Any Credit Card theft since buying whistles online?

[Doc Jones]

The transactions through the Irish Flute Store are handled by Paypal's secure sight. We've never had any problems.

Coincidently, about a week ago I learned about and purchased an SSL certification for the site just to make sure my customers were extra safe.

The Secure site is here: https://irishflutestore.com/newsite/

Please change your bookmarks/favorites. My web guy is working on making it so that all hits go directly to the new secure site.


My opinion is that this case of fraud was most likely from an employee of another establishment using the card information (I have no employees and have no access to the card information submitted on my site...it goes to Paypal).

Were any of them based in the UK or Ireland? We here in Idaho have surprisingly little use for computers in located in Ireland.

I wouldn't recommend posting all the other stores' names here but I would encourage you to contact them privately so they can do their own investigations.

Doc

https://irishflutestore.com/newsite/

[Silvano]

I wouldn't recommend posting all the other stores' names here but I would encourage you to contact them privately so they can do their own investigations.

Doc

Wise words which let me hope you did not undestand my suggestion as a personal attack to you or anybody else.

Silvano

[iwanttotoot]

It's just plain odd. I had no overseas transactions and just 4 credit card purchases that showed up on my credit card and all were whistle shops here in the US.

I never knew there was credit card purchases through paypal. I always thought it was option to pay for paypal and credit card being seperate from that.

All I hope is that my credit union doesn't authorize the funds and the scum bag doesn't get those apple computers.

I did email Doc from Irish Flute store and he said he had just purchased an ssl last week and that credit card purchases were done through paypal. So don't know and I don't know how the credit card through paypal works without going to the paypal sight.

[Doc Jones]

It's just plain odd. I had no overseas transactions and just 4 credit card purchases that showed up on my credit card and all were whistle shops here in the US.

That is odd. Hope you contacted the other vendors just the same in case there's a rotten apple in one of their barrels.

I never knew there was credit card purchases through paypal. I always thought it was option to pay for paypal and credit card being seperate from that.

It's a service Paypal offers retailers. They've been doing all my credit card transactions since the very beginning years ago. Even when people phone me with their credit card number the the transactions goes through Paypal (I have what Paypal calls a "virtual terminal").

I did email Doc from Irish Flute store and he said he had just purchased an ssl last week and that credit card purchases were done through paypal.

Yes she did and she was very nice.

So don't know and I don't know how the credit card through paypal works without going to the paypal sight.

The shopping cart is tied directly to Paypal. I have no idea how is works either. I just clicked the buttons the Paypal merchant tools guys told me to click and got it all set up.

I do know that every morning Paypal sends me a nice email telling me who sent me money and what I have to mail to them.

Anyway, even the boring, non-financial parts of the Irish Flute Store now have little locks in the corners which I'm told (by the folks who took my money) is a good thing.

Best,

Doc

[devondancer]

Interestingly, I have just had the same problem - a phone call from my bank this morning to tell me that someone in Israel had bought a lot of jewellery, amongst various other transactions. Like Iwanttotoot, I have bought whistles recently, and little else. I use paypal, and one of the transactions (this morning, apparently) had actually used my paypal account. That is what is really worrying, I think. I've contacted paypal and am waiting for their reply, my card is cancelled, etc etc. Anyway, just a warning to everyone out there that there is a problem somewhere. I shall email those I've bought from individually just to let them know, in case someone is messing with their systems - I don't think it's you, guys!
This is the second time this has happened to me - the first, a couple of years ago, had nothing to do with whistles, so I don't expect this has either, but just in case . . .

[anniemcu]

If the lock symbol doesn't appear by the time you are asked for personal or financial info, don't continue to enter your info. Contact the company by phone, or email them - both should be in the contact info on the website - and let them know that their checkout process is not secure and you will not order until it is made safe. That's the only way they can find out that something has failed - either the coding for the checkout, or their policy of unprotected transactions.

