Credit Card Info Stolen! Be Alert.

[dsgrntldPW]

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Just wanted to give everyone a heads up. It appears that my credit card information has been compromised. Someone has tried to charge approx. $700 to my Visa in the past 15 days. This may not mean much to most of you, but it might.

I have recently done either phone or internet orders with the following companies:
CDNN
AIM Surplus
Classic Arms

In each case I provided them with my CC number, cell phone # and personal info, the usual stuff for a phone/internet transaction. These are the only CC purchases I have done in the previous 5 months where I have given out that particular info, all other transactions were local businesses where the card was swiped on a terminal. The CC info at the bank DOES NOT include my cell number. Today I received a call on my cell from a company called Gamequest asking to verify an online order of DVD’s for over $310 charged to my CC, and to be shipped to an address in Jackson, MI (I’m in AZ). I knew nothing about it. The company had been given all my correct personal info (name, address, cell # and complete CC number) for the fraudulent order. After I got that order cancelled, and got the contact/shipping info from the order, I went to the bank to cancel the CC, and check for any other fraudulent transactions. There was another charge for over $350 from a sports collectibles shop in New Jersey. They are currently researching the contact/shipping info for that order and will call me back. UPDATE: Second company called me back stating that their contact/shipping info was the same as the first company's info.

I AM NOT SAYING THAT ANY OF THESE COMPANIES WERE KNOWINGLY INVOLVED IN THIS CIRCUMSTANCE. ALL OF MY TRANSACTIONS WITH THEM HAVE GONE SMOOTHLY AND I AM QUITE HAPPY WITH THEIR SERVICES. I have contacted each of them to advise them of this situation. But since these were the only companies to receive my CC, personal information and my cell phone # together in the past several months, I am concerned. Some computer may have been hacked somewhere. Maybe mine. But after each online transaction I do, I delete all my personal info and close my browser/connection, which may not be enough. While I am hoping that others have not been affected by this, I am passing this along to others so that you may want to more carefully scrutinize your CC statement for awhile if you have recently used your CC or debit card with any of them. PLEASE DO NOT STOP DOING BUSINESS WITH THEM BECAUSE OF THIS INCIDENT, just be careful. I will continue to purchase from these vendors in the future; they are good outfits.

I am going to attempt to file a report with both the Glendale, AZ and Jackson, MI police about this after I have received as much information as possible. This is the info so far that I received about the fraudulent orders; and if you deal with Gamequest, know that they seem to be on top of things:

Name Given: Marissa(?) Jackson
Shipping Address: Morrison Jackson
335 McConel St.
Jackson. MI 49201
Phone #: 517-458-5625
Email: [email protected]
__________________

 

[Black Knight]

I know where you are now. Last November I discovered my step-son had done the same thing with my credit cards and check card. He also stole his mother's credit card. In checking records this had been going on for quite sometime. This was not the first time we caught him stealing from us. Earlier in the year he had forged several checks from our one of our accounts. Needles to say he is in the process. He waived the preliminary hearings for both city and county. Now we wait for the Grand Jury hearings then the actual trial. He claims he is pleading guilty to one felony in the city and one in the county. His mother is with me on this 100% since some of the funds were hers. The big trouble is that my step-son has turned the rest of that side of the family against my wife and me. They claim we are the evil ones and the step-son has done nothing wrong. Go after who ever did you this way as it can ruin you. My step-son has just about ruined us.

 

[doc2rn]

I was about to suggest that you make sure someone has not loaded a snooper virus on your computer. Since you already recongnized something was wrong I will say, press charges!

 

[strat81]

And folks, this is a good time to remind you all to check your credit report AT LEAST once a year. You're entitled to one free credit report per year per bureau so you can get 3 freebies per year. It is highly worth it. Not only can it reveal fraud, it can also reveal false info accidentally (negligently?) reported by some of your creditors that may be hurting your credit score.

How important is your credit score? It determines the interest rate you pay on credit cards, loans, mortages, and other forms of credit; many employers check it as a condition of employment; insurance companies are starting to check them to determine your premium; even landlords sometimes use them in deciding on new tenants.

As dsgrntldPW said, don't blame the vendors right off the bat. The three he mentioned are all well-known, established, reputable firms. They do their best. However, all it takes is one shady employee.

