Credit card stolen over Internet

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 16 Aug 2002 11:54 am

This week while checking my CC statement over the Internet I noticed two $665 charges that occured this week. Both as it turns out were PC's ordered over the IBM website on Monday and delivered today somewhere in NY. I live in NC but my credit card was used. I cancelled my card today and IBM found the transactions which are fraudelant. IBM will eat the transactions as they did not get proper identification or verification before accepting the card number. I did find one of those EMAIL virusus a week or two ago on my PC and it was told to me that it was one that remembers key strokes. My PC is clean, my credit card is closed and all my Internet passwords for financial related stuff are changed. I generally check my accounts every day or two so this was easy to see, but maybe for others it is not that simple. Just a heads up here. I will no longer enter my credit card info over the internet, it ain't worth it.

tp[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 16 August 2002 at 01:09 PM.]

erik · Post by **erik** » 16 Aug 2002 1:03 pm

FWIW, i have used mine at least 100 times with only one $20 fraud charge. One advantage of Webtv is it's very hard to hack and there's very little money in it, not worth trying. I have only used my CC on a computer twice. Your experience is one reason i'm afraid to disconnect my Webtv.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 16 Aug 2002 2:45 pm

Tony, do you leave your computer "logged on" to the internet when you're not using it? Do you do credit-card business on the internet with sites that are not large "nationally known" companies?

These are the two main reasons that most people have problems with computer transactions. Also, some people still insist on using cordless phones or cell phones when ordering by phone...that's another "real bad idea". ANY cordless phone (yes, even those fancy 900mhz digital jobs) are easy pray for "listeners" with the right equipment. In many urban areas, these "phone surfers" are quite common.

Mark Ardito · Post by **Mark Ardito** » 16 Aug 2002 5:02 pm

I have used the internet for almost ALL of my shopping needs for the last 2 years now. I have never had my CC number stolen. I am however, a very careful surfer and computer user. The only thing bad that has happened to me from the internet is my email address being spoofed from this Klez virus going around. That really ticks me off!
Mark

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Sho~Bud Pro I, Fender D-8 (C6&E13) <A HREF="http://www.darkmagneto.com

" TARGET=_blank>http://www.darkmagneto.com

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Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 16 Aug 2002 5:54 pm

I had been very limited with credit card use over the net , many many years of surfing and very few purchases until this last go around. I don't recall any recent purchases so we are a little puzzled as well but the Credit Card fraud folks are clearly convinced that somehow, virus or whatever, the number was captured and used by someone in NYC who now is actually known, or at least the delivery address is. When the IBM website folks contacted me they verified my cc number which was used but the expiration date was incorrect and even they were at a loss to explain how and why the order with my cc number was accepted. No , we had not been doing business with small little unknown business, generally I would call in the number on a land line. Now it is possible that we had used a mobile phone or even the cordless but Geeze Louise, we live in NC so I find it hard to understand how a Big Apple citizen could end up with the number. Go figure..
tp

erik · Post by **erik** » 16 Aug 2002 5:58 pm

I never use cordless phones, and i hate it when i'm talkin' to someone who is. Whenever the conversation starts getting personal i say, "Are you on a cordless phone?".

Mark Herrick · Post by **Mark Herrick** » 16 Aug 2002 6:52 pm

Your credit card number may not have been stolen on the Internet.

Anyone who has access to the number, including any retail store location you use it at, is a point of vulnerability. All it takes is a dishonest store clerk.

Many times the number is then given or sold to someone else.

Several years ago my wallet was lost, or pickpocketed. (I am after all in New York City!) Within 30 minutes charges had been made at several stores. They also used the existing cards to open new accounts at several stores and make purchases the very same day - apparently not unusual. This "identity theft" took many months to clear up.

Don't be surprised if you start receiving new credit cards in the mail. The best thing to do is contact all the credit reporting agencies immediately and have them put a warning on your credit reports. That way no accounts can be opened without the stores contacting you directly.

George Rozak · Post by **George Rozak** » 16 Aug 2002 7:35 pm

Something similar happened to me about a year ago Tony - 4 fraudelant charges. In my case though, they were signing me up for all kinds of phony services - typically at a hundred bucks or more a whack. It took several months to clear it up, & they were able to trace it to a telemarketing outfit that somehow got hold of my number.

Everything was fine again for about a year, & then it happened again last month. I wound up having to get a new card issued with a different number.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 17 Aug 2002 2:59 am

"LONG" Erik, only one $20 fraud charge? How much should it have been. Someones got your number. George, we had the same thing happen to us a year or so ago with telemarketers. Here's the bad news. Some telemarketers have a deal with the CC brokers to purchase their customer list and then broker a deal for commission for each sign up. Once you are signed up and in their system , even if you cancel the service that year..they can and will sign you up for that same service the next year without even calling you . The only way around it is what you did, cancel the account and move on. We had an account with MBNA, zero balance, we carried it for several years and every year the same charge would show up for about $69 and we would trace it back to some telemarketing group who claimed they called and said they spoke with me. Now think of this, the $69 charge from the telemarketer was the only activity on the card for the entire year so it stood out like a country picker at a metal fest. It's a scam for sure. MBNA was linked to that group and said we needed to write all sorts of letters and such even after several discussion stating we had no clue who they were and that we made no purchase.I said "I don't think so..there's an easier way..cancel the card". This was a very large credit line and they have been after me ever since to recapture the business..At one point a regional GM called and asked me to reconsider and I basically told her that it was apparant to me that the $69 to a telemarketer was more important to them than the $25,000 cash line I had carried with them for over 10 years. Here's another little tid bit. In the middle of July ( last month) I received a call from DTV ( we have sattelite) the caller stated they were verifying address information. Ok..for the next 2 weeks I noticed that some of the premium channels were now on, at first I though it was the weekend promotion, you know see all channels for free. But then it was like Thursday and they were still on. ok..I called DTV and they advised me that I was called in the middle of July and authorized the addition of the premium channels. I don't think so..I explained the call and the situation and they were very concerned and brought a manager to the phone. Turns out they hired an outside group to solicit for them and they actually had a name connected to my account for that call. They took care of the situation and even left all the channels on for 90 days for no charge for the incident. it's a jungle out there for sure..

