Suspicious transaction - "WP-STAGECOACH-SERV"

MrsTinks

Just to cast some more info into this thread... I used to work for a very large Anti-Virus company running the tech support help desk for home user products and the scary information I was allowed to see whilst working there is truely staggering!
I agree a large amount of peoples details are probably cloned from machines and possibly even the fake websites - BUT! (Ya all knew that was coming right? :rotfl:)
The largest problem is malware on peoples computers that allows people to see what you type in. And all it takes is ONE transaction on a perfectly legitimate site like say Amazon... and viola - they have your card details.
Some of these softwares are HIGHLY sophisticated and very very complex and some are virtually undetectable until the AV companies find them and create a fix for them.
So my first advice is to ensure your AV is up to date and your operating system has ALL the security fixes available. This will cust down a lot of potential risk.
Scan your system AT LEAST once a week.
Once a month do an online scan using one of the big companies free online scans (then go make coffee/tea/have a glass of wine - this will take time). This is to make sure that any malware hasn't compromised YOUR AV software installed on your machine.
I use Trend Micro's Internet Security - so please be aware I have no idea what the competitors offer - they may have the same stuff! However TMs Internet Security includes their Web security service which will alert you if you open a site that they feel is slightly unsafe, very unsafe or down right dangerous. It checks to see if there is any hidden code running that could be malicious, if the web site has previously been hacked and had malicious code inserted (it keeps a history) and if the server the site is hosted on is known tohost other unsafe sites and even if the owners of that server has been known to have other servers with a high number of "dodgey" sites. Based on this info it will alert you or let you enter without interuptions.
Get fraud protection - if you can't get it for free (check Martins articles on this) then pay to get this. Definitely protect yourself.
If you think you know about a site that is potentially used to harvest card details then report it to your AV provider - they will investigate it and contrary to popular belief they DO share this information not only with other AV companies but also with fraud investigations and police.

Scary fact for you:

It is estimated that in the US Internet fraud and theft is now worth more than the illigal drugs trade... Scary huh?

mona25

so this company nat express elect is becoming a big problem,my halifax account was withdrawn £20 with a company named 02 prepay slough or by the way i have a pay as u go vodafone line,the following day nat express elect took £23.50 which shocked me cause i have never heard of them i visited my local bank then they showed a list of pending transactions even thou my direct debits where not yet due the bank cancelled my card and gave me a new one at the moment they are conducting some investigations,hope they can catch these slimey fraudsters soon.

janienewcastle

Well, the same thing has just happened to me. whilst i was checking my online banking with halifax i found a recent transaction for £31.00 to DVDZONE which is based in the US. Called halifax straight away and my card is now cancelled and i have to fill in a fraud form ....
Does anyone know the processes the banks use? will i get my money back??

bigsister2008_2

I noticed £6.50 taken by wp Stagecoach Serv about a week ago but I do alot of online shopping and just assumed that it was something I had purchased. My husband has been to the cashpoint today to check the account and discovered that we are £450.00 overdrawn, which is the maximum overdraft we have. I was totally shocked by this and went online to check it out, 2 payments have been taken on the 19th Feb by Vueling Airlines and Clickair, both of which are based in Spain. Vueling have taken £93.58 and Clickair £126.32. I have rang Lloyds fraud dept and they have cancelled my debit card but they say it could take upto 2 weeks to get the money back into the account, I then had to go into town to my branch and explain it all to them and get my overdraft set at £600.00!! We have been trying so hard to get out of the overdraft and then this happens, such a blow. The girl I spoke to in the fraud dept asked if I had purchased airline tickets and I said no we can't afford a holiday, she laughed!

br0cher23

I had my card defrauded at stagecoach , also, a couple of jeans purchases and most worrying a cash transaction at travelex for £1,500, how do they get away with that ??? " days later my friend had a similar transaction for £1000, then her daughter a couple of days later. The only common denominator was an onliner *gourmet* butcher in Scotland..........near an airport, eastern european workers, it all adds up !!

