OT: Fraudulent credit card charges

[Louis]

I sure hope that this isn't the start of one of those "Identity Theft" sagas:

Earlier today as I checked out my credit card account via the web I noticed an "International Transaction Fee" which caught my eye. I only get one of those if I buy bike stuff from PBK or Wiggle, but haven't done that recently. I looked more closely and saw a relatively low charge ($20) from Telefonica Mexico. ***? I have no clue why a Mexican phone company would be charging me for anything.

I called the CC company and they asked something about I-Tunes and I said "Heck no, I don't do anything like that." The CC # has been shut down and they'll refund the fraudulent charge. I'll now have to call the folks who make monthly charges to the account to update them with the new # (when I get it). In the meantime I'll have to pay cash for everything...

Finally, if you were going to rip-off something why would you only charge $20?

Louis

[dbrown]

I had a similar thing happen the beginning of January. Several fraudulent charges appeared within a couple of days of each other... a $20 donation to the USO, a $12 mouse pad, a membership to AARP, and a coffee of the month club. Who makes a small donation to the USO with a stolen credit card? I had to close done the card and wait for a new on to be issued. Dinky charges, but a much bigger PIA!

[Karin Kirk]

I had an "international service fee" on my last statement too. But it was only for 30 cents so I didn't take action. A couple of months ago my credit card company shut down my account and issued a new card due to a breach of security by a vendor or retailer. Aside from the 30 cents, everything else has been normal.

[rcnute]

I had charges for an Air Arabia ticket and an Asian escort service. Someone out there is having fun that I'm not.

[zmudshark]

See this thread:
http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=55010

[bigbill]

I had to cancel my Visa after a Ribble purchase. It may not be ribble, it may be the company that handles CC routing, but in any case, the security was compromised. I contacted Ribble and they assured me that they were not at fault but none of this started until after my ribble purchase. The visa stays in the desk and is only used for internet purchases and Ribble was the only purchase for months. My bank noted <$1 Napster charges and called me. The small charges are how they check if the account is active before going for something larger like airline tickets and hookers. I have my new card now and I am much more wary about purchasing from Europe.

[old_school]

Credit card problems with online shops in the UK
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=514152

[MarcusPless]

I got a call from the bank (US Bank) that handles my REI VISA card 2 or 3 days ago. They wanted to confirm several suspicious charges, which as it turns out I didn't make. I do a fair amount of online shopping, but not that much lately, and I'm more careful that most people I know (I work in IT). The first charge was a $1 purchase to Itunes to verify the card works. I didn't do any business with Ribble Cycles, but I did make a purchase from Total Cycling a couple of months ago. Who knows which company or web site dropped the ball... It sucks, but I'm glad the people at US Bank were on the lookout.

--Marcus

[Ken C]

A couple of weeks ago I ordered some Vittoria Pave's from Ribble late at night, the very next morning I saw the postings on the Ribble Thread about these problems. I immediatley called the bank and had them cancel that card and issue a new one. Thanks to this forum I was informed and took action before any problems.

From now on I will go back to buying tires from Excel Sports at their store or Schwab cycles. It costs more, but i am supporting local people and don't have to worry about fradulent charges.

[cleavel]

Hi,

We just had an incident similar to some of you a few weeks ago. Someone made a couple of $1 charges to iTunes. Then a week later they charged $450 over the course of two days. We never use credit cards on iTunes.

So a new card and some forms to fill out to get the charges cleared. :(

[avalonracing]

Me too... Within the last 6 weeks. I had the "International Service Fee", and a whole bunch of charges to Craigslist at $25 per (the crook must have been running other scams with Craigslist ads) and a few balance transfers. The funniest charges were a few to Match.com.

Nice work for my CC company to call me as soon as they noticed the first Match.com charge. But by the time we shut the card down the other charges were about to post.

Maybe we have all used an online site to buy some bike parts where they sold our cards. Just a thought.

I've never used PBK but I have used some of the bigger US sellers.

