quickly.

I guess I'd take the time to do it for one time possibly shady web sites.
 
mikea said:
This card doesn't have one time numbers, even though the card supplier does on other cards. My new Discover does. That's one reason I'll be closing this card account.

I think that's a hassle for places you buy from often. It's a hassle in any case. They should have a widget that will give you the next number quickly.

I guess I'd take the time to do it for one time possibly shady web sites.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but I don't think that all the risk is from shady sites. Witness the recent TJM debacle referred to above. I agree, there needs to be a quick way to do it without a hassle.
 
mikea said:
I have the card. They have the number. Unless they try to make a card.

So far they've done the usual "online advertising" charges.
Click to expand...

Actually, most credit card fraud is caused by the number being stolen by a worker at a physical establishment. Don't ever let anyone photocopy your card: it could give them access to the CVV number.

The two times I've had suffered from credit card fraud was from hotel front desks or concierge desks in NYC. The one that I can most clearly identify was at a 4+ star hotel in NY when I checked in late. The desk clerk insisted on copying DL info from me after taking the credit card (AmEx). The card number was used immediately - I discovered it within a week when I got an order confirmation from Dell for about $10,000 of computer equipment. AmEx was great, but the authorities in Florida who caught one of the perps declined to prosecute. The perps had forged a new card on counterfeit AmEx stock.

Desk clerks, waiters, etc - those are the bigger risk, online the risk is more from Phishing.

You ate at a restaurant or stayed in a hotel lately?
 
wsuffa said:
Actually, most credit card fraud is caused by the number being stolen by a worker at a physical establishment. Don't ever let anyone photocopy your card: it could give them access to the CVV number.

Desk clerks, waiters, etc - those are the bigger risk, online the risk is more from Phishing.

You ate at a restaurant or stayed in a hotel lately?
Click to expand...

Yep. But usually the card never leaves my sight. The only time is has was in the breakfast joint and there aren't a lot of places to hide to copy number there.

I think a site got powed. Could even be a big one that hasn't admitted it yet.

I'm only glad I looked at the statement for once. I'm embarrassed to say I haven't always checked. I'm very glad I keep very few cards that I use.

Theres a whole criminal hacker underground trading card numbers. The FBI busted one using an informant: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72585-0.html?tw=wn_index_20
 
Breeze ski rentals info got compromised recently as noted on the news here in Denver ... anyone who rented ski gear from them in the last 5 years is a possible victim, so they said.
 
gkainz said:
Breeze ski rentals info got compromised recently as noted on the news here in Denver ... anyone who rented ski gear from them in the last 5 years is a possible victim, so they said.
Click to expand...
It didn't have anything to do with the large number of savvy college kids they employ, did it?
 
mikea said:
Now you know why it takes an act of congress to get stuff shipped to an address that's not your home.
Click to expand...

???? I've never had a problem doing that. I frequently have birthday and other gifts for relatives shipped directly to them.
 
GaryO said:
???? I've never had a problem doing that. I frequently have birthday and other gifts for relatives shipped directly to them.
Click to expand...

Some merchants tell you up front to make sure the address your shipping to is OK'd with the card company. I call the CC and tell them. They add it as a secondary, approved address.

But I have been able to send gifts to the recipient's address.
 
I had one merchant, I think it was IBM, that checked with the cc company and refused to ship until I cleared it with the cc company. I would be happy if all merchants were required to do that.

This is what really bugs me. If I go to a local store and make a purchase, I am required to show them a picture ID, sign a receipt, and they compare the signature to the one on the card (if it's signed) or the ID.

But I can go home, call that same store or go online to their website, order the same thing and have it delivered anywhere, and all I need to do is read them the cc number!

It is not logical.
 
GaryO said:
This is what really bugs me. If I go to a local store and make a purchase, I am required to show them a picture ID, sign a receipt, and they compare the signature to the one on the card (if it's signed) or the ID.
Click to expand...

I have never, ever, EVER, been asked to show my ID. I've even handed my girlfriend's card (Do I look like an Elizabeth to anyone?) on a number of occasions without her in the store and they took it without question. Plus with the checkout setup they have now, you swipe the card yourself, which makes using someone else's card even easier.

I think that the companies should capture the signatures electronically and have digital receipts passed to the card issuer. Kinda like how check scans are done with your bank. That would make fraud detection (and proof) even easier. "So you're telling me I was able to purchase 4000$ worth of camera equipment in Pennsylvania, and then get gas 10 minutes later in South Carolina? And the signatures don't match? Hmmm..."

But of course, that'd be too much work.
 
GaryO said:
This is what really bugs me. If I go to a local store and make a purchase, I am required to show them a picture ID, sign a receipt, and they compare the signature to the one on the card (if it's signed) or the ID.
Click to expand...

What the heck store is that!

On the back of my credit cards I wrote in big letters "CHECK ID"

At Worst Buy the pimple faced, soon to be CFI ;) , asks me 'what does check id mean?" I tell him it mean that you should ask for my identification. "oh" he says and doesn't ask to my ID! That is not unique I get lots of people that flip it over, read the 'Check ID' and then don't.

At the USPO the clerk behind the counter will not accept my card without a signature on the back. So as I stood there at the counter I signed the card right in front of the guy and then he took it.
 
The girl at the Ace asks to see the card before you swipe it, and when the signature was worn off then asked for ID.
 
wsuffa said:
Desk clerks, waiters, etc - those are the bigger risk, online the risk is more from Phishing.

You ate at a restaurant or stayed in a hotel lately?
Click to expand...

I carry two, one stays in my physical control, the other is for when the card must leave my sight (restaurant, etc.)
 
I had my Corporate Amex stolen 8, 9 times last year? India, lots of business travel (There was some scam at ORD, someone was stealing CC's from a hot dog stand), and lots of on-line ordering (supplies, trade show stuff, etc). I only had to report it once - the other 8 times Amex figured it out for me.

Sigh.

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
I made a purchase from Buy.com once for computer equipment for work. They required me to FAX the front and back of my Amex PLUS my driver's license. I did so after yelling at them a bit. (I had to make the purchase for work - no way around it.)

The moral of the story is this - I will NEVER buy from them again.
 
MSmith said:
I made a purchase from Buy.com once for computer equipment for work. They required me to FAX the front and back of my Amex PLUS my driver's license. I did so after yelling at them a bit. (I had to make the purchase for work - no way around it.)

The moral of the story is this - I will NEVER buy from them again.
Click to expand...

That's the dillemma. These creeps have ruined life for all of us.

The seller gets ripped off repeatedly for high value computer stuff so they make new legit customers jump through enough hoops they don't want to be customers.

It's like email and other online stuff. The spammers and phishers have made them not worth using any more.

The banks and the feds HAVE to get these guys rather than just making it the cost of doing business. There's a lot of impact beyond the few hundred bucks they lose on each fraud.
 
Dateline NBC has a two-parter tracking these thieves down:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17805134/

The saddest part is the three U.S. drop sites where they found three different people who were forwarding the packages for their "fiances" they had met online. The two women had the same fiance'. I don't think any of them even talked to them on the phone.

Part 2 will be on Tuesday night.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top