[Sara Arell]

I was talking to Rich about these credit card snafus and he said that in his 22 years as a police officer he has seen more "comprimised" things happen with debit cards than he can count - he says that debit cards are much easier to "steal" via internet and that he has seen very little of this with a credit card. We don't even own a debit card just for that reason because he feels that strongly about it - don't kow if any of you were talking about debit cards vs credit cards but just thought I'd toss that out there for you.

A couple days ago I was trying to check out of the boutique using the cc I have had on file for a long, long time and it was declined. I tried it a couple of times and it declined it every time and the funny thing is that the card I use has a very small balance on it and a pretty high ceiling so there should have been no reason for it to be declined.

I used another credit card that we rarely use and it went through just fine - Rich's take on the debit cards is just that they are more vulnerable to theft by smart computer card "stealers" - just sayin' -

[Sara Arell]

Florida granny, on 31 December 2011 - 07:07 PM, said:

princessrunningfingers, on 26 December 2011 - 01:09 PM, said:

bitzee, on 26 December 2011 - 12:45 PM, said:

Thanks, Ro. I really appreciate the extra effort in providing a safe environment for Scrap Girls members.

Ro, the reason I asked for any members to let me know if this had happened to them was because if I could tell Visa that I knew x no. of people this had happened to, it would strengthen my case against itunes. Thanks for making SG secure. I had to change my credit card on SG because Visa put a block on the one that I was using.

Hi Joyce, I just noticed this thread today and want to let you know that I, too, had my card used by itunes a month or two ago, without my authorization. I had to get a new visa card even though my card had never been out of my possession. So add me to the list!

I'm feeling a little dense about someone using my cc on ITunes - any time I do anything on ITunes, it asks me for my password - that's the way it works on my laptop, IPhone and IPad - just curious if ITunes asked you for your password before you had to change to another card. It's starting to worry me a little bit now.

Right now I'm having a "shootout" with Verizon - the charges they are adding to my cell bill are ridiculous and are for things I have not solicited or downloaded - I have blocks on my son's phone so he cannot download music - and Verizon's explanation has to be a blankety-blank script because after 4 or 5 calls I get the same generic answer which makes no sense to me at all. Last month it went up $100! Rich and I couldn't breathe for a second because we knew there was just no way it could go that high - I do not play any games on my IPhone or my IPad so it isn't that.

Anyone else have Verizon and experienced any issues with them?

[princessrunningfingers]

Sara Arell, on 01 January 2012 - 07:46 AM, said:

I was talking to Rich about these credit card snafus and he said that in his 22 years as a police officer he has seen more "comprimised" things happen with debit cards than he can count - he says that debit cards are much easier to "steal" via internet and that he has seen very little of this with a credit card. We don't even own a debit card just for that reason because he feels that strongly about it - don't kow if any of you were talking about debit cards vs credit cards but just thought I'd toss that out there for you.

A couple days ago I was trying to check out of the boutique using the cc I have had on file for a long, long time and it was declined. I tried it a couple of times and it declined it every time and the funny thing is that the card I use has a very small balance on it and a pretty high ceiling so there should have been no reason for it to be declined.

I used another credit card that we rarely use and it went through just fine - Rich's take on the debit cards is just that they are more vulnerable to theft by smart computer card "stealers" - just sayin' -

Sara, this didn't have anything to do with my password on itunes. The charges were not on my itunes account, but were on just my credit card. I think that was the case also, with the other people it happened to. That is why I suspect itunes has been up to some funny stuff, or an employee of theirs. Our cards are never out of our hands.

[bitzee]

I have never purchased anything from iTunes and do not have an iTunes account. My card never left my possession either.

[Sara Arell]

princessrunningfingers, on 01 January 2012 - 08:30 AM, said:

Sara Arell, on 01 January 2012 - 07:46 AM, said:

I was talking to Rich about these credit card snafus and he said that in his 22 years as a police officer he has seen more "comprimised" things happen with debit cards than he can count - he says that debit cards are much easier to "steal" via internet and that he has seen very little of this with a credit card. We don't even own a debit card just for that reason because he feels that strongly about it - don't kow if any of you were talking about debit cards vs credit cards but just thought I'd toss that out there for you.

A couple days ago I was trying to check out of the boutique using the cc I have had on file for a long, long time and it was declined. I tried it a couple of times and it declined it every time and the funny thing is that the card I use has a very small balance on it and a pretty high ceiling so there should have been no reason for it to be declined.

