Fraud Advice!

Jumblebumble

Spender£ said:

Spender£ said:

Sandtree said:

Spender£ said:

born_again said:

If you have not used the co for about 6 months then close the account. Totally takes the risk away.

Six months is not that long for me, i have ordered quite a few things from them in the past and they require a credit check to join even though i always pay the statement in full i thought it a lot of hassle to keep closing accounts and then creating new ones to place an order.

Now you have identified why they used your account and someone else's stolen credit card if you have to have a credit check to open an account.

Before you explained it yourself I was going to suggest that its because some companies require initial orders to be sent to the payments registered address but subsequent orders to other addresses and so using your account bypasses this challenge assuming the card is stolen and the delivery address is different to the card's registered address.

Hopefully the company can tell you how access was gained... did they process a "forgotten password" request recently or such? Was there a brute force attempt to get into the account?

You certainly need to change the password on your email as a precaution. I'd also check in the deleted folder to see if there is any evidence there of their activities... for some reason when my email was hacked and this was used for access to my eBay and PayPal the people deleted all the forgotten password and order emails etc but left them in the Deleted folder, if they were more sensible they'd have deleted them permanently instead so no evidence doesnt mean they werent in there. 

Yes, to be honest i can only assume it was a stolen credit card although this was a guess on my part, unfortunately the company are not telling me anything about what has happened or why it happened which has led to me making a complaint to try and get information.

I think you make an interesting point with the idea that with my account they could get the items sent to their address instead of the payment address.

Although a bit inconvenient i decided a while back not to leave any credit card information saved on the account just in case anyone got access although i try to do this with every retailer, i am now reaping the reward of that decision by the fact that my cards are safe at least.

The missing link here is the lack of information i have, the only details i do have are the fraudsters delivery address and email which is probably one of many these gangs hold, I'm not sure if i would be wasting my time to make any sort of contact with the fraudsters.

In fact the only reason i knew about any of this was an email after midnight thanking me for changing my email address followed by one more email outlining my orders being confirmed.

Your credit cards should be safe as companies should not be storing your CVV under PCI DSS Compliance regs and if they either don't ask for it again or they are storing it any fraud becomes the bank's problem

born_again

Jumblebumble said:

Your credit cards should be safe as companies should not be storing your CVV under PCI DSS Compliance regs and if they either don't ask for it again or they are storing it any fraud becomes the bank's problem

Except with this type of purchase they will not be using the CVV.

Spender£

Does anybody know if anything does get investigated because the company are responding to my phone calls with legal script read statements, they are refusing to speak to me as a human being!

MattMattMattUK

Spender£ said:

Does anybody know if anything does get investigated because the company are responding to my phone calls with legal script read statements, they are refusing to speak to me as a human being!

It is not entirely clear what you want from them? What do you actually want to speak to them about?

They will conduct some level of investigation within the company, they will not share the results with you. If there is enough evidence they will pass to the police, although there rarely is, again, you will not be informed. 

Spender£

MattMattMattUK said:

Spender£ said:

Does anybody know if anything does get investigated because the company are responding to my phone calls with legal script read statements, they are refusing to speak to me as a human being!

It is not entirely clear what you want from them? What do you actually want to speak to them about?

They will conduct some level of investigation within the company, they will not share the results with you. If there is enough evidence they will pass to the police, although there rarely is, again, you will not be informed. 

I know i won't be informed but i want my account as it was before, with this company you get good discounts by ordering and paying the statement in full a month later however, if you pay in full before ordering no discounts are available.

The fact that they have reduced my account to zero means i am unable to do this and i also received an email today saying my credit limit has been reduced to stop me from falling into debt, this was from their debt management Dept.

I don't like being blamed or treated as a bad payer when i have never been in debt, i guess it is easier for them to just dismiss one customer and move on.

I also can't find a way of closing the account which is annoying as i would rather close it and negate the chance of this happening again, the silence game makes me think this might have been an inside job.

