My Credit Card was Scammed on-line !!

Saveit

I have used my Credit Card on-line for over 4 years with no problems untill yesterday when I received two pairs of trainers through the post from a company called Cloggs. The trainers were awfull and a size 10, the largest shoe size in our house is size 8. I had never heard of Cloggs and immediately rang the company for an explanation because the receipt in the bag said £95 was charged to my credit card. The company said the order was placed on-line on 28th December at 6:30 am, after explaining that I had not placed the order they asked me to return the goods and get a refund. The next step was to ring my Bank (Halifax) , the lady I spoke too couldn't have been nicer asking me the usual security questions she looked into pending transactions and there were several orders placed over 2 days to on-line stores such as Schuh ,Libcol and John Lewis all totalling up to hundreds of pounds . I of course was very worried and she calmed me down blocking my card and putting me in the hands of the fraud department. I was asked several questions about my card etc could it have been someone at home or could my card have been used by a relative or friend. After they realised that no one would have placed these orders( the shoes were such bad taste and huge) via me they said that a new card would be issued with a new number and pin and I would have to sign a form to say that this card has not been used by me on the internet for these transactions. This has now changed my view of purchasing on-line , i felt so safe untill now and have spent hours deleteing my card details on the sites that I regularly use like Tesco home shopping and M&S etc.
The member of staff from the Halifax said that my card must have been scammed but the goods ordered would arrive at my address so the ordering was pointless. She could tell from the pending transactions that several were refused and she thinks that they were trying to get delivery to another address and this would have flagged up and the transaction would have been declined.

Has anyone else ever had this happen to them? and If so what was the outcome eg did the scammers manage to get goods delivered to them ? Any advice would be appreciated
Thanks

jem16

It happened to me once baout 18 months ago. A transaction was made to an Interflora for around £250 from somewhere in eastern Europe. I noticed it on my online account and phoned to query it as it was a pending transaction. A block was put on my account at that time. The next day I got a phone call from my credit card's fraud department asking if I had made it. Having said no it was marked as a fraudulent transaction. There was one more at the same time for a smaller amount but I can't remember who.

The money was refunded to my account, I got a new card. I never heard what happened though.

VenuS

It is very scary considering most sites offer good protection against fraud.

I feel truly sorry for anyone who is scammed, it must be like being burgled. Never happened to me (touches head) but thank you for your post to show me personally it's still not 100% safe.

MPH80

Please remember that actually hacking into a site and stealing the credit card information is possibly the most difficult way of doing it!

Do you - for example - have an account at any of these places and will they let you see previous orders?

If they can - log on and check the information - see if the orders are there. This may give you one clue. If they aren't - then the scammer opened up new accounts - so had every single bit of info on your card - including your address.

So how could he get it?

Quick flick through the trash at your house perhaps? Do you shred everything with any vague info about your cards on it?

It wouldn't have taken much for him to note down the appropriate details at a till when you handed the card over - then he can use the phone book to find your address.

Have you made any over the phone transactions where you had to give out the CV2 number?

Have you made sure your PC has been scanned for spyware?

Those are just a few options.

Actually getting into a properly protected site is difficult. Decrypting the card information after (assuming they are holding it in an ecrypted form) is even more difficult. Certainly more difficult than either of the methods I mentioned above.

Obviously if the site isn't well protected - then there is a risk of the information being stolen - which is why you should go with well known retailers on the web - or utilise something like Cahoot's webcard - which allows you to set up temporary cards for use online with small limits.

M.

tomstickland

Some sites won't save your details. Whilst this is a hassle for repeat orders etc, I prefer it for security.

Then again, if you check your accounts daily then fraud can be stopped, so, on balance, it's just a risk that's there.

Saveit

I will ring Cloggs again when they return to work because surely the scammers needed to give an email address ?(normally websites confirm orders and delivery etc) and I have not had any emails to confirm orders or let me know when they have been despatched. It seems pointless that these orders were made because delivery to my address means no gain from the transactions. My husband has now got me really worried saying that we might be burgled for the goods. A bit far fetched I would think but very worrying all the same. Fortunately for me all the transactions were in pending and these have been blocked so I have been quite lucky in some respect.
If someone is clever enough to obtain the details of my card on-line, it seems strange that they have placed orders that are delivered to my address, so my guess is that the person or persons concerned are doing this for a laugh!!
The lesson I have learned from this is that it can be done and caution should be used when ordering on-line. Haveing been confident of ordering on-line for over 4 years this is somewhat worrying and it will never be the same again for me.
At least the member of staff at Halifax brought a bit of humour into it, she said that the delivery of the goods over the next few days will be exciting to see what other bad taste goods we will receive and perhaps we can build a picture of the culprit , we already know they take a size 10 trainer!!! and have very bad taste ,white with big blue stars on them (YUK). I am interested to see what they ordered from Schu and John Lewis for hundreds of pounds and Libcol I have never heard of, anyone know who they are??

brummybloke

easiest way for this to be done is royal mail workers.

this time of year hundreds of tempory workers are employed. it is easy to see a bank letter or card in an envelope, the worker will take either the card or the statement.

it matters not that the goods go to that address as the postman will be hoping it is delivered through royal mail, they will be the ones who should knock on your door and deliver it so they will just keep the goods instead of delivering it.

and as mentioned, get a good shredder, only £10 or £15 and it saves the worry of throwing sensitive stuff out in the rubbish.

