hmm I know this is off topic but today I received a letter from my bank stating that my credit card had been blocked due to unusual activity.
I went into my account online and lo and behold someone had charged approximately 4,000 worth of Apple Computers Int.
I've been buying online for about 10 years now and never had this happen until now.
Apple Computer Int resides in Ireland.
The only unusual spending I have done recently was to whistle shops none of which are overseas. All my other transactions were the routine places I've been doing business with.
It can't be a coincidence that I order Irish Whistles and then someone starts buying stuff with my credit card. I must have hit an unsecure server or someone decided to expand their business with my credit card.
Good thing that my bank caught it and blocked it, so the dirt bags may not be getting their computers
Cripes! I hope you get it straightened out right away! I imagine that you rbank is already on it, but be sure to let them know the last places you used your card legitimately. Either the place is involved, or they have a thief in the flock, or they are going to be just as mad as you are.
good luck with it... glad your bank contacted you right away and put a stop to it.
anniemcu
--- "You are what you do, not what you claim to believe." -Gene A. Statler
--- "Olé to you, none-the-less!" - Elizabeth Gilbert
--- http://www.sassafrassgrove.com
Is there a chance you've got a trojan horse on your computer than records keystrokes and sends it to someone? The other explanation can be that someone working in those shops used your card.
I hope everything works out for you, and that you get your money back.
Hi,
Both my husband and I have had this over the past year. We now use paypal as much as possible, stick to sites we know, have a bank password as well, etc etc. It seems to be very common as I know several other people who have had the same problem. Keep checking your computer for trojans, spyware etc.
Good luck.
(If someone swiped it, your best bet is to report the theft to the police and have them try to get an IP number from the webcompany (if the company is real, and do sell apple computers))
The good thing is that those things won't be charged to me. I was on the phone with the bank and they gave me all the info to fill out on an affidavit i printed out.
I only use my credit card online if the paypal option isn't available. My credit card stays here at home in another purse I never use. I have the information memorized. No kids here my husband is my soul mate and he is oblivious as to where anything is.
For my transactions I always use a debit card or visa check card.
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.
What I do feel in my heart is that it was at one of those 5 places since I've never shopped there and those are the only transactions I made online that month. I'm not saying they did it, but one of their web sites might not have been secure.
All is well though. I just have to fill the affidavit out and my bank immediately blocked it so those purchases might not go through.
ps no spyware whatsover. I use Norton Corporate Edition and it catches all that stuff since we use it at work.
We've had two rounds of credit card fraud in the last few years. None involving whistles.
I stopped at a small gas station in the middle of Nowhere, South Carolina some years ago. All I remember about it was that they didn't have electronic transaction gear in the station, just the old fashion, manual imprinting system. On my next AMEX bill I had $2000 or so of fraudulent charges on the account, all in stores in that vicinity in S. Carolina. $500 at Home Deopt , $500 at JCPenney, and so on. None of those fraudulent charges were made online, interestingly. This suggested to me that there was a ring of people including employees of those stores, in on it. What legit store employee would allow a $500 charge for someone who doesn't show the physical credit card?
Then, a couple of years later my wife had $1200 pop up on her AMEX account for two one-way tickets from Miami to LaGuardia. First class, as I recall. What was scary about that is she never uses her Amex online and guards her stuff exceptionally well. On that one, we suspect a crooked waiter copied the info in the backroom of a restaurant or something. Those ticket purchases were made online.
Of course, the thing with AMEX is you call them up, tell them the charges are not yours, and that's the end of it. They take them off your account and you get a letter from them and it's over. My understanding is that they know that it is cheaper just to write off the charges than to try to find out who committed the fraud. Crime pays, in this case, I guess.
Which irritates me, because I've always believed that the banks could do more to prevent credit card fraud and identity theft if they were willing to spend the money.
I recently decided to subscribe to an anti-identity theft service. They do things for you you could do for yourself if you developed and stuck to a system and routine.
They contact the three major credit bureaus (Equifax and the other one and the other one) and put a fraud alert on one's credit profile. Then if you (or a crook who has stolen your identity) tries to open a new credit line in your name, they won't allow it until they speak to you personally on the phone and confirm you are who you are and that you indeed are personally applying for credit or a loan. They also, on your behalf, notify the credit bureau that they can't sell your information to companies -- which eventually stops the flow of those unsolicited, pre-approved credit care offers ( 0%!) that come to your mailbox and are a source of theft and fraud. They also remove you from the big junk mail mailing lists. It costs $10 or so a month. We'll see how it goes.
The credit bureaus, by the way, make a lot of their money by selling your name and address. They're not really necessarily good guys.
My wife had the same "crooked waiter" experience we think last year. A pizza joint we frequently go to was having problems with their online card system, so they were using paper slips. We still don't know if it was one of the newer employees at the pizza shop or a customer who may have nabbed one of the paper or carbon copies somehow...but our bank was astute enough to call us when 8 purchases were made online in about 5 minutes all with multiple errors in information.
Iwantotoot - any chance your credit card company was one of those who had their security breached? The crooks from those large scale thefts have been known to wait a year or two to fraudulently use the card.
Good you get back your money. If no trojan is the reason for what has happend I assume the same you mentioned: one of the sites was not secure enough. There is always a risk informations can be caught by anybody just waiting for it. I therefore avoid such transactions on not secure sites.
Dale wrote:
Which irritates me, because I've always believed that the banks could do more to prevent credit card fraud and identity theft if they were willing to spend the money.
Banks have no incentive to prevent fraud because they just back charge the merchant. The merchant gets stuck for the loss.
When I went to buy my Burke whistle recently, I had to enter personal information on a page with no "lock" at the bottom. I know some people think this is okay, b/c mostly anyone can get your name & address online, but I felt a little uncomfortable. But I really wanted that whistle, so I forged onward. However, when I started actually to checkout, naturally my bank account or credit card info was required--and there was still no "lock" or Verisign logo anywhere. I exited out & made alternative plans with Mike so I could buy one of his whistles & some CDs. (I love The Kells' fast stuff!) But for two weeks afterward I got a bunch of spam (which fortunately my email system tagged for me). It seems to have tapered off now, but it did exactly coincide with that online experience, making me glad I didn't post my Very Important Numbers.
Incidentally, my whistle is a DASBT--wonderful!
"In the end we shall have had enough of cynicism, skepticism, and humbug, and we shall want to live more musically."--Vincent Van Gogh
I went to all my whistle sights and went as far as putting in an order and not submitting and the Irish FLute Store, didn't have the little lock at the bottom of the page all others did.
iwanttotoot wrote:I went to all my whistle sights and went as far as putting in an order and not submitting and the Irish FLute Store, didn't have the little lock at the bottom of the page all others did.
First I think it would be helpful to give a hint to the owner of the page. I once did (not for whistles and not because I was involved in a similar story you was) and was then assured they would make their page secure, what also happend after a little period of time. Of course it is always the risk of the buyer in such situations, but when such things happen sellers will have to react once, or no one will buy anymore.
Second if you want to buy something there in the meantime you might ask for a different way of payment.