[Michael Burke]

HI,
Michael Burke here. I saw this thread last night and decided to do some research on this. I asked my webmaster about it and got the following reply:

[

i]This is something I hear from time to time. The thing is they are not going to enter their address or sign up for a new account under the SSL so if they fill in their address and do not see the lock it's ok however when they are taken to the screen when it's asking for their credit card number and do not see the lock then that's when they need to worry. Your store is set up so when they enter the credit card number (when they go to that step which is step 3) the store goes to the page with the little magic lock - the secure part of checkout so they are secure and I did take a screenshot for you so you can see the lock is there but it's not until that step 3.

....

also took a screenshot of your security information which just says that your secure certificate is through XXXX(deleted) which is the most widely known and trusted SSL company out there. You can go through checkout yourself and when you get to the part where you enter your payment details you'll see the lock - click on the lock and it tells you the information on the specific certificate you have which is what is in my screenshot. You have high grade 256 bit encryption.

I think that we are pretty safe with this system, in terms of your credit card numbers not being intercepted. We have never had a problem in thousands of transactions with our customers having these kinds of problems that we are aware.
The fact is, that you can go to any of the online phone books and find name, address and phone numbers for a large percentage of the people on this forum and if you are willing to pay, you can get much more. It is a sad, but true thing that we have less privacy than ever before. It is a price we pay for this great information age, I guess. I want my customers to know that we are using the very best system we can get to protect that little bit of your privacy and will continue to do so. I recommend that everyone think of all the ways that people can gain information from you, however, for example your trash bags. People often, without thinking drop their credit card bills in the trash every day without even shredding them or throw away old credit cards and may only cut them in two. There is no guessing how a particular card is compromised and as long as people are dishonest and greedy, it will continue. But are we to sit locked in a room with a gun and never to let out anything to the outside world? That seems a big price to pay for a little feeling of being safe. Better to learn to be smart and to enjoy the great blessings of this incredible time where we have access to more information than all the previous generations put together.
All the best
Mike

[iwanttotoot]

Thanks for all the replies and especially doc and mike burke. You guys have been really patient.

I got my new credit card in the mail minus the 4,000 extra

I'm going to just use paypal from my accounts from now on. If the sights don't have that option oh well, I'll go somewhere else.

I am however done buying whistles. No really I have all I want. I guess 7 is more than enough for me.

Incidentally we just got a Scottish Terrier pup day before yesterday to go with our 2 Airedales and he loves for me to play the whistle. He goes to sleep right away.





He better like it being Scottish in a Puerto Rican, English, and American home.

[Ronbo]

Awwwww.

[devondancer]

Thanks for your reply, Mike, as well as Doc Jones'. I certainly wasn't trying to point a finger at anyone, but just letting you know that I had had a problem. I appreciate identity theft is so common now - really just a warning to everyone to be careful! And yes, I do check for the little padlock!

[straightShot]

thanks for the responses all.

It definately had to have happened with my last purchases which were all to different whistle shops. Those are the only NEW places I have shopped.

When I ordered from Elderly I remember putting in my order and wondering "wow that didn't look too secure at all" but I can't point fingers.

I've ordered more than once from Elderly with the last time being within the last month. I have not had any problems. The server appears to be secure, and my order arrived promptly. I also haven't had any unwanted credit card activity either.

[iwanttotoot]

My later posts indicating that I had gone to all my previous sights and re-ordered clarified which ones had the ssl's and which didn't but apparently that doesn't make a difference since the one without the ssl went through paypal.

No telling where it happened. One other member and I had 2 sights in common and it happened to him as well extremely similar circumstances down to the amount of time from one transaction to the time it took for the fraud to occur.

As some stated we're not pointing fingers at anybody just trying to help in making these transactions secure.

[missy]

I actually had my credit card number stolen FROM THE BANK.

Someone breached their security and stole thousands of numbers. They were therefore monitoring charges and caught when mine was used.

So it may not be anything you did, or any site you went to, but someone getting information from the "source" so to speak.

Honestly? You have your new card, you don't have to pay the charges, it's fixed, so move on and don't worry about it. I've not had problems on the new card - and that was 4 years ago.

Of course, I still monitor every purchase, bill, etc. - that's just common sense.

[iwanttotoot]

I moved on Missy but if someone replies to a specific statement I made, I'm going to reply back. thank you