I used another credit card that we rarely use and it went through just fine - Rich's take on the debit cards is just that they are more vulnerable to theft by smart computer card "stealers" - just sayin' -

Sara, this didn't have anything to do with my password on itunes. The charges were not on my itunes account, but were on just my credit card. I think that was the case also, with the other people it happened to. That is why I suspect itunes has been up to some funny stuff, or an employee of theirs. Our cards are never out of our hands.

Joyce, now I guess I am really confused - when I set up my ITunes account I had to give them my credit card number in order to be able to download anything - books, music, whatever - so if I want to download something they ask for my password and whatever i have purchased from ITunes shows up on my credit card statement. The card I gave them was my credit card and the box requesting my password always pops up if I want to make a purchase - then at the end of the month, it shows up as an ITunes purchase on my cc statement.

Maybe I'm just not understanding - is there a different way than what I'm doing?

[MariJ]

Sara I always use iTunes cards on iTunes.
And I had the same thing happen to me - 3 separate charges totaling $80 were charged to my credit card but did NOT show up on my iTunes account when both the service rep and myself looked them up on my iTunes account.

[Sara Arell]

I think I'm having a real blonde moment here - I know I'm not understanding this completely. I'm going to try and read more carefully on the ITunes page and see what it is that I'm just not getting here......the only thing I know for certain is that my ITune charges show up on my credit card statement. I know I'm a ditz but .........

[Cheri T]

Sara Arell, on 01 January 2012 - 01:46 PM, said:

Joyce, now I guess I am really confused - when I set up my ITunes account I had to give them my credit card number in order to be able to download anything - books, music, whatever - so if I want to download something they ask for my password and whatever i have purchased from ITunes shows up on my credit card statement. The card I gave them was my credit card and the box requesting my password always pops up if I want to make a purchase - then at the end of the month, it shows up as an ITunes purchase on my cc statement.

Maybe I'm just not understanding - is there a different way than what I'm doing?

Ok, here's my somewhat limited understanding of some of the ways these things can happen (this one is a real life scenario from our house). DH bought something from a bicycle company online using our Discover credit card. I don't know if they were a small enough company they didn't have the highest levels of security or what, but hackers broke into either the bicycle company records via online, or more likely, broke into the company who takes care of the credit card purchases online for the bicycle company and stole several credit card numbers.

Several days after DH's purchase, we get a phone call from Discover asking if we'd made several charges around the world, asked if we had called to request a PIN number, and then withdrew money using the Discover card at a Pennsylvania bank (we live in Iowa). They made us confirm that the cards were in our purse and wallet and that they had not been out of our possession.

Thieves can, apparently with nothing other than the number itself from the credit card hacked from online from a less than secure store, MAKE a new credit card that will actually slide through an ATM machine and withdraw money from the card holder's account.

Discover was amazingly on top of this - all charges were wiped, they issued new cards immediately, and all is now good. It doesn't prevent us from shopping online at all (heck, with some of the things we buy, there's no way we could get them any other way these days, and digital scrapbook supplies is the least of it). It just seems to be an ugly fact of life in the credit card and online age. I think of it this way, at least nobody is robbing my stagecoach at gunpoint on my way to the bank with my gold pieces I earned at work last week. lol

I would imagine that itunes was targeted b/c thieves KNOW darned well that millions upon MILLIONS of credit card numbers were there for the taking. The average or even savviest thief doesn't know Scrap Girls exists, let alone would they think of it as being a great target for thievery.

[Cheri T]

Oh, last bit of info: The thieves aren't using your itunes account Sara, JUST your (or whoevers) credit card number on their OWN itunes account.
The first thing itunes should be doing is siccing the police onto the owners of the bogus accounts using the stolen credit card numbers!
The second thing itunes should do (if legal) is let anyone who calls in know if their credit card number is associated with more accounts than it should be. So most credit card numbers should only be associated with 1-2 accounts (eg. spouses, or parent/child). Some larger families might have a couple teenagers on the same credit card number too, with a separate account with that child's name.

[Sara Arell]

Cheri T, on 02 January 2012 - 11:03 AM, said:

Oh, last bit of info: The thieves aren't using your itunes account Sara, JUST your (or whoevers) credit card number on their OWN itunes account.
The first thing itunes should be doing is siccing the police onto the owners of the bogus accounts using the stolen credit card numbers!
The second thing itunes should do (if legal) is let anyone who calls in know if their credit card number is associated with more accounts than it should be. So most credit card numbers should only be associated with 1-2 accounts (eg. spouses, or parent/child). Some larger families might have a couple teenagers on the same credit card number too, with a separate account with that child's name.

