Fraudulent use of credit card

supersaver21

never-in-doubt wrote: »

Well to start i'd be looking to cancel and get replacement cards - this will stop them initially. If it happens again then you'll know its the PC. As I said, you could have clicked a dodgy email or anything..... dont worry, you are not liable regardless.

Don't worry, all cards cancelled and replaced. I'm not sure its the PC though as no viruses reported and I have never clicked on a dodgy email. Just out of interest, what you do you mean by "OP" in your earlier post?

never-in-doubt

supersaver21 wrote: »

Don't worry, all cards cancelled and replaced. I'm not sure its the PC though as no viruses reported and I have never clicked on a dodgy email. Just out of interest, what you do you mean by "OP" in your earlier post?

OP = you, the Original Poster

RobertoMoir

never-in-doubt wrote: »

Both sets of details could be if the actual host PC is infected with a key stroke virus..... that is a very good logical reason and does happen. More than likely that the OP has bought stuff from home and his PC is infected so each card he uses, the data is captured....

The question i'd be prone to ask, did you ever clink a link within an email asking you to sign in? If so then sorry, you've been scammed and i'd get both cards reported as lost so you get new ones with different start/exp dates and CVV. Makes them void to the fraudsters :beer:

That's certainly possible.

RobertoMoir

supersaver21 wrote: »

Don't worry, all cards cancelled and replaced. I'm not sure its the PC though as no viruses reported and I have never clicked on a dodgy email.

It's a fair point - and not all virus scanners are fantastic at detecting spyware.

Look at it logically:
Which locations have actually held details or had details input into them for both cards?
Of those locations, which is the most likely to be compromised...

Did you use both cards with both play and amazon? Or just card a with amazon, and card b with play? If that's the case and both cards have been compromised then is it more likely that the same bunch of crooks have broke into both databases and just happened to scoop up your card details (but not, say, mine, as I shop at both too) or is it more likely that they've scooped them off your computer?

Even if you've mixed and matched both cards and shops, we still come back to if someone had broke into either one (certainly quite possible) and stole your card details, the question comes back to why isn't there a queue of people out the door and down the street who have the exact same problem?

tbsouth2004

I wouldn,t worry too much my hubbys card lloyds by the way had two payments for £10 pre pay phones and just today have checked another has come off for £1.35 in montreal obviously we haven,t been there have cancelled said card and there sending a letter out we have to sign i presume its some sort of declaration saying we haven,t spent this money but all will be sorted in the end i,m not worrying about it this is all over this bh weekend

supersaver21

RobertoMoir wrote: »

It's a fair point - and not all virus scanners are fantastic at detecting spyware.

Look at it logically:
Which locations have actually held details or had details input into them for both cards?
Of those locations, which is the most likely to be compromised...

Did you use both cards with both play and amazon? Or just card a with amazon, and card b with play? If that's the case and both cards have been compromised then is it more likely that the same bunch of crooks have broke into both databases and just happened to scoop up your card details (but not, say, mine, as I shop at both too) or is it more likely that they've scooped them off your computer?

Even if you've mixed and matched both cards and shops, we still come back to if someone had broke into either one (certainly quite possible) and stole your card details, the question comes back to why isn't there a queue of people out the door and down the street who have the exact same problem?

I cannot argue with your logic at all. All fingers seem to point to my PC being compromised so I guess I need to find a better internet security provider. Any opinions on which one to go for at all?

never-in-doubt

supersaver21 wrote: »

I cannot argue with your logic at all. All fingers seem to point to my PC being compromised so I guess I need to find a better internet security provider. Any opinions on which one to go for at all?

Norton Internet Security - that is one of the best but again, dependa what you need it for. If you're a light user than the one you have will be fine, basically make sure you feel happy with a site before adding personal details.

