A heads up to my Notcigs Family

[Ruppy]

Just a FYI to all of those in notcigs that I consider my friends (please note this has nothing to do with notcigs )

I have a credit card that I use solely for vaping purchases. Its actually a prepaid card as I have had credit cards stolen online TWICE before. Went to make a purchase today and it was declined. Checked the transactions and there was a 0 balance. A friendly person in greece used my card. Needless to say there were also about 20 declined attempts to charge to the card as well. Fortunately im only out about 100 bucks and it could have been much worse. I urge everyone that spends much on vaping to keep a close eye on your accounts. I have absolutely no idea where the issue originated. It could have been a vendor or it could have been a bank breach.

I just wanted to give everyone the word just in case it could save you some trouble

Now lets hope nothing goes on sale until I get my new card

Ryan

 

[minx]

Aww that sucks Ruppy. Like you said it could have been much worse, not that it makes it any better. Will they be able to sort it out and give you a refund?

 

[bandmom5]

I had the same thing happen to me a few weeks ago. Luck was with me and my bank caught it and put a hold on my card until they got a hold of me. Still had to wait almost two weeks for new card. It was a pain but I'm glad the bank caught it before anything went through. They were trying to buy stuff from Great Britain.

 

[Ruppy]

Aww that sucks Ruppy. Like you said it could have been much worse, not that it makes it any better. Will they be able to sort it out and give you a refund?

Yeah I "should" eventually get a refund on the fraudulent transactions. Could take up to 30 days though.

 

[scinsc]

Sorry to hear this Ruppy.
I use a credit card from Citibank that is set up to use Virtual account numbers and it works like a charm. Every transaction has it own account number and after you use that number it can never be used again. I had one AH try to use one of my numbers and was stopped cold. So far I haven't lost a dime and I use it all of the time.

 

[5cardstud]

It happened to me once and can't happen anymore. I set up an account at my bank solely for online purchases. I just transfer money to it when I need to make a purchase so it's easy to use. I have it set up so if there is no money in it no money comes out. It has worked beautifully and it didn't cost me a dime. I use it for any online activity even payments to the cc company. I was .43 cents short one time and it declined the transaction so I know it works.

Sorry it happened to you Ruppy but listen to Ruppy and get yourselves secure online before it happens to you.

 

[catcat]

Thanks for the heads up. Gosh, I wish more suppliers were set up for paypal. I always worry about cc transactions on line.

 

[mistinthewoods]

I've had 3 CC#s stolen myself Ruppy. I've been getting pre paid cards in the amount I'm planning on spending then running home and using them. I buy all my cartos and attys from IKV so I just call him and tell him what I want.
I have to call my credit union and see if they have one of those accounts that 5C was talking about. That sounds handy.
Hey Mike, when the Pro is up can I place an order over the phone?

 

[El Dee]

Ruppy they got me last year Bro....Wore out some MicroSoft x-Box items and plane tickets too Paris.. My Credit Union dealt with the situation too my complete satisfaction very quickly...Still I'd love too have a minute or so with that hacker...GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! I got intercepted at Authorize.net when using a company we all get supplies from...The supplier readily admitted over the phone that several customers had been violated and he took the steps needed too keep it from happening again...Maybe.........

SC that CitiBank deal-e-ohh sounds sweet.....

PayPal gets violated on a regular basis as well....so......

I have been on a tight budget as I wait for some projects too materialize and start paying off..My on-line purchases have been few lately...Still if I throw that number down I keep a strong eye on my account...Being rather lazy and since the Union gave me my money back so quickly...Well....I need too get off my azz and set up an account like Five did....Friggin Hackers!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[5cardstud]

Ruppy they got me last year Bro....Wore out some MicroSoft x-Box items and plane tickets too Paris.. My Credit Union dealt with the situation too my complete satisfaction very quickly...Still I'd love too have a minute or so with that hacker...GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! I got intercepted at Authorize.net when using a company we all get supplies from...The supplier readily admitted over the phone that several customers had been violated and he took the steps needed too keep it from happening again...Maybe.........

SC that CitiBank deal-e-ohh sounds sweet.....

PayPal gets violated on a regular basis as well....so......

I have been on a tight budget as I wait for some projects too materialize and start paying off..My on-line purchases have been few lately...Still if I throw that number down I keep a strong eye on my account...Being rather lazy and since the Union gave me my money back so quickly...Well....I need too get off my azz and set up an account like Five did....Friggin Hackers!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ya Dee I don't care who has this cc# because the most they could get is the 5 or 10 bucks it usually has in it. I was going to go pre paid but this way was free.

 

[Wharf Rat]

Damn those Greeks...... WAIT I bet it was a tourist !!!!

