Encrypted purchase "Hacked"

Rustic Eagle · 12-30-2011, 10:33 AM

I keep a "backup" credit card active by using it "once a year", and wouldn't you know it the one time I use it this year (early December) for an on-line purchase from a reputable retailer (Summit Sports), my card number was used fraudulently a couple days later

. My bank notified me of the fraudulent activity and I was promptly given a new card number. I also notified (early December) the retailer of the incident and they wanted as much information as I could provide, so it sounded like they sincerely wanted to pursue the matter.

During the last two weeks I started receiving "unwanted"

adult e-mails, which I never opened and just trashed them. Well, now I know why......, I just received a lengthly e-mail from the retailer I mentioned earlier.., in part stating:

"We believe that the encrypted credit cards may have been decoded by a hacker who also may have had access to the encryption key."

and......,

"On December 15, 2011, these experts identified and confirmed the source of the suspected vulnerability, at which time we immediately took the source of the incident-our development server-offline."

and.....,

"The information that may have been compromised includes your name, email address, the credit card number of the card used for your purchase, and the billing address for that card."

Apparently fraud agents contacted the retailer in late October which started an internal investigation by certified forensic IT experts, thus identifying the security problem on December 15th.

Tis' the season folks, might be a good time to get an updated free credit report, just-in-case.

Bob

Terry · 12-30-2011, 12:51 PM

Yeah...you really just cant get away from it these days it seems.....

One of my cards has the ability to create new card numbers on the fly with a set expr date and dollar amount. They are great when you are not 100% sure of the vendor. I authorize it for $5 more than the purchase so the pre-authorizations go through and if someone hacks the card - they cant purchase any more.

They are also great for any type of subscription service such as music services, onstar, etc. These places love to auto-renew you without reminding you and then telling you that you agreed to it when you initially signed up - very shaddy practice in my opinion - but with these temp cards - nope!

Heck - last time I went to Mexico I even created 5 of them with $10 on them each. I used them for things like public wifi access where there was no way I was going to enter my main number. Worked like a champ. You cant present them for in person transactions, but for anything online - perfect.

David472 · 12-30-2011, 03:49 PM

Because of risks like this, I have so far avoided any involvement with PayPal. I suppose a person could reduce the risk by following Terry's example and give the temp card number to PayPal instead of your "real" credit card or bank account info. Even so, there have been some incidents where people have been exposed even though they never shop on-line, because the in-store database was hacked.

Quahog · 12-30-2011, 04:05 PM

I've been using Paypal for about 10 years now and I've never had any problems with the service. And that's after 100s of eBay purchases, bill payments, transfers to friends/relatives, etc. In fact, one of the things I really like about Paypal is that you don't have to expose your credit card number to the merchant... only to Paypal.

clutch · 12-30-2011, 09:25 PM

Fortunately our cards are still secure. We just bought a new Polaris quad yesterday and our credit score was the same as it was two years ago.

Seann45 · 12-31-2011, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clutch

fortunately our cards are still secure. We just bought a new polaris quad yesterday and our credit score was the same as it was two years ago.

0????rotflol

Wyotraveler · 12-31-2011, 02:04 PM

Since I have been using "shop safe" I have discovered that if I buy something from Amazon, for example, they have several vendors. If you buy 4 or 5 things they ship your credit card number to all of those vendors instead of using it their selves, and paying the separate vendors. Therefore when you put your card number out there you don't know how many people are going to see your credit card number. So Amazon e-mailed me and said you have a bad credit card. I said NOPE! You have a bad credit card policy. You can't ship my credit card number all over the country because now it goes "TILT" because I use "Shop Safe". Now I realize when I shop at Amazon I can purchase only from one of their sources. Sometimes it costs a little more in shipping fees but I am a lot safer.

Terry · 12-31-2011, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wyotraveler

Since I have been using "shop safe" I have discovered that if I buy something from Amazon, for example, they have several vendors. If you buy 4 or 5 things they ship your credit card number to all of those vendors instead of using it their selves, and paying the separate vendors. Therefore when you put your card number out there you don't know how many people are going to see your credit card number. So Amazon e-mailed me and said you have a bad credit card. I said NOPE! You have a bad credit card policy. You can't ship my credit card number all over the country because now it goes "TILT" because I use "Shop Safe". Now I realize when I shop at Amazon I can purchase only from one of their sources. Sometimes it costs a little more in shipping fees but I am a lot safer.

Hey Wyotraveler - I am not sure that is how they do it now. I use Amazon several times a week. I have never had them give my card to any of the vendors. If it is on their site, I have always had the charge go through Amazon as a pass through to the vendor. Never once have I had any problems with them they have not been able to promptly fix.

Lady Fitzgerald · 12-31-2011, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tafische

Hey Wyotraveler - I am not sure that is how they do it now. I use Amazon several times a week. I have never had them give my card to any of the vendors. If it is on their site, I have always had the charge go through Amazon as a pass through to the vendor. Never once have I had any problems with them they have not been able to promptly fix.

I wish I could say the same. I've never had problems with Amazon itself (the one problem I had they took care of immediately) but I've had occasional problems with their Marketplace vendors. Some of those vendors are less than reputable. Getting Amazon to do anything about it is like pulling teeth. Once, when I got stuck with an expensive paper cutter that turned out to be a cheap knock off that broke, I got fed up with them ignoring my emails and filed a complaint with the BBB. THAT got their attention and they then bent over backwards for me. I know now to check the vendor reviews before ordering from Marketplace vendors. I actually read the reviews instead of the ratings because too many people do not know the difference between a product review and a vendor review.

That said, I do enough business with Amazon I'm considering buying stock with them so I can see some of my money again. I'm just more cautious now.

Wyotraveler · 12-31-2011, 06:09 PM

When using "Shop Safe" you create a credit card number and a 3 digit code. You place the amount you want on it, then give it a time limit like 2 months. When you send that number off to the vendor who ever hits that number first it will work for them. If someone else other than the vendor hits the number a little later, even if there is money on the card it goes tilt. If the same vendor hits the card a second or third time it will still be good. What I have noticed with Amazon is they will hit the number for partial of the total order. Then it gets hit again for more of the order. It is not Amazon that is hitting the number it is one of their vendors. Otherwise the number would still be good. I have had other vendors hit for partial order and then hit later for back ordered items and no problem. Therefore Amazon has to be shipping that number out to its vendors. "Shop Safe" is a very unique system.

edatlanta · 12-31-2011, 07:38 PM

I had a funny thing happen a couple of years ago. One of my credit cards had a fraudulent charge on it that happened about 3:00am on a Sunday morning. I can assure you I wasn't up at that time. It turned out to be a charge for service from LifeLock. I have never ever used their service or signed up for anything remotely resembling their service. My card number was changed and the charge reversed.

It was fun when LifeLock called me 11 months later to get me to renew their service. I really enjoyed that phone call.

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