Saveit

MPH80 wrote:

Please remember that actually hacking into a site and stealing the credit card information is possibly the most difficult way of doing it!

Do you - for example - have an account at any of these places and will they let you see previous orders?

If they can - log on and check the information - see if the orders are there. This may give you one clue. If they aren't - then the scammer opened up new accounts - so had every single bit of info on your card - including your address.

So how could he get it?

Quick flick through the trash at your house perhaps? Do you shred everything with any vague info about your cards on it?

It wouldn't have taken much for him to note down the appropriate details at a till when you handed the card over - then he can use the phone book to find your address.

Have you made any over the phone transactions where you had to give out the CV2 number?

Have you made sure your PC has been scanned for spyware?

Those are just a few options.

Actually getting into a properly protected site is difficult. Decrypting the card information after (assuming they are holding it in an ecrypted form) is even more difficult. Certainly more difficult than either of the methods I mentioned above.

Obviously if the site isn't well protected - then there is a risk of the information being stolen - which is why you should go with well known retailers on the web - or utilise something like Cahoot's webcard - which allows you to set up temporary cards for use online with small limits.

M.

Thank You for your input MPH80, it makes very interesting reading and points I had not considered. I do shred my paperwork and have Macafee security on my PC which includes spyware.The last order that I placed with this Credit card was done through Amazon online, delivery received 23rd and no other shop transactions or on-line transaction was made since then. On the 28th at 6:30 am the first order was placed on-line to Cloggs which I received delivery yesterday 30th and several were placed after that some declined for security reasons (we think they tried to get delivery to another address) John Lewis Libcol and Schuh were some of the on-line retailers, I have not ordered anything from these sites before and had not heard of Cloggs or Libcol so I think I will investigate these sites further. Haveing had no confirmation emails for orders placed this makes me think another email address has been used and shall call the sites concerned when they return to work next week.
I am happy that these pending transactions have been blocked but the thought of how they were obtained is very worrying. I do not use this card normally to shop instore but only on-line , this makes me think it has been obtained from an on-site retailer, Amazon being the last I used but I did go through Mutual points so the possibilities become more in depth. I would very much like to know how this has happened and will be making my own investigations with the companies concerned next week. Halifax said that most websites will not deliver to another address so I am bemused why they would try to do this , does anyone know of sites that will deliver to an address not associated with the card holder??? I do check my my bank accounts daily so I would have picked up on these transactions very quickly, but because they were in pending I would never have known untill the transaction were cleared and on my account . I picked it up because of the delivery of the goods and can't understand the point of it?
Thank you to everyone who has posted replies and any further in put would be appreciated.

ManAtHome

I'd have thought favourites for fraud would be services rather than goods - PAYG mobile top-ups, subscriptions (!!!!!!, file downloads etc).

A gang were caught a couple of years ago - they were nicking cards abroad, placing orders, then hanging around in the (card address) garden waiting for the deliveries to turn up. A bit trickier if you're not on hols though.

russellgreeno

I'm aware of many online retailers that deliver to alternate adressess, usually as a gift option. CDWOW is the first that springs to mind, they ask if you would like the delivery address to be the same as the cardholder address or not.

However once you noticed these fraud transactions you should easily be able to email or call the company where the items were purchased and ask where the items were delivered to and inform the police.

Out of interest, who believes banks are in the wrong for not providing cover for Debit Card use online? I know I shouldn't but I use a debit card more than credit card online myself, and I do realise the risk is greater as there is little or no fraud protection.

I think it is about time that if banks allow you to use your debit card online then they should protect you as you would a credit card customer of theirs.

Saveit

This is the paragraph from my on-line bank

At Halifax we do everything we can to protect you online - but in the unlikely event of fraud, we promise you won't lose out.

All Halifax online banking customers automatically benefit from our online fraud guarantee:

If a customer of our online service is a victim of online fraud, we guarantee that they won't lose any money from their account, and will always be reimbursed in full.

I was reassured of this when I spoke to them yesterday.
( although this does not state If using another online retailer so had I not intercepted it so quickly I still don't know how I would stand?)