Fraud blows

[mnkyman]

Ya that's happened to me before. They would charge 1 or 2 cents to "test" the card (as my banker later told me)...and luckily the bank questioned these charges, called me up, confirmed they were fraudulent and immediately canceled the card.

[alpha]

That sucks.  Sorry to hear that.  Hopefully it gets cleared up soon.

[ikethegreat]

Ya that's happened to me before. They would charge 1 or 2 cents to "test" the card (as my banker later told me)...and luckily the bank questioned these charges, called me up, confirmed they were fraudulent and immediately canceled the card.

Same thing happened to me in December.  The worst part was they signed me up for over a dozen different magazine subscriptions and my mailbox was bombarded with magazines for the longest time.

[Mike]

Do any of your know how they got your information? I'm just interested to avoid this myself in the future if possiable.

[CrackerTeg]

I honestly don't know how they got our information. Funny thing is, my wife opened up a new account with the bank we have about two or three weeks ago and we got a call from our bank yesterday about a charge on her account. Meanwhile, I've been banking with this same bank for over 5 years. Figure that one out.

[05AccordV6]

Fortunately this has yet to happen to me, this is why I pay for most everything in store in cold hard cash, if you use your cards to purchase in store, all someone needs to do is write your credit or debit number down, very few places check ID.  If you do a lot of your purchasing online, the risk increses exponentially, only because even some secure sites, that have all the verisign markings, and secure encrypted markings and software and all this shit, really aren't that secure.

I should know this, I am the E-Commerce manager for my company, which did roughly 27 million dollars in web sales last year, it is a constant struggle to stay ahead of the fraud, and a lot of times I can't catch all of it, though I do catch most.  DON"T TRUST A WEBSITE EVEN IF IT CLAIMS IT IS SECURE THE REASON FOR THIS IS AS FOLLOWS, SEE BELOW.  

Here is the key:  Just because the website your are BUYING from is encrypted doesn't make YOUR computer safe, just their servers and databases are covered by this software, so if you have ever transmitted your data from an insecure computer which doesn't have firewalls, anti-virus and anti-spyware programs running 100% of the time, you may have malicious coded programs on them and not even know it, bots that essentially take a snapshot of forms and transmit the info to their creator, etc, these guys are fuckin smart, it sucks, but, from visiting any slew of websites, downloading programs, music, files, etc. you can compromise your security.  Also don't store your banking information in blatantly named files E.G:  Banking, Credit Cards, Etc, certain programs scan for keywords and will copy the files and transmit them, sooo many ways they can get your info.   A lot of these programs dont come up in anti-virus scans, and they are constantly evolved by their creators to stay ahead of an AV or spyware detectig software.  

I'd get more into it, just keep that stuff locked up tight, and you can never be too caeful.

I have helped put 3 individuals in Pound Me In The Ass prison for trying to fuck with the wrong guy on the other end, and I hope I catch more.  Especially with the economy in shambles, fraud, just like all other crime, tend to increase, be safe out there and feel free to PM me any questions you may have.

[CrackerTeg]

Wow. That's some good info bro. I do have the firewall, anti-spyware, and anti-virus running 24/7 on both of my computers and my router has also been configured. I don't do much over the net and all my info is on paper. Not my computer. Either way, I also have seperate drives aside from my OS drive where I would store anything. Also, another good practice is to have the money on your debit card you intend to use. And nothing more. The jackass at the store will have a hard time pulling anything if there's nothing there.

[05AccordV6]

Wow. That's some good info bro. I do have the firewall, anti-spyware, and anti-virus running 24/7 on both of my computers and my router has also been configured. I don't do much over the net and all my info is on paper. Not my computer. Either way, I also have seperate drives aside from my OS drive where I would store anything. Also, another good practice is to have the money on your debit card you intend to use. And nothing more. The jackass at the store will have a hard time pulling anything if there's nothing there.

Your already in better shape than 98+% of people out there then, You'd be shocked how easily people will give their personal info out on a phone call or some other means without doing their research.  The move with the Debit account is very smart, but if you have a linked savings account, and overdraft protection, they will approve transactions and deduct the difference in amount from savings, hence why I don't keep it on any of my personal accounts.  It sucks when shit like this happens.  On a side note, do you tear any financial documents up you receive in the mail whether solicited or unsolicited, its a good practice.  Also keeping your finances on paper is a really smart move, everyone does the online banking thing, and i see why its appealing for paying bills, etc.  But its just another place an ID theif can now find very sensitive information.   Hopefully you'll get all new cards and accounts, that usually takes care of the issues.  

As a warning/piece of advice:  Keep a very close eye on your credit report, make sure they don't have enough info to apply for credit, This is my best piece of info:  You can do what I did and flag yourself as a potential ID theft victim, I reapply the flag when it runs out purposely (I believe it does so after 12 or 18 monthes), this way no one can use your name to get "Approved for instant credit in as little as 30 seconds" type crap.  

Institutions must contact you by phone, mail, or both and will require verification that you in fact applied for credit in any way, shape or form in the first place.  If you have the flag on and they issue credit in your name, they cannot collect on the debt, and in most cases, you have legal ramifications and a path of legal recourse (IE suing them.) This is a step I wish more folks would take, or more credit issuing companies would make a mandatory step, it would cut down ID theft immensely.  Either way your doing things the right way, sometimes these guys just get your shit even after taking all the precautions possible.


Who says college doesn't teach you stuff?  

[ashley]

damn man I'm sorry to hear about this. Hopefully everything works out and you get your new cards soon!

[mnkyman]

one thing to add, since alot of us buy car parts and the like online, is the use paypal's credit card generator, it's safer than inputing your cc # everytime, since it changes with each purchase, but at the same time, this is only as secure as your paypal account

[ikethegreat]

You can do what I did and flag yourself as a potential ID theft victim, I reapply the flag when it runs out purposely (I believe it does so after 12 or 18 monthes), this way no one can use your name to get "Approved for instant credit in as little as 30 seconds" type crap.  

How would I go about doing this?

[Paulius005]

Over time my blackberry has learned that I love to fucking swear.  My iPod touch still need to learn though.

Steve Jobs doesn't want you to swear . He doesn't want me to picture message, or copy and paste thought either. What a dick....

When it comes to online purchasing thought, i only buy from sites that i know of and if i do not i do a few days research before buying. I also have BitDefender, Spybot, Ad-Aware. I am decent with computer programming and am going into Computer Engineering next year. I see how easily people can be fooled into getting their info stolen, one wrong click and there you go. I am quite paranoid when it comes to the interweb.

[timot_one]

You can do what I did and flag yourself as a potential ID theft victim, I reapply the flag when it runs out purposely (I believe it does so after 12 or 18 monthes), this way no one can use your name to get "Approved for instant credit in as little as 30 seconds" type crap.  

How would I go about doing this?

+1

Share your secrets with us Kevin.

[05AccordV6]

Holy crap I completely forgot to this, I will give a step by step in the next couple of days once work calms down a bit, I have pulled 11 straight days (including weeknds and late nights) on exactly how to go about doing this for your protection.

[CrackerTeg]

Whenever you get the chance man. Whatever else I could do to prevent this shit, as well as share with friends and family not in the ECM network.