I can get that started from here today, Cheri - I'll file a report this afternoon with CID, Don't know why I (or Rich didn't think about that ourselves - tjanks for the tip.

[MariJ]

Cheri T, on 02 January 2012 - 11:03 AM, said:

Oh, last bit of info: The thieves aren't using your itunes account Sara, JUST your (or whoevers) credit card number on their OWN itunes account.
The first thing itunes should be doing is siccing the police onto the owners of the bogus accounts using the stolen credit card numbers!
The second thing itunes should do (if legal) is let anyone who calls in know if their credit card number is associated with more accounts than it should be. So most credit card numbers should only be associated with 1-2 accounts (eg. spouses, or parent/child). Some larger families might have a couple teenagers on the same credit card number too, with a separate account with that child's name.

Well, now I understand, Cheri! I couldn't figure out why there were charges on my credit card but not my iTunes account.. Like, Duh-uh.. You'd think the ITunes rep would've known that, huh?
Thanks for the explanations and I sure acree with what you wrote!

[Sara Arell]

MariJ, on 03 January 2012 - 10:31 AM, said:

Cheri T, on 02 January 2012 - 11:03 AM, said:

Oh, last bit of info: The thieves aren't using your itunes account Sara, JUST your (or whoevers) credit card number on their OWN itunes account.
The first thing itunes should be doing is siccing the police onto the owners of the bogus accounts using the stolen credit card numbers!
The second thing itunes should do (if legal) is let anyone who calls in know if their credit card number is associated with more accounts than it should be. So most credit card numbers should only be associated with 1-2 accounts (eg. spouses, or parent/child). Some larger families might have a couple teenagers on the same credit card number too, with a separate account with that child's name.

Well, now I understand, Cheri! I couldn't figure out why there were charges on my credit card but not my iTunes account.. Like, Duh-uh.. You'd think the ITunes rep would've known that, huh?
Thanks for the explanations and I sure acree with what you wrote!

I think I need to go back through all my cc statements - I haven't bought but a few things from ITunes so it shouldn't be difficult to find....however, Rich has mentioned to me several times, "what in the world did you buy from ITunes that cost so much?" - Thanks, Cheri for the explanation - I see I have some work to do. Just off the top of my head, I doubt if I personally have spent more than $20 in ITunes that would have been charged to my cc........that much I know. Now to see if there's things on there that aren't mine........ACK!

[Cheri T]

Sara Arell, on 03 January 2012 - 10:38 AM, said:

I think I need to go back through all my cc statements - I haven't bought but a few things from ITunes so it shouldn't be difficult to find....however, Rich has mentioned to me several times, "what in the world did you buy from ITunes that cost so much?" - Thanks, Cheri for the explanation - I see I have some work to do. Just off the top of my head, I doubt if I personally have spent more than $20 in ITunes that would have been charged to my cc........that much I know. Now to see if there's things on there that aren't mine........ACK!

Yep, go through your credit card statement and make sure it matches up with your itunes account statement online. If the thieves have been at it, there will be charges on your credit card statement that aren't on your itunes account. I'm not sure if your credit card company can help you if you've already paid that credit card bill though. You can contact them and see, but I think most policies state that you need to contest the charge before paying the bill. But at least you can compare the CC statement and your itunes account going FORWARD in time and report any new problems.

[Sara Arell]

Cheri T, on 03 January 2012 - 11:40 AM, said:

Sara Arell, on 03 January 2012 - 10:38 AM, said:

I think I need to go back through all my cc statements - I haven't bought but a few things from ITunes so it shouldn't be difficult to find....however, Rich has mentioned to me several times, "what in the world did you buy from ITunes that cost so much?" - Thanks, Cheri for the explanation - I see I have some work to do. Just off the top of my head, I doubt if I personally have spent more than $20 in ITunes that would have been charged to my cc........that much I know. Now to see if there's things on there that aren't mine........ACK!

Yep, go through your credit card statement and make sure it matches up with your itunes account statement online. If the thieves have been at it, there will be charges on your credit card statement that aren't on your itunes account. I'm not sure if your credit card company can help you if you've already paid that credit card bill though. You can contact them and see, but I think most policies state that you need to contest the charge before paying the bill. But at least you can compare the CC statement and your itunes account going FORWARD in time and report any new problems.