[Volant]

Louis (and others), what you had happen is called "carding" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card_fraud look half-way down the page).
Outfits run your card for small amounts to see if the charges go through and unnoticed. They then sell your number to the people who commit the real fraud.
I recently had the same thing happen and, like you, had accounts closed and cma. You're wise to keep staying on top of all your credit accounts.

[kaze]

Same thing happened to me two weeks ago... one charge for $2.95 which went through, followed by two charges for $1 which the bank (Chase) flagged. Their fraud department contacted me and canceled the card, the total elapsed time from the first charge to account closure was less than two days. Fraud prevention must cost the banks a fortune (which they pass along to us as higher fees).

[Louis]

Thanks for the info, guys. This has been useful.

(Yet another reason to keep the OT threads...)

Louis

[JBone]

Wow, i just ordered from PBK :( hopefully nothing happens. I've actually been buying from UK sites (PBK, Total Cycling, Ribble) the last 2 months.

But I use a debit card that I use only for bike purchases. So I only keep small amounts in there at all times unless I purchase a big ticket item. The account also has no overdraft protection just in case someone tries to spend more than what I have in the account. After every non-US purchase I just check my account online to make sure no additional charges have been made.

Not too sure if this is realistic for some.

[Louis]

A silly question, since I know nothing about debit cards: Can they be used online or for phone mail-order purchases in the exact same manner as a credit card? (Except, of course that I assume there has to be a pre-existing pot of money to be debited.)

How would that differ from having a second credit card with a very low limit and no overdraft protection?

Louis

[avalonracing]

Thanks for the info, guys. This has been useful.

(Yet another reason to keep the OT threads...)

Louis


Good Point! :beer:

[39cross]

Same thing happened to me...cc company shut down my card without notifying me...I went to charge something and was denied. Called them and they had the card on hold to check against a suspicious charge, it was for some small amount of money. Same thing as in everyone's stories. It's unbelievable how much fraud is going on out there.

One piece of somewhat related advice, make sure your computer AV is up to date, and consider installing some malware software like malwarebytes. I picked up a trojan the other day installed via a javascript exploit, in spite of what I thought were conservative practices on my part, but not so. Since then I've tightened everything down. Running Firefox with the 'noscript' add-in is a good way to go. It has gotten too easy for the bad guys to steal passwords and cc numbers, be safe.

[dancinkozmo]

wow..this sucks, ive been buying stuff from PBK for the past few months with no problems (so far !!) , now im not sure i want to take the risk.. I know wiggle takes paypal, does anyone know if this sort of thing can occur if you use paypal ?

[jthurow]

Bank of America has a way that you can generate a temporary credit card number to use when buying stuff. No worries then. I bet other banks have similar things. Highly recommended.

jimi

[Viper]

I just went through a case of credit fraud...had several bizarre charges in Feb/March. I dunno if this recent economy has generated a boom in credit fraud, but I would like to get my hands around the neck of the mofo who used my card to make online purchases.

[Charles M]

The small charges are "checker" charges...

If they go through and you miss em they also establish a different charge pattern for your card company and generally preceed LARGE charges of the same type...

Donation orgs, overseas charges, net charges....


They all establish a transaction type ahead of you getting walloped...

[Avispa]

Finally, if you were going to rip-off something why would you only charge $20?


L,

$20 could have been just the beginning... I used my card once here in the US with a "reputable" vendor. Shortly after, I noticed some $1.20 purchases that were unrelated. I called the bank, but they didn't cancel the card right away. Before I knew it, I had several large amount charges in Europe and Asia!

I called the Bank again and yelled at them... They canceled the card and sent me a new one, two days later. Obviously they took the fraudulent charges off my account and apologized.

But as you said, I had to go through the hassle of having to call all the companies I had monthly payments set with the card. Since then, what I have done is I use separate cards for different things.

Another strategy that has worked well for me, is to use different cards for different purposes: one to pay household bills, one to shop for bike stuff, etc. If you don't want to have too many credit cards, just open several checking accounts and request check cards for these...

..A..

[Ozz]

A silly question, since I know nothing about debit cards: Can they be used online or for phone mail-order purchases in the exact same manner as a credit card? (Except, of course that I assume there has to be a pre-existing pot of money to be debited.)