tp

( by the way, whats your cc number , I promise not to use it )( much) Ha Ha [This message was edited by Tony Prior on 17 August 2002 at 04:18 AM.]

erik · Post by **erik** » 17 Aug 2002 5:40 am

Tony, last month i switched long distance to my local carrier(.06 min). While i was doing that they sold me on the "works" package that would upgrade my totalphone to caller ID, mailboxes, etc. They said it would only be an additional $15. So, considering i would now be saving $20 or more on my long distance i said okay. I asked twice if i would be charged for change in service and told twice "NO", "NEVER". Well, you can guess what happenned. I had so many add-on charges i could not interpret it. I called and cancelled everything and now only have call waiting. So, now i have a downgrade from totalphone. So, now they're making less than before the sales pitch.

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 18 Aug 2002 5:45 pm

I am very proud of the folks in the fraud division of Chase MasterCard. Back in June someone started making unauthorized charges on my account. It happened at about 2:00am on a Saturday morning, over the internet. By 8:00am Saturday, the good folks at Chase were calling me, wanting to know if the charges were legit. They weren't and everything was reversed. They must have some sort of software that learns a customer's charging habits. We rarely ever charge anything over the net, and never at 2:00am.

Hats off to Chase MasterCard.

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Lee, from South Texas

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 18 Aug 2002 6:50 pm

A few notes on cordless phones and cellphones. True you're not secure on the "fancy 900 mhz" phones either, UNLESS it's a phone using scrambling or spread-spectrum. These can't be listened to by scanners, anyone with money enough to buy the equipment to monitor them wouldn't need to listen to you. If you don't have a scrambled or spread-spectrum cordless phone, keep in mind that you can be easily listened to, and since cordless phones only have a range of a few blocks, quite easily identified as well. Not safe!

Cellphones are another story - if you're using an analog phone you can be received loud and clear on a scanner that covers the cellphone frequencies, many new ones have the 800-900 mhz "cellphone band" blocked due to the police plan of moving their communications to this band but the older ones and some high-end scanners don't. Still, you're fairly safe and anonymous on your cellphone due to their constant switching of cells. A cellphone usually only stays on the same cell for anywhere from a few seconds to maybe a minute before switching to another cell which uses a different frequency, making it impossible to track a single call unless you have equipment on the level of the feds. The newer digital cellphones can't even be heard on a scanner. Even if you could listen to a cellphone call, the high number of calls, large area of coverage and constant switching makes it 99.9% impossible to identify a caller or hear more than a few seconds, unless again you have $$$$$ equipment. The federal agencies are so far the only ones I know of who can get this stuff, and they use it to monitor big-time baddies.[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 18 August 2002 at 09:42 PM.]

Mark Herrick · Post by **Mark Herrick** » 18 Aug 2002 7:18 pm

Guess who invented spread-spectrum technology?
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Actress Hedy Lamar:
http://www.acrnet.com/sgfogo/stan/heddy.htm
http://www.inventions.org/culture/female/lamarr.html [This message was edited by Mark Herrick on 18 August 2002 at 08:20 PM.]

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 18 Aug 2002 8:31 pm

Yep, and Veronica Lake invented the microchip!

Actually, yes, it's true (about Hedy Lamar, not Veronica Lake!)..... guess that'll surprise a few people. Surprised me when I first heard of it. [This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 18 August 2002 at 09:32 PM.]

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 19 Aug 2002 4:46 am

Lee, we also a couple of years back had our card stolen by a Hotel Clerk, Bank of America started calling us within 2 hours. It was a very eye opening experience. I checked into the hotel on business, same one that I had been going to for years, it was very busy, I was tired, they gave me everything but my CC card and I didn't realize it until dinner 2 or 3 hours later. When I realized it was missing I didn't connect with the Hotel and thought I had lost it as I was carrying a business cc card as well as the personal. I called Bank of America and turns out they were trying to call me as well. Turns out they do indeed have a routine that pops up as a red flag. Gas station, Electronic stores for high amounts, restaurants etc..and all within a short time period. The crooks rang up about $4000 in less than 90 minutes and were also captured on video at the electronics stores.These purchases were so opposite my users profile it stood out huge.
The clerk who stole my card was arrested the next morning as she came into work. The fraud folks put it all together in less than 12 hours. pretty incredible. I was responsible for zero..The issue at hand here makes me a little angry. Someone used my cc card to buy PC's from IBM over the Internet, IBM know's where the stuff was sent and they probably won't go after them or prosecute I was told. Maybe Bank of America will. I hope so.
tp