Online shopping scams

[ladybootlegger]

My husband and I have only two credit cards. I used one to purchase one or two christmas presents for him in 2009, and then promptly returned the credit card to it's safe place.

Note: It is really difficult to use a card that is kept in the freezer! 

So, since I knew the card was not being utilized, I did not think to check the balance for it... until today. Turns out there is a company called "Shopping Essentials" who have been billing that card $12 every month this year. They claim, anything that is purchased online REQUIRES their involvement. They informed me that in order for my purchase at Christmas to go through I had to allow them access to this account.

Thankfully, the issue has been resolved, the BBB has been informed, and legal involvment was not required (although I believe the threat of involving my attornies expedited the credits).

So, fair warning to any of you who shop online. Apparently, specifically through Favorites Catalog, Toscano, or Gaelsong (the rest of the magazine titles escape me at the moment). Since those were some of the magazines I had made purchases through.

And for those of you how may have bought anything online, you may consider taking a look at your credit card or checking account transaction history.

[DonaCatalina]

I am sorry for your experience. I think someone else had a similar problem buying from catalogs like those and discovered that almost everything that they offer can be bought through Amazon.

[Bob of the Lake]

I am sorry for your experience. I think someone else had a similar problem buying from catalogs like those and discovered that almost everything that they offer can be bought through Amazon.

Very true. It's getting so that I go to Amazon first, and only try somewhere else if Amazon doesn't have the item. They're prices are always competitive, too.

[Merlin the Elder]

Credit theft is so rampant these days you really need to be vigilant! It sucks, but it's true. I have several cards, some bank, some store-issue. Where they offer it, I've requested emails if there's a balance due pending just in case I get too busy and forget to check. I don't do paper statements anymore because 1) It's just more trash to get rid of; 2) Makes it easier to steal someone's card or card number.

As a matter of habit, I get online once or twice a month and do rounds of all of my accounts to make sure nothing is out of place, and I check all charges to make sure I recognize them! I've had to report a couple of scammers to the state Attorney General for putting charges on my card without authorization. You have to be careful!

[RumbaRue]

Thanks for the heads up.

Interesting though, have bought things through Galesong and have never had a problem.

[DonaCatalina]

Yeah, its good you brought this up. The more people who know the better.

[ladybootlegger]

Thanks for the heads up.

Interesting though, have bought things through Galesong and have never had a problem.

They would not tell me which of my purchases required their access to my account. So I listed the magazines that I had made purchases from. It is good to know that one is safe.

[lys1022]

I have also purchased from Gaelsong multiple times and have never had a problem. *knocks on wood*  Their products have always been of good quality, their service has been excellent, and as far as I can tell, their personal information security has been highly satisfactory.  So I would lean toward saying that your info probably wasn't leaked by them.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with the whole identity theft thing, though.  I hope that it all gets resolved fairly painlessly. 

[Merlin the Elder]

I did a little research... When buying ANYTHING from ANYONE online, after you checkout, sometimes you'll notice something to the effect of "Thank you for your order. Save $20 now!" or "Get $20 off your next order" or some such nonsense. This is where you get popped. You've already completed your transaction, but either the vendor or the vendor's eCommerce web hosting service has an agreement with some fly-by-nighters like Shopping Essentials to transfer traffic to their site.

Just for the record, Shopping Essentials DOES NOT HAVE ANY REQUIRED INVOLVEMENT IN WEB TRANSACTIONS.

Without going into too technical a point, the information that you sent a few pages back could be accessed later on in your browsing session. Ever see the message "close your browser for your protection?" They're aren't kidding. Some things to remember:

Never, EVER enter personal information, especially credit card or bank info, on a page that doesn't show to be secure. If you're not sure how to tell with your browser, find out! Most will show a lock...

ALWAYS close your browser tab after visiting a secure site. Don't even use the same tab to go to another secure site. If you use tabbed browsing, just open a new tab to visit your bank, and when you finish with the bank, close that tab, and open a new one to visit your credit card company. Be extremely cautious if any of your business sites take you to another site. It's not an issue of one browser being safer than another, it's an issue of the way browsers work.

Pay attention to your statements. Every once and a while someone will slip something to you. I had a charge end up on my TELEPHONE bill!! It happened about the same time that I modified my service, so I didn't pay attention. A few months later, I was looking over my bill and found a $15/month charge for something I had never heard of. I finally got several months of charges reversed, but it really sucked that someone could charge me through the phone company!

There are a lot of jackasses out there whose only lot in life is to make others miserable and steal their hard-earned money. Watch out for them and don't let them get yours.

[Auryn]

Merlin,
thank you for that wealth of information.
I had no idea about the information transfer through the browser
I will always close my browser from now on when I change sites.