How would that differ from having a second credit card with a very low limit and no overdraft protection?

Louis
As long as they have a VISA logo on them, they can be used just like a credit card. Cards without the logo are for PIN based transactions and can't be used for online orders....since there is no keypad to enter your PIN. ;)

There are typically different rules that apply to credit vs debit cards.....the credit card "rules" tend to work more in favor of the consumer. Credit cards will typically give your account provisional credit your account once the fraud has been reported, and final credit once it has been verified and such. Debit cards usually require the fraud to be verified before credit is given...I am not sure exactly, and it varies a little between banks.

Compare the agreements between your cards to see how your bank handles fraud on your different cards. You might need a magnifying glass..... :)

[Pete Serotta]

In the past your legal recourse has been greater with a Credit card (not a debit card). The amount you are liable for is less and also someone cannot drain your checking account and thus cause valid checks to bounce.

[dannyg1]

In the past your legal recourse has been greater with a Credit card (not a debit card). The amount you are liable for is less and also someone cannot drain your checking account and thus cause valid checks to bounce.

And banks are much more concerned when it's their money on the line and not yours, meaning that, if there is a problem, it's much more difficult to come to a final, sensible resolution on a debit account than it is to handle the same fraudulent activity via CC.

[jemoryl]

I once had several tens of thousands of dollars for cameras, jewelry, etc purchased in India whils I was present in NJ. The transactions indicated that the card was present at the time of purchase. It turns out a merchant must have 'cloned' my card here in the US: they use a scanner to make a physical duplicate of your card and it is then sold.

The bank was really good at resolving the issue. They said right away that I couldn't have been in NJ and Hydrabad making purcahses on the same day and recognized what was going on. All the India based charges were removed and I was given a new card with a different number. I am surmising that it was a unfamiliar garage that I took my car to for an oil change; all the other charges on that billing cycle were from places that I trust.

[Der_Kruscher]

Add me to the list of victims. I received a call from my CC company last week to ask about some suspicious charges - $1 music download and then a $50 charge in Isreal. The card was cancelled immediately and a new one reissued (which I haven't received yet). PITA!

[keithreynolds]

re: BofA allows you to generate a temporary credit card number.

So does PayPal via their browser plug-in. You can slect; one time use, one-vendor only or multi-use. Might be the way you would like to go with over-seas purchases.

I have no connection to PayPal, other than paying their exorbitant fees.

[goonster]

There seems to be a lot of this fraud going on lately. Apparently my Visa debit card was compromised and subjected to several of these "test" charges, i.e. shipping/handling charges from purveyors of government grant info CD's, dietary supplements, etc. Netflix tipped me off, since they contacted me to let me know that a duplicate account had been set up in my name (but with a fraudulent email address). The card was cancelled immediately, and not much harm is done.

I had not made purchases to any bike businesses in the UK.

Be careful out there.

[JonB]

I had a few small online transactions that weren't mine from this past friday and monday. I'm glad I check my accounts every 2 or 3 days! The card's been cancelled and I've run the Malwarebytes software on the computer I had used for other online purchases. Thankfully, it only amounted to about 8 bucks, and the CC company took 'em off.

[ben_san]

Me too. Recent small charge on my credit card which the Bank detected and a larger charge on my check card recently which was eventually reversed. Seems like there is some kind of epidemic of this stuff lately....

[SpeedyChix]

Just had the cc company call, same thing. Card is now being replaced. Fraudulent attempt to run a charge on it from South Africa.

[DfCas]

I got a call about 2 weeks,automated, and they came on and asked for my name and phone number. I assumed they were a scam, and refused to talk to them. They suggested I call the # on the back of the CC.

Turned out to be real. $1 iTunes fraud charge to test the card. They closed it down and issued me a new card. I had 0 balance.

Here is where it gets interesting: They lowered my credit limit from $5000 to $500. I called and complained, and they said due to the economic crisis they are reducing limits. I said it is an airline card, and I cant even buy a ticket, so just cancel it. A few days ago I received a check for 10 cents, due to my credit balance.