 

[mekender]

i have been in IT security for many years... it would highly surprise me if any one of those 3 companies was responsible for the problem... something like that would be noticed by hundreds or thousands of customers within a few days...

on the more likely side, there is a virus on your computer that has captured your information... though unless you get really weird charges, this is unlikely... the viruses that do these kinds of thing typically are linked to eastern european organized crime and charges are usually made to porn sites, scam sites etc...

on the even more likely side, someone has physically taken the information and stolen your credit card info... most likely that information was given or sold to someone else... this would be my guess as to what happened... since most thefts are committed by people that are familiar with their victims, it is probably someone you know... there is the possibility that someone at a store or other place you were at recently got the CC info, but that wouldn't explain the acquiring the personal info (though that stuff is fairly easy to get)

unfortunately, criminal prosecution is unlikely at best... these types of things are hard to investigate and even harder to prosecute, especially when you consider that your local PD and the PD in the places where the card was used have to coordinate... your best bet is to file fraud claims with the CC company, get a new card, and pull all 3 of your credit reports... then get a fraud alert put on your credit file so that if anyone tries to apply for credit in your name, they will have to provide proof of ID...

 

[wally]

I only use credit cards with Internet fraud detection and 0 liability for Internet transactions.

In fact just got a new card form BOA after a fraudulent charge showed up at an Apple web store. BOA caught it, thief used the card number for the Internet purchase about he same time I was physically using it to buy ammo at a gun show. I guess their computer figured I couldn't likely be in two places at once and called me with an alert when it happened. I ok'd the charges I'd made that weekend and they canceled the card. I'd hope they'd set a trap to catch the SOB as the charge was clearly only a probe to see if the number was still good.

Inconvenient, cost me a couple of phone calls, but no loss to me. So far much less trouble than the time my blank check reorder was stolen from my mailbox the week before Xmas. I couldn't believe all the idiots who'd take a check with no viable ID from an illeagal alien crook claiming to be my wife -- she got caught red-handed when a merchant got suspicious, called the phone number on my check and then called the police when I told her the checks were stolen. Since it happened in Surgarland, I've no idea of the outcome but I did speak with the police by telephone and she at least got a trip to jail. I called BOA to tell them she'd been arrested in Sugarland since she burned them for a couple thousand. I though the bank was pretty lackadaisical about the whole thing, but I got my money back in a couple of days.

--wally.

 

[bogie]

One thing that some businesses have seen is someone calling to order a large quantity of a high profit product. They want it shipped, using their carrier. They give you a credit card number to pay for the product, and then they hope you call their "shipper" and give them your card number. Because all their "shipper" does is then use the info...

 

[Cesiumsponge]

My credit card mysteriously got charged too a while back. I wasn't sure if my credit card alone was compromised or more private information.

PUT A FRAUD ALERT on your credit file through one of the big three credit monitoring companies and leave your cell phone as the contact information. This flags your file for 90 days. Any new credit lines will require personal approval by you over the phone, so if someone stole your info and tries to open a credit card or similar, you'll get a call asking if this was legit or not.

As mentioned, you get one credit report free each year by each of the big three. Rotate them in 4 month blocks and keep track of any weird activity. The phone menus are a PAIN IN THE ARSE to navigate. I just remember selecting the "worst case scenario" options to get my free credit report. Otherwise I'd keep getting bumped out of the system or redirected to the pay-report.

Call the issuing card agent too and get them to open up an investigation. Apparently the geniuses that stole my info tried to buy a plasma TV, and a geneology report from familytree.com. I never did receive the promised written report in the mail, but I hope they caught the jerks.

 

[DENALI]

I've never used and never will use my credit cards on the internet......There's just to many smart kids looking for a payday....

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

I would say in the meantime, get a good antivirus program (or make sure yours is fully up to date if you have one), run a full scan, then run a couple good anti-spyware programs like Spybot S&D and Ad-Aware, to make sure there isn't a keylogger on your computer. If you find anything, pull your network cable, reboot in safe mode (hit F8 while it boots up) and attempt to remove them all.

 

[Big Boomer]

My wife had her card duped while in she was in surgery and in the hospital for a week, now the card, was in my possession the entire time. The only place that she had used it that week before she went was a gas pump. She has been told that there are people around that are putting "readers" inside the gas slot pump and it steals the card info.

They then take that and dupe the card. A few days after they managed to hit her for 400+ in gas card transactions at walmarts down I-10 from San Antonio.

Each time they charged no more than $50

 

[Cesiumsponge]

I've never used and never will use my credit cards on the internet......There's just to many smart kids looking for a payday....

