Online shopping - warning to my YLF friends - YouLookFab Forum

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Online shopping - warning to my YLF friends

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

This is sort of on topic so am posting here (hope that's ok Angie) - I just got a call from my bank that there has been a large ($6000) expenditure charged to my Mastercard today that they detected as fraudulent. It is by a vendor that my card has no known history with and for an extremely large one-time expense - that's what tipped them off. They would not tell me who the vendor was that took the number, only that the purchase was in the U.S. and done online. My MasterCard account has been immediately cancelled and an investigation underway.

Just wanted to warn everyone to be careful who that credit card number goes out to, especially when online shopping. PayPal is the most secure according to my bank but as we know, there are certain retailers that do not accept PayPal for online purchases. From now on, I don't think I'll be online shopping with a company that does not accept PayPal.

Stay safe my friends!

Shopping

27 replies

Latest reply was from Janet

Anonymous

It's happened to me once too -- but that is only one time in about 15 years of online shopping, so that is pretty good I think. I prefer to use PayPal also, despite its flaws!

Aziraphale

Veteran

I know of two people who have had this happen (and a third who was contacted by Mastercard for a huge, one-time expense, but it turned out not to be fraudulent -- she had spent the money herself, on fine jewellery).

Thank you for the reminder to be cautious!

Echo

Veteran

My mom reently made a gasoline purchase at a local station and later found herself unable to withdraw money from her account due to "insufficient funds" (which NEVER happens to my mom). Turns out that the station's computers either added zeros or otherwise miscalculated the amount and made a charge of thousands. Her bank took care of it immediately.

Additionally, each and every time you make a purchase in person at a retail store, you leave your credit card number with them. No one even has to write it down; it prints on the store's records. Any employee could take any number he or she wished at almost any time.

Just a reminder that in-person transactions are not necessarily safer than online ones, and that mistakes or fraud can happen at local stores and businesses as well. ALWAYS check your credit card and bank statements! I am so glad that you got things taken care of Shannon. That is scary whenever it happens!

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Wow, Shannon - that is very disturbing!! I am so sorry about this.

I wonder why they wouldn't reveal the name of the vendor. I hope at least they will let you know afterwards.

This can happen even with regular shopping, by the way. We had a similar experience because an employee (presumably) of Staples just took our number and used it. This was before chip cards came in. Luckily, our credit card company recognized that the shopping pattern was unlike our normal pattern and alerted us immediately.

Oh - and I had it happen completely at random, too! Someone tried to use my card number for online gambling! Luckily, the bank called me immediately. In this case, they think it was literally a random occurrence. Online gamblers just make up numbers in any combination hoping to find one that works.

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

Excellent point Echo - in person isn't necessarily safer.

I have to say thanks to my bank for alerting us right away - like you Suz, they recognized that it wasn't the norm for our account.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Oops - x-posted with Echo! HAHAHA

Anonymous

That has happened to me a couple of times, not only with online shopping but with people taking my credit card # and actually making a card to use at local supermarkets (swiping the card at the self checkout lane, where no one is there to check ID). I know this to be a fact because I had never lost my card (it was still in my wallet), and my credit card company told me how they made a card and swiped it.

My credit card company's fraud dept. is excellent, and they've managed to catch it most of the time. I still make them send printed statements in the mail so I can check as well. You can never be too careful!

Also, I canceled my PayPal account after a security breech. Someone managed to hack into my account and attempt to transfer money. PayPal took their sweet time (weeks!) to address my concerns, so I canceled my account. Live and learn, I guess. I no longer trust PayPal.

Glory

Veteran

This happened to me last year with visa. They were excellent about it and reversed all charges. They also did not tell me the name of 2 vendors involved but I did have paperwork that I had to authenticate. Suz - have also had the online gambling thing - forgot about that until you mentioned it.

Kalli

I've also had this problem before. However they tend to charge a small amount first and then when it goes through, larger amounts. It's virtually painless to some degree but I monitor my accounts using Mint so I can see all the pending charges as they happen. I love Mint! This has saved me much frustration and I use only one credit card to make all my online purchases, so it's relatively easy to just know which one was stolen.

rachylou

Veteran

On that note: The risks you run shopping online you run everywhere else.

My mum is not net savvy enough to shop online. I got a voicemail from her last night that someone has used her number to take a trip to London.

Day Vies

Veteran

I have had my personal information used to open a line of credit I knew nothing about. The bank that granted the card contacted me because I happened to do my banking with them. They also would not tell me how the person was able to open an account using my information. At least they cancelled the card before it could affect my credit.

Raisin

Veteran

Oh crap! Glad they picked that up Shannon! Our MC used to get frozen every time we left Labrador and went visiting because we would literally spend 1000's in a day (cabin fever much?) and our CC company found it strange. We ended up having to call them before we left town every time. But it's good to know they're keeping on top of that stuff. It's true though, keep careful track of your cards even when only shopping in person. The salesperson can easily access your CC # and use it later.