You'll be ok, i'd not change security, you'll be fine if you pay a little attention and don't click email links unless they are personalised showing your name/postcode etc which most banks do nowadays.

cheers - good luck.

willyg78

Hi supersaver21,

I'm an IT Specialist with over 10 years experience, and on test of AVG Free, I've found it to continually miss virii and spyware that other Antivirus products should catch.

I agree with several other users who said you may be infected with a keylogger or trojan. Your best defence against something like this is a paid for solution, for instance Symantec Endpoint Protection MR4 (quite expensive) or McAfee Internet Security Suite (Not so expensive). Wouldn't bother with Norton Internet Security as it absolutely hammers your computer and makes it run much slower.

The reason AVG Free misses virii and spyware is because there is no incentive for AVG to push out virus updates as quickly as they do for paying customers, as it's free software.

On that note, if you suspect you have a virus, you would be best getting your data backed up, wiping and rebuilding your computer, as traces of the virus may exist even after removal.

Hope this info helps you and any others with the same problem!!

Willyg78

supersaver21

willyg78 wrote: »

Hi supersaver21,

I'm an IT Specialist with over 10 years experience, and on test of AVG Free, I've found it to continually miss virii and spyware that other Antivirus products should catch.

I agree with several other users who said you may be infected with a keylogger or trojan. Your best defence against something like this is a paid for solution, for instance Symantec Endpoint Protection MR4 (quite expensive) or McAfee Internet Security Suite (Not so expensive). Wouldn't bother with Norton Internet Security as it absolutely hammers your computer and makes it run much slower.

The reason AVG Free misses virii and spyware is because there is no incentive for AVG to push out virus updates as quickly as they do for paying customers, as it's free software.

On that note, if you suspect you have a virus, you would be best getting your data backed up, wiping and rebuilding your computer, as traces of the virus may exist even after removal.

Hope this info helps you and any others with the same problem!!

Willyg78

Hi Willyg78,

Thanks very much for the advice. As it is highly likely that I have a keylogger or trojan virus, or at least the remnants of one, will it be enough to just upgrade to something like McAfee, and run that software, or will I definitely need to have my laptop wiped and then rebuilt? If it needs to be rebuilt, am I best going to somewhere like the Tech Guys at PC World or The Geek Squad?

I have always been in the habit of backing up my data files to an external hard drive but is it likely that any of my data files are also infected with the virus or is this unlikely?

Any words of wisdom greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Supersaver21

willyg78

Hi Supersaver21,

In my field, it's always good practice to wipe and rebuild a computer that's been infected with a virus, simply because sometimes when the virus has been removed, it will leave remnants in the system or backdoors that can be exploited by future viruses. Not always the case, but in some cases!!

The Tech Guys can sometimes be a bit overpriced compared to a friend or someone you know who can easily re-install Windows, Office, and your antivirus (AV) program.

Your documents stand a good chance of being completely free of viruses, but would need to be checked on a clean system with your new antivirus program just to be sure, most AV programs actively scan the files while they are being copied from your backups and will flag up if anything is infected.

The steps I would take if I was tackling this myself would be:-

1 Ensure all important data backed up to removable media (Pen Drive or Hard Disk).
2 Format the computer.
3 Install Windows from installation media
4 Install Office and other programs you had installed from media
5 Install your newly purchased antivirus program
6 Install any device drivers that came with the computer
7 Then connect your computer to the internet (It is important that a vanilla workstation is not connected to the internet without having AV installed)
8 Let your antivirus program update its definitions
9 Run Windows Update and install all Windows updates (This may require reboots, keep running until there are no more updates to install)
10 Copy your backed up files back to my documents, etc
11 Run a full scan from your antivirus program.

There you go.....that should be it!

You could also start from point 5 and install your antivirus program then skip to point 7 and go on from there, the most important thing is that the AV program and Windows are completely updated with their relevant patches. This ensures any exploits that Microsoft are patched properly on your computer.

The above may seem a bit overkill, and it's just my personal opinion! Only you can decide what precautions you wish to take!!

Whatever you decide to do...Good Luck!;)