You probably shouldn't use them at physical locations too. People are looking to scam you everywhere. Some businesses still process credit cards with the entire number on the receipt, and I still see some places using carbon copies.

Call the card issuer immediately. Some of them are very good at contacting you if there are odd purchases before you see your statement. Mine called me when the weird charges came up they day after.

 

[GhostlyKarliion]

I tried calling the credit reporting companies to get a free report once, ti took so long I finally just hung up, then I went and applied for a loan that I had no chance of getting, got denied (like I knew I would)

by law (I think) they have to send you a notice telling you why it was rejected

on that notice, there should be the name and address of one or more credit agencies that, if you request it within a certian amount of time (90 days I think), is required to send you a copy of your credit report for free.

I get mine checked about twice a year using this method.

 

[jakemccoy]

I recently got a fraudulent charge for $4,500. No biggie, it happens. That's the risk of using credit cards. I protect myself by checking my charges everyday. My CC company has "no fraud liability" policy. Whenever there's a fraudulent charge, I get a new card. It happens about once every two years. CC's are still better than cash. CC's protect against unscrupulous vendors with whom I may conduct legitimate business. Cash does not have a "no fraud liability" policy.

 

[TAB]

It could have also been from one of the local stores you used your card at... The credit card machines/ register reports have the info a crook needs to use the card. Its normally a low to mid level employee that takes the info and either sells it or uses it themselfs.

Also be on the look out for small charges... that are only a couple bucks, the scum bags normally test the number some where for small charges.

 

[Mr White]

Someone has tried to charge approx. $700 to my Visa in the past 15 days.

Do you have a wife?

 

[JohnBT]

"I went and applied for a loan that I had no chance of getting, got denied "

I simply cannot believe I didn't think of this. JT

 

[primlantah]

its probably someone you know. I have had in volvement in 2 cases of ID theft and the most costly of the 2 was done by family... the other was done by some random kids who smashed a locker at the local pool(resulting in local charges only).

file a report with the police and send your case number to the places the theif used your info at with a letter detailing your position. its going to be a big pain in the butt and no one will want to help. letter and case number will be your best bet.

 

[bloodedsky]

The scary thing is, you don't necessarily have to charge things over the Internet to get scammed. When your card is swiped, the data travels over the Internet to the corresponding company for verification & billing purposes. Each company keeps a mind-bogglingly huge database of billing data, so a hacker could conceivably contrive to get data from there (though the security is usually pretty good, so this is unlikely). Most likely way of someone getting billing data from the databases is an employee.

Wasn't sure if people knew that or not. Me, myself, I find it disturbing how our private information is, well, no longer private.

 

[mekender]

I've never used and never will use my credit cards on the internet......There's just to many smart kids looking for a payday....

you are MUCH more likely to have your house burgled or have your wallet stolen... using a reputable website virtually eliminates the risk of online purchases...

The scary thing is, you don't necessarily have to charge things over the Internet to get scammed. When your card is swiped, the data travels over the Internet to the corresponding company for verification & billing purposes. Each company keeps a mind-bogglingly huge database of billing data, so a hacker could conceivably contrive to get data from there (though the security is usually pretty good, so this is unlikely). Most likely way of someone getting billing data from the databases is an employee.

modern encryption and the incredibly fast times that the information is transmitted makes that virtually impossible... in all, i can only think of maybe 3 times where this has ever happened... you are much more likely to have your receipt stolen out of the trash can at the store...

sure it is possible for someone to steal your CC info in these ways... but think about it, there are much more lucrative ways of making money on CC scams... and ways that are 1000% easier to do than to crack RSA grade encryption...

now, fake websites, fake auctions, viruses, those are a whole lot easier to implement and get CC info from...

 

[siglite]

Mekender,

It's not about the compromise in transit. It's about the developer's laptop that walks away with the entire veterans administration database on it. Or the card database that's compromised at some clearing house. Or the backup tapes that walk away. Or the employee that dumps the card data onto a CD and sells the numbers on IRC. Or the e-commerce site that allows SQL injection and some Romanian just dumps the whole DB out to a text file. Or the retail chain that uses weak encryption on their wireless point of sale systems with absolutely no layered defenses back to the core business logic and transaction processing systems.

When cards are compromised these days, they're compromised in very high quantities, as well as being pulled off the individual laptop via a trojan with a keylogger.

However, as to the OP, there are so many vectors for card compromise that I feel it's a bit irresponsible to single out the vendors you've listed without a shred of evidence. You could quite conceivably cost them revenues with this post.