Thats a bummer Ruppy. I had my debit card hit and bought stuff from two gas stations in SoCal 100 miles apart.

 

[scinsc]

SC that CitiBank deal-e-ohh sounds sweet.....

I forgot to mention that it's free (no extra fee's at all) and real easy to use. When I go the shopping cart to check out a little window pops up and I fill in the exact amount and expiration date. It generates a new credit card number that you can just drag into the shopping cart.
Once the transaction goes through the number can never be used again. I know..I sound like a BB for this thing but it works.

 

[Ruppy]

Sorry to hear this Ruppy.
I use a credit card from Citibank that is set up to use Virtual account numbers and it works like a charm. Every transaction has it own account number and after you use that number it can never be used again. I had one AH try to use one of my numbers and was stopped cold. So far I haven't lost a dime and I use it all of the time.

Nice ill have o see if chase has something like that.

It happened to me once and can't happen anymore. I set up an account at my bank solely for online purchases. I just transfer money to it when I need to make a purchase so it's easy to use. I have it set up so if there is no money in it no money comes out. It has worked beautifully and it didn't cost me a dime. I use it for any online activity even payments to the cc company. I was .43 cents short one time and it declined the transaction so I know it works.

Sorry it happened to you Ruppy but listen to Ruppy and get yourselves secure online before it happens to you.

Yeah I am really happy I have the prepaid. WOuld have been ugly if i was using my actual CC. The declined attempted transactions totaled a few thousand.

 

[GMoney]

Nice ill have o see if chase has something like that.

Yeah I am really happy I have the prepaid. WOuld have been ugly if i was using my actual CC. The declined attempted transactions totaled a few thousand.

Hey Ruppy - Your post is pretty timely - it happened to me early this morning.

I've been on the phone with the Fraud Alert service and been checking statements. Thankfully it appears that most if not all fraudulent charges were declined despite the fact I had a sufficient balance - there is one .99 charge that is not "ringing a bell" at the moment. But there were charges from 4AM to 5AM this morning - approx. $58, $113, $334, $458, ... , that were all declined.

My Visa debit card is now cancelled and I will have to sort it out at my bank tomorrow. My system is secure, Windows 7, Firewalls, AVG, Malwarebytes - but I am running some in depth scans as we speak just to be sure.

This is the first time that I am aware of that I have had a problem, I have been meaning to get an "online-transaction" only card for a while but I have never gotten around to it - although I do have that card set to a Max of $500 per sale or per day limit so it's not like I could get cleaned out.

I am actually suspecting a random or POS theft rather than online because I buy a lot of stuff online and my bank never allows any charges without 100% accurate address, phone#, etc. but I never get declined with the correct info, no matter how random or weird the site or charges are.

Good Job posting this Ruppy! It is important for everyone to take precautions. Although I am a little careless - I do make sure my computers and servers are secure and that worst case I can't get taken for too much money. At the very least, I recommend that everyone have safeguards in place to protect their computers and to limit their exposure to an amount of money that won't hurt too badly.

ps- the thing that actually sucks the most is that I was going to buy some birthday presents for my GF today from Amazon and order some more cartos online - and of course I wait til the last minute on everything. lol.

 

[5cardstud]

The .99 charge was probably them seeing if the card was good. They used a $1.00 charge on mine first to see if it was good. They will never get me again now that I have this account.

 

[BuzzKill]

From what I understand most of this happens because of spyware / trojan horses , they actually read your keystrokes etc. check your computer closely , we use an encrypted secure server and CC processor, to date I have not had any complaints about CC info being scammed . We also DO NOT store your CC info !!


You should always see a HTTPS:/ in the domain name to show it is secure .

 

[salemgold]

I use BOA and I have the option to create a number for each merchant and set the amount. That # could only be used for the merchant that I use it with and it is so easy to use with no worries at all.
No problems to date. Plus I use a sandboxed browser

Sorry you have to go through this trouble Ruppy :-(

 

[5cardstud]

Well another thing is I use a virtual Keyboard for entering cc# and other things like that.

 

[BuzzKill]

All good info guys and gals !

 

[Ruppy]

I have been running scans all day. If someone managed to get into my system I would be surprised. 5 layers of security and I dont use keystrokes to enter my CC info. I use a filler that does not log keys. The filler data is double password protected. While most vendors dont physically store the data from CC the processors do. Ive gone back through each vendors site ive used and it appears they are all https although I typically check before checking out. No matter what security used theres always someone out there that can get it. Ive learned I have to protect myself rather than hoping my CC company will do it for me.

Sucks since I just got done replacing two cards from the playstation network fiasco lol