We had the telephone bill problem at work 2 months ago- random charge showed up for an internet purchase on the phone bill-aside from the fact that I have never seen that before,
I am the one that handles our internet at work and knew for sure noone had bought anything that would end up there.
After 45 min on the phone with ATT we got it reversed but they had no idea how a random charge could get on the phone bill- lovely huh. They don't even know what is going on in their own systems.

[Rowan MacD]

  PayPal.  Period.
  If the merchant does not use PayPal and insist on a credit card,  I simply don't do business with them.  I have purchased through Gaelsong without incident a few years back.  I'm pretty sure they take Money Orders. Paypal is pretty common now (Moresca just started using it) but many vendors won't do it because they pay a percentage or a fee for the service.  Those that don't subscribe are losing more business by the day, since a lot of folks are paranoid about using credit cards on the Net.  Scammers are getting more and more sophisticated with Key logging spyware.  If you have picked a keylogger up (common on the T-shirt sites) and your antivirus didn't catch it,  even if you use you card on a trusted site, you just provided the hacker with all your info, including security code.   
  Paypal also sends you an email every time a transaction goes through.

[LadyStitch]

I had a vendor who I wanted to buy a custom item from them but they wanted me to email them my CC info.  I told them no.  They could either go through pay pal or call me directly. 

They called me directly, and I 'watched' them process it through via my CC company's site.  Didn't have a problem. 

At one point we had a reaccuring charge of 10 cents each time we used our CC.  Turns out they had accidently flipped a switch  thinking our CC was some special charge per swipe thing.  Since we watch our's like a hawk we called them about it.  They fixed it, but not after $1 worth of charges.  They didn't want to refund anything so small, and we really didn't want to fight for that little, but at least we caught it early so it wasn't so bad.  Just another reminder to take a look at your statements.

[ladybootlegger]

The money has successfully been refunded. *whew* Needless to say, I check these accounts now at least twice per day.

Unfortunately, my husband and I are not strangers to identity theft. He once had a check to pay a utility bill stollen from a locked mail box. The theives washed the check and started spending money like mad! The bank kept telling my hubby that he was just spending more money that he was realizing, and wouldn't do anything further to aid his situation. After several months, and thousands of dollars he received a "Non-Sufficient Funds" notice for a check that was still blank and in his checkbook. He took the blank check (still in his checkbook) and the NSF letter into the bank, and... well his temper took over. They finally acknowledged that he had an issue. He had to spend a couple days working with the police, filing out police reports, etc. Took five years to recover from that!

Now, if I ever write checks (which is extremely rare) I take the mail into the post office directly and place it in the hands of the post office attendant.

My paranoia pertaining to identity theft is staggering, which is why I was so shocked at this latest hit.
Any paperwork that has any account number (even for utilities), my name, phone number, email, etc., I keep in a locked filing cabinet, after taking a sharpie to such information. Then, every so often I burn the contents. Shredding isn't enough for me, I want to see it turn to ashes. I'll even burn empty envelopes just because they have my name on them, after blacking out my name with a sharpie of course. And if that isn't a bit much, I also have life lock... just to feel that much safer.

[Rowan MacD]

  I shred all my old bills when I receive the new statement and verify the last payment posted. The only ones I keep longer than 30 days are those we need for tax purposes.     
  We also shred all envelopes with our name/address on them, as well as address labels on magazines.  We pull out the order forms in catalogs too.  Those are pre-filled with your info.  The only thing that goes straight in the trash is Occupant mail. It only takes a couple of minutes each day. 
  We had an incident with my husbands' debit card.  He used it on the Net (yes, he is now aware this was not a good idea) to buy a replacement wire for his sound board.
 Within 48 hours, someone tried to buy $500 worth of video games and a cruise with his card.
  Needless to say the bank stopped any pmt on these since the charges were all originating in Florida and they know we live in Omaha. Not to mention that the teller had just seen my hubby that morning when he made a deposit.  
  We maintain a fraud alert on our card now, and do not allow debits for any amount that do not originate from our geographical area without contacting us first.  

[Merlin the Elder]

I'm almost paper statement free these days. Shredding works pretty well if the shredder does cross-cuts, but I've gotten now to where I keep all my statements throughout the year, then burn them a little at a time in the fireplace over the colder months. All of my bills are paid by the bank. I write one check a month to another bank for some property, and I deliver that check to the bank in person. If the bank-issued check doesn't reach its destination, you have the backing of the bank when you tell the creditor that the check was sent on such-and-such a day. Can't beat that.

I wouldn't count on the Sharpie to blot out your information entirely. If you look closely enough (depending on papers and inks they use), you'll often be able to see the information because the Sharpie inks don't penetrate the printer's ink the same way.

All-in-all, it totally sucks that we have to work this hard to make sure we don't get taken. Keep in mind that the chances of you suffering a loss this way are a lot higher than being robbed. Just be sure to CYA...cover your, um, tushie! ...and, again, keep your eyes open!