They don't make it easy for us, do they? Yet, it IS so easy for our cc's to be stolen or used by someone else. I had to call our gas credit card the other day to get new cards because ours were so worn down and they told me they couldn't talk to me because I wasn't on the account! Yet I had a card right in front of me with my name on it! Good thing to know too because it just works that way if your husband opens an account and you can be issued a card but you are not actually ON the account - we are going through everything and checking it twice now because that just doesn't work if we both can't access accounts - what if something serious happened? And that isn't the norm really - we don't usually just open accounts that we both aren't aware of, but Rich just got that particular gas credit card himself and he didn't think twice about actually telling them that my name was ON the account - I was just an account user! I can use the credit card and I can pay the bill, but they can't talk to me about the account - so I can't close it, can't change anything on it, can't report abuse on it -

[bitzee]

No, Sara they don't make it easy for us. But, they sure do make it easy on the thieves. They even protect the privacy of the the thieves. YUK!

[Ro]

They should help you. I know they helped me when I had some issues.

Here's the situation with Scrap Girls... We had thousands of dollars every year to make sure that our servers are as secure as possible. They are tested every single day to find out if there are vulnerabilities and they are testing in terms of all of the latest tricks that people are using. If anything is discovered, it is fixed ASAP by the team I am paying to keep on top of it. We have also taken steps like to install a Firewall.

A lot of small online websites cannot afford this or they aren't willing to do it. Security is very important to me so I shell out the cash for it. We are doing everything possible to keep your accounts safe.

[KayMitch]

Thankyou Ro. It's comforting to know you are doing your best for all of us. We appreciate your personal care and concern. Kay

[jenrou]

I talked to my son who uses itunes, and he only buys cards, and uses them. He doesn't give itunes a credit card.
Recently there were some coupons in battery packs bought at Costco that were for $10. for itunes. I gave them to him and he got a $10. itunes card.

Another obvious thing to be careful of, don't give out your birthdate and family information that could be used in identity theft or credit card theft. I don't care if anyone knows how aged I am, but I don't give out all of my information online, just the month and day. It's so easy when you talk in different forums to give out information that could be used. Genealogy is another one full of information. If you put your genealogy online, privatize the information so that living person's information is protected. In the past, two of our "family by marriage" have used the identity of other family members to join the military even, then deserted. Other family members got it straightened out, but some of that family still use our family name.

It's a crazy world, and we just need to be careful of our information, including credit information.

It is a pleasure to do business with Scrapgirls! Within minutes, even a small mistake (on my part) is straightened out. Thanks!!
jenrou

[princessrunningfingers]

Ro, on 09 January 2012 - 02:03 PM, said:

They should help you. I know they helped me when I had some issues.

Here's the situation with Scrap Girls... We had thousands of dollars every year to make sure that our servers are as secure as possible. They are tested every single day to find out if there are vulnerabilities and they are testing in terms of all of the latest tricks that people are using. If anything is discovered, it is fixed ASAP by the team I am paying to keep on top of it. We have also taken steps like to install a Firewall.

A lot of small online websites cannot afford this or they aren't willing to do it. Security is very important to me so I shell out the cash for it. We are doing everything possible to keep your accounts safe.

Thank you Ro for caring so much about security. I have to assume that itunes does not, or this wouldn't be happening with so many people.

[Sara Arell]

I really appreciate the security here at Scrap Girls! It means alot to know that my cc is safe here and I've known that for a long time and have never felt as if there were a problem here.

Thank you, Ro, so much for that!

[scrapcritter]

Thank you Ro

[Sara Arell]

This has nothing to do with Scrap Girls, but my cc company just called me and thought I'd share this info with you - it seems someone tried to use our credit card earlier today - a company called Mail Express - for $178.00 - the purchase was denied but the fraud department was right on it and notified us. I'm always grateful when they stay on top of these things. So, that means we have to be issued new cards with new numbers, but at least we're not out $178.00 for something we didn't even buy!

Oops - forgot the real reason I was posting this - she told me they had had alot of issues recently with some online companies stealing cc numbers - she said it's actually their business to do just that - so everyone be careful with your cc's!

Just FYI

[princessrunningfingers]

Sara, how weird. I got a call yesterday about charges on a card I rarely use. In fact, our last charge on it was in January to SG, when I was dealing with fraud on my card that I usually use for most things. They said the charges were to Skype and some other telephone place in Calif. Thank goodness the CC issuer caught it. There were several hundred dollars charged in one day. It makes me wonder about using CC's at all any more.

[Sara Arell]

princessrunningfingers, on 22 March 2012 - 05:27 AM, said:

Sara, how weird. I got a call yesterday about charges on a card I rarely use. In fact, our last charge on it was in January to SG, when I was dealing with fraud on my card that I usually use for most things. They said the charges were to Skype and some other telephone place in Calif. Thank goodness the CC issuer caught it. There were several hundred dollars charged in one day. It makes me wonder about using CC's at all any more.