br0cher23

My card was also used at Stagecoach, a couple of purchases for jeans, and a cash transaction at travelex for £1500.Two days later my friend had a similar experiance, cash transaction for £1000, then 2 days later her daughters card was used. Common denominater in this was an online *gourmet* butcher we had all shopped on, recommended by myself. Near an airport, eastern european workers...need I say more ?? How do they get away with big cash transactions without some sort of ID check ?? I believe fraudulent transaction are common at Travellex

bestiavolaticus

its easy and devestating because its purchase of foreign currency - which equates to a cash purchase...
sucks.... unfortunately.

mattmanchester1

Hi,

I am a security consultant working within the IT arena.

I always advise users and customers to use credit cards on-line rather than switch accounts. At least all transactions are protected by your CC vendor.

Basically the person using your credit card details usually obtains them in bulk. The current going rate is about 5-6$ per cc number.

The person selling your data gives a taster to the potential buyer by sending 1-2 cc details which allows the buyer to test them out.. i.e. buying a small value item like a stagecoach ticket, or cinema ticket. Because its low value, and used everyday by people (like the cinema) its not flagged as being odd... Where as suddenly buying a 2k telly might be flagged!

The buyer tests the card, see's that they are working, then goes back to the buyer and buys it in bulk.

Usually these details are obtained through on-line shops that have been compromised on the internet. It's not hard to do to be honest (i do this sort of testing for customers (small business to very large international ones!).

If you see any potentially iffy transactions ring your bank and talk to them.

For example my credit card got compromised when buying off a shop on e bay. I first knew of it when someone purchased London congestion charging on a Monday when i had not driven to London in over a month! the next thing that happened was two lots of £300 were gambled on-line in a casino.

Buying online is not fool proof. Use your credit card rather than your switch.

Cheers, Matt.

PM me if you have questions or job offers for contractual work (my day rates are quite cheap!!!)

: )

Werdnal

Just stumbled across this thread doing a Google search to find out what this WP-stagecoach thing is all about. Sadly my bank didn't notify me that my usually little used 2nd account had been rather busy lately, until a letter from them on Friday stating I was £15 overdrawn. My initial thought was that they had made a !!!!-up, and only on ringing to enquire and then being told my overdraft was now £58!, did I realise there was a problem. Apparently my account has been emptied!

They immediately put me through to their Fraud Dept, who went through a few transactions and when they got to the overseas ones - Easyjet, foreign currency, travel insurance etc, the alarm bells became deafening!

They stopped my card and are refunding all the overseas transactions -around £1500 in total. Thankfully there are no cash point withdrawals so they are easy to prove that they are not my transactions. My monthly statement arrived this morning, all 8 pages of it, and it makes rather grim reading. I then noticed that late January I had 2 withdrawals from Stagecoach, followed by 2 credits the following day for the same amounts. Thus they seem to have been testing my account and have played merry hell with it ever since. Why the bank didn't spot anything sooner I don't know, but atleast they have assured me that all the cash will be refunded pending their investigation. In the same post as my statement, came a letter stating they are imposing fees for my unauthorised overdraft, so I suppose I'm going to have to ring them again on Monday to ensure they are stopped too!

I too am very careful about the use of my card and can only think it was some online purchase thats caused all this hassle. I do use eBay and Paypal but always thought they were pretty bulletproof. In my searching I have come across reference to Amazon customers having this problem in the past, but I haven't used them recently. I have throughly virus and spyware scanned my PC and no trojans or keyloggers have shown up so I guess its a dodgy seller somehwere who leaked my card details.

I was only watching the One Show feature on bank card fraud this week, and thinking how lucky we were never to have been caught. Little did I know some B*&%$£d was living it up at my expense!

Mikeyorks

Werdnal wrote: »

My monthly statement arrived this morning, all 8 pages of it, and it makes rather grim reading.

Which serves to highlight .... that the best anti-fraud measure is to use online Banking and check your account every day. Takes all of 30 secs to Login and scan your account(s). Most people check Emails daily, I can't see why Bank / Credit accounts seem to run a poor second with a lot of people.