Lots of credit card fraud recently

[Spoon]

Several carp anglers (including myself) have had their credit cards used fraudulently within last few weeks or days. I found out about this from Facebook. I had not used my card for a few months. Is it a coincidence that several carp angler were hit in a short time period, or has someone hacked CAG or an online tackle store?

[sullypool]

I'm also a victim My Debit card I did purchase recently some CAG patch's using my Pay Pal acct. Who knows Who ever does it knows the ropes and schemes!!!!!!!!

[Buckeye Bob]

From PayPal FAQ...PayPal keeps your financial information private. When you pay using PayPal, the
seller never sees or receives your credit card or bank account numbers. Additionally all your bank and credit card information is stored by PayPal on a computer that is not connected to the internet. Transactions are all completed in SSL...encrypted format.

Sooo...if you've used PayPal to pay at ANY vendor for all your transactions...it's impossible for your card info to be gotten from any virus that that site may have. Your payment goes to PayPal and then is deposited into the vendors account without any credit card info being given to the vendor. I've been using PayPal for all my online purchasing since around 1999/2000...and have never had a fraudulent charge on my cards. UH OH...now watch LOL!!!

[Willem (JD)]

I talked with PayPal fraud dept. this morning to find out what happens if a payPal account is compromised. I asked what somebody can access, lets say if they gain access to the CAG or and other vendor's PayPal account.

The guy said the only damage a thief can do when they gain access to a Paypal account, is steal from that account, in other words, steal CAG's funds by buying online or transferring funds.

PayPal also said that if a PayPal account was compromised, the charges will show on your Paypal account, not the bank statement only and it will show up on your bank as a PayPal transfer.

If it's a direct CC transaction it was not done VIA PayPal.

They are also insured in case their succure database gets compromised. I asked him what prevent PayPal from telling their customers that PayPal was compromised. They said the insurance company. If they don't report and acknowledge the problem as soon as they find it, insurance wont cover them.

They said that they (PayPal) do not use CC or Bank info to conduct transactions, they use the e-mail address on file linked to that account then verify the passord associated with a succure database (SSL)

They said on the vendor account (CAG, BCT, Resistance or any other) there are no CC or Bank info from their customers, thus impossible far anybody to access their clients info.

I left them a msg Monday to call me and asked them to check and see if any attempts have been made on CAG's Paypal (we don't want our club funds stolen either). Thats why they returned my call today.

[Robert H]

Thank Willem for that info good to know

Carpediem My reference to CRAP was all the blaming and accusations that have happened in the 12 Pages I beleive some of it may have been removed. My account was comprimised and I had to replace my Card My Bank caught the unathorized transaction.

[Carphd]

I have never been hit before.My bank said that every time there is an insurance claim, they investigate the incident. We did let the bank know that several carp anglers were hit within the last week. I asked if they get back to us on the findings of an investigation and they said they do not get back to us. We have 2 accts, when i asked if we should change out both acct numbers they said no. they usually only get 1 CC number. After reading the post here, we have decided to change out both acct. numbers. This is a serious pain in the A$$. because we need to use one or the other at any given time.

I don't think anyone is blaming anyone and would like to think we are just trying to help each other out. However, i would love to know if they ever catch these bast^*ds.

[cypry]

Did happened to me too, credit card company called and got a new card.

I have purchased stuff from all vendors pretty much, but not lately, uhhhhmmm

The lady from the cc company just mention something from Grupon but never got charged.

How safe is Pay-pal and aren't they responsible if something like this happens ??

My debit card got hit 2 weeks ago. First charge was a pre-authorization from group-on for 1 dollar that was refunded immediately. Then i got hit for 64 at Itunes the same day. It was almost as if they were testing it at groupon to see if it worked. The strange thing is i RARELY use my debit card for purchases and definetly not for any fishing tackle so i have no idea how they got my info.

[CarpeDiem]

Carpediem My reference to CRAP was all the blaming and accusations that have happened in the 12 Pages I beleive some of it may have been removed. My account was comprimised and I had to replace my Card My Bank caught the unathorized transaction.

My apologies Robert, I guess I misread your post

[Robert H]

My apologies Robert, I guess I misread your post

CarpeDiem Its all good I could have worded it Better I was a little frustrated with all the accusations

[FiSherwood]

Robert, I had the same experience. My first inkling of a problem was the CC company calling me about a charge that was refused in California. So, no harm done except I cancelled my card immediately and just received my new card.

[cypry]

My local community paper just ran a story about the local police being inundated with complaints about credit card fraud, this and from what i have read elsewhere indicates this is going on all over the country. I can only imagine how much money has been stolen.

[Guest]

Ever since seeing this thread I have continually been checking my account status. Hope everyone gets this sorted out before too much damage is done. As already mentioned, paypal is probably the safest payment method.

[(GA) needmotime2fish]

I just delayed a pre-baiting session I had planned for today because my wife's identity information just got compromised, and I had to help her get the problem resolved.

This is the 2nd incident since last fall and we were very fortunate both times. Last fall someone tried to use her Visa for a $3000 purchase at walmart.com, but the CC company flagged it and contacted her before they approved the purchase. Whoever tried to use her card was also trying to change her address (I assume that was so it would agree with the shipping address for whatever they tried to order). She immediately cancelled that card, and they reissued her a new one.

Last night she got a call from another CC company to tell her that they were processing an application for a new Visa in her name. Whoever was trying to open the account had her name, address, date of birth, and Social Security number. I'm not sure how or why the CC company flagged it, but we immediately placed a fraud alert on her credit report (so that any time someone tries to get credit in her name she will be contacted). We also tried to file a police report for fraud, but could not do so because there was no activity on the new card (thus, no one had actually tried to 'steal' from her so far, so there was no actual 'fraud' committed). The CC company confirmed that the new card has already been cancelled, based on our phone call, so we're "ok" for now.

I mentioned this because my wife has NEVER dealt with either CAG or with any of our bait or tackle vendors. This is a very widespread problem, It's quite possible that there is absolutely no "common thread" associated with carp anglers. Further, it might not even be an internet security issue. We discussed this with a police officer (who happened to be their chief IT guy), and he mentioned that this is an international problem. He recently caught one person who had a large portfolio of personal and credit information that she had purchased from a web site in Russia for $10 per name. I'm reasonably certain that most of the names on that list were not carp anglers.

The recent flurry of fraudulent activity reported by our members in the previous dozen pages quite possibly could be nothing more than a symptom of a general increase in fraud worldwide, and "probably" does not relate in any way to our organization or our vendors.

Nevertheless, all the suggestions regarding personal responsibility and computer security are certainly valid. As a retired computer professional myself, I would certainly recommend taking any and all appropriate steps to ensure that your computers are free from viruses and Trojans -- regardless of the source of these credit card problems. That's just good common sense.

-- Barry Shildneck