I agree, Joyce - it worries me. And the fact that you got a call yesterday and the fraud center told me that they had been having alot of fraud activity lately really makes me curious. It makes me shudder to think how easily one's cc number can be stolen.

[princessrunningfingers]

Sara Arell, on 22 March 2012 - 05:41 AM, said:

princessrunningfingers, on 22 March 2012 - 05:27 AM, said:

Sara, how weird. I got a call yesterday about charges on a card I rarely use. In fact, our last charge on it was in January to SG, when I was dealing with fraud on my card that I usually use for most things. They said the charges were to Skype and some other telephone place in Calif. Thank goodness the CC issuer caught it. There were several hundred dollars charged in one day. It makes me wonder about using CC's at all any more.

I agree, Joyce - it worries me. And the fact that you got a call yesterday and the fraud center told me that they had been having alot of fraud activity lately really makes me curious. It makes me shudder to think how easily one's cc number can be stolen.

It's particularly hard for me to figure out how they got this one, because we use the card so seldom, and had not used it at all lately. Things like this make me soooo nervous.

[Sara Arell]

princessrunningfingers, on 22 March 2012 - 05:49 AM, said:

Sara Arell, on 22 March 2012 - 05:41 AM, said:

princessrunningfingers, on 22 March 2012 - 05:27 AM, said:

Sara, how weird. I got a call yesterday about charges on a card I rarely use. In fact, our last charge on it was in January to SG, when I was dealing with fraud on my card that I usually use for most things. They said the charges were to Skype and some other telephone place in Calif. Thank goodness the CC issuer caught it. There were several hundred dollars charged in one day. It makes me wonder about using CC's at all any more.

I agree, Joyce - it worries me. And the fact that you got a call yesterday and the fraud center told me that they had been having alot of fraud activity lately really makes me curious. It makes me shudder to think how easily one's cc number can be stolen.

It's particularly hard for me to figure out how they got this one, because we use the card so seldom, and had not used it at all lately. Things like this make me soooo nervous.

Joyce, this is a card that we started using because we had experienced the same thing with another card we had been using - so we stopped using it and went to this one - now, we're starting it all over again. It makes me very nervous too.

[kimmybutton]

Very weird! I got a call on Tuesday from one of our landscaping business credit cards that there was suspicious activity. I figured they were just flagging recent purchases since we are in our spring season and using it all of the sudden. But, no ... It was my card (that I rarely use). There were 2 charges of $0.00 followed by one for $860 for airline tickets! I had to cancel the card immediately. It's become really annoying as this is the 3rd time this has happened in the last several years -- all with different credit cards! Thank goodness the credit card companies call to alert you to the unusual activity.

[Cheri T]

While unnerving, thieves have been around since practically the beginning of time. It's just a different way of stealing. And in this day and age, though we could buy many things with cash and Paypal, there are some things that can pretty much only be purchased using a credit card. This is a bad example since it was the thief in Kim's case, but how else could I purchase an airline ticket these days? I'm not sure I could even walk up to the airport and use cash (maybe). But the airport isn't in my hometown.

The bottom line is, all credit card companies I know of are actively looking out for thieves and doing a pretty good job. We ALWAYS scrutinize our credit card bills for charges we didn't make - that right there is 2 lines of defense against theft. And I'm pretty sure all credit card companies work with us and are very believing of the card holder if they say they didn't make the charges.

[jenrou]

The same MC card (different number now) was again compromised recently. Last December, and now again I had to do a lost stolen. This time it was Target.com and Paypal. Paypal did have my card, but I'm not giving it out to them again. I think they are pretty careful, but who knows how these things happen. It's been a year or so since I've bought anything at Target.com, and I usually use a different card for local purchases. The thieves seem to find a way, no matter what.

[Sara Arell]

jenrou, on 09 May 2012 - 10:45 PM, said:

The same MC card (different number now) was again compromised recently. Last December, and now again I had to do a lost stolen. This time it was Target.com and Paypal. Paypal did have my card, but I'm not giving it out to them again. I think they are pretty careful, but who knows how these things happen. It's been a year or so since I've bought anything at Target.com, and I usually use a different card for local purchases. The thieves seem to find a way, no matter what.

Oh, dear - not again! This just worries me to death too! It hasn't happened to us again and I'm keeping my fingers crossed but I'm being sooooo careful now and watching all my activity!