Sveta

(website)

Veteran

My company MasterCard was cancelled on me while I was on a business trip in US because somebody tried to buy something for $2500 in the Gucci store in Toronto!
(you can imagine the extent of my co-workers jokes at the matter - of all things - Gucci! How lucky for me I was in the US at the time...)
Apparently there are some cab drivers who can steal your card info when you pay them...not online but still happens.
I have one card which I use exclusively for online and abroad shopping so it is easy to check if anything is amiss.

ironkurtin

Veteran

The good thing is that card companies are extremely vigilant about fraud these days!

The bad thing is, it can leave you without a card when traveling - which is why it's not a terrible idea to have more than one card if you travel a lot, even though it's a big hassle sometimes to manage two. Also, like Raisin says, I've also found it a GREAT idea to call my cc in advance to let them know I'll be traveling!

lynne

Veteran

My sister just had this happen to her. The charges didn't go through, but she had to get a new card which took some time and annoyed the bejeebers out of her. The kicker was that the merchant had apparently known for some time that they had been breached, but did not let their customers know.

Carla

Veteran

Raisin raises a good point for all travellers. When DH and I go out of country, we call our card company and give them the dates we will be abroad, and the country. That prevents getting our spending privileges cancelled when the pattern changes in a dramatic way.

Jjsloane

Veteran

So sorry Shannon. It's a really uncomfortable feeling. Many years ago my "identity" was stolen with my wallet. I cancelled all the cards that had been taken, but then I started to get credit cards in the mail from stores I had not been to. The thieves had opened up "quick credits" using my ss#. I found most stores quite blase about this. I was turned off for life from Macys and Victoria's Secret who treated me like the criminal. Neiman Marcus was the best. Macy's was marginal (they did not register that even though I had never spent $1,000 in children's shoes before it was not a trigger for fraud in their opinion. They simply cancelled the card, removed the charges (after I faxed them my id photos and an affadavit that it was not me) It was annoying and intrusive. I shop online a lot and have (knock on wood) only had a few things happen (small dollar charges that I caught right away - but I had to be without that card while they issued a new one so inconvenient) I like the online generated numbers from Discover, but if you return items to B&M store they can only give you store credit (most stores) Paypal is similar for returns so I'd rather have the protection of Visa behind my purchases as they remove any suspected fraud immediately.

Thistle

Veteran

This has happened to my mom twice. We only have one credit card, but after reading this, thinking I should have a second in reserve.

Anonymous

OMG, your deo must have been working overtime! I'm so glad you caught that.

Anonymous

Dang it, I'm sorry. I had a case of credit card fraud a while ago but the card was cloned out of a restaurant. Amex investigated and the person was convicted. I was not the only victim. He or she had stolen a considerable amount.

krishnidoux

Veteran

Sorry it happened to you. Thanks for the warning!

deb

Veteran

Restaurants are one place where we still hand over our cards and watch them walk away. Who knows what numbers are written down. I feel that is the place where most fraud starts but until restaurants start using machines (like Nordstrom) at the tables, I thing we just have to chance it.

catgirl

Veteran

$6000?!?!? That's terrible!

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

Wow - I'm amazed to hear how so many of you have experienced the same or similar things. These criminals are busy people!

And you've made some excellent points for me to think about in terms of second credit card, Visa, etc. Thanks for your wisdom.

Una - don't you wonder what they bought???

DonnaF

Veteran

We got an additional CC for DD to use for emergencies while at college out of state. We informed CC company where she was attending. Apparently, this is considered *vacation* use so only lasts 90 days! So on the 91st day, they put a freeze on ALL our cards until I called. So now she or we have to remember to call the CC company every few months to remind them that DD is in another state and that it's okay.

I've had calls from our CC company that someone tried to use our card number to get into a theater in South Africa. Another time, someone bought flowers in Spain. Apparently, some thieves just try to use random number combos until something works, and they test on something small.

Then, there was the call on my birthday when DD was small. We'd bought diapers and Toys'r'Us, gas at a place that also had a minimart, I'd actually gone to a department store and purchased something for myself (so quite a rarity back then!), and then we went out to dinner. Apparently this, esp. gas station, is a bad guy pattern so it triggered a fraud alert. Nowadays, my shopping doesn't trigger a fraud alert, and so far DH's heart has been okay.

Mander

(website)

Veteran

I've had two incidents where my credit card number was stolen, but in both cases I got a call from the bank as soon as it happened and they issued a new card right away. Interestingly, my British card was used in the US, and vice versa.

I don't really know how they got my numbers but there are so many possible ways that I don't think it does much good to be paranoid about it. Both charges were for fairly small amounts but there were other red flags. The American card is one that I only use to buy airline tickets and had not been used for many months, and the British card was used at a store in Michigan (I have never been to Michigan).

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Yikes! Sorry to hear that. I have to say Capital One and American Express are excellent about contacting us any time a large purchase is made or out-of-town charges show up. Chase calls too.

My ebay identity was hacked a few years ago, to buy electronics. They cleared it up pretty quickly, but I changed my passwords and make them tougher after that.