MattMattMattUK

Spender£ said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Spender£ said:

Does anybody know if anything does get investigated because the company are responding to my phone calls with legal script read statements, they are refusing to speak to me as a human being!

It is not entirely clear what you want from them? What do you actually want to speak to them about?

They will conduct some level of investigation within the company, they will not share the results with you. If there is enough evidence they will pass to the police, although there rarely is, again, you will not be informed. 

I know i won't be informed but i want my account as it was before, with this company you get good discounts by ordering and paying the statement in full a month later however, if you pay in full before ordering no discounts are available.

It is highly likely that they will not reinstate the credit account if they have specifically made the change to place your account to payment only. Credit is offered entirely a their discretion and they can remove it at their discretion. You can attempt to converse with them, by phone is probably the wrong method, you could write to your customer care team, but I expect you will not get anywhere. 

Spender£ said:

The fact that they have reduced my account to zero means i am unable to do this and i also received an email today saying my credit limit has been reduced to stop me from falling into debt, this was from their debt management Dept.

I don't like being blamed or treated as a bad payer when i have never been in debt, i guess it is easier for them to just dismiss one customer and move on.

They are not treating you as a bad payer, they are likely treating you having a credit facility as a fraud risk due to your account being compromised once already.

Spender£ said:

I also can't find a way of closing the account which is annoying as i would rather close it and negate the chance of this happening again, the silence game makes me think this might have been an inside job.

If you say who the retailer actually are then people on here may be able to advise you how to close your account. Their silence in no way indicates "an inside job", it indicates that they are not able to talk to you about a fraud investigation, nor to disclose to you the results of the investigation. 

When it comes to accounts with retailers being compromised the primary factor is almost always a user re-using passwords across multiple sites (where a password, or style of password is recognised from a compromise elsewhere), compromised security questions (usually via social engineering), or very occasionally a direct breach at that retailer, however the latter is the least usual. 

Edit: Also put your email through this site to see if it and potentially your passwords have been confirmed as compromised. 
https://haveibeenpwned.com/

Spender£

MattMattMattUK said:

Spender£ said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Spender£ said:

Does anybody know if anything does get investigated because the company are responding to my phone calls with legal script read statements, they are refusing to speak to me as a human being!

It is not entirely clear what you want from them? What do you actually want to speak to them about?

They will conduct some level of investigation within the company, they will not share the results with you. If there is enough evidence they will pass to the police, although there rarely is, again, you will not be informed. 

I know i won't be informed but i want my account as it was before, with this company you get good discounts by ordering and paying the statement in full a month later however, if you pay in full before ordering no discounts are available.

It is highly likely that they will not reinstate the credit account if they have specifically made the change to place your account to payment only. Credit is offered entirely a their discretion and they can remove it at their discretion. You can attempt to converse with them, by phone is probably the wrong method, you could write to your customer care team, but I expect you will not get anywhere. 

Spender£ said:

The fact that they have reduced my account to zero means i am unable to do this and i also received an email today saying my credit limit has been reduced to stop me from falling into debt, this was from their debt management Dept.

I don't like being blamed or treated as a bad payer when i have never been in debt, i guess it is easier for them to just dismiss one customer and move on.

They are not treating you as a bad payer, they are likely treating you having a credit facility as a fraud risk due to your account being compromised once already.

Spender£ said:

I also can't find a way of closing the account which is annoying as i would rather close it and negate the chance of this happening again, the silence game makes me think this might have been an inside job.

If you say who the retailer actually are then people on here may be able to advise you how to close your account. Their silence in no way indicates "an inside job", it indicates that they are not able to talk to you about a fraud investigation, nor to disclose to you the results of the investigation. 

When it comes to accounts with retailers being compromised the primary factor is almost always a user re-using passwords across multiple sites (where a password, or style of password is recognised from a compromise elsewhere), compromised security questions (usually via social engineering), or very occasionally a direct breach at that retailer, however the latter is the least usual. 

Edit: Also put your email through this site to see if it and potentially your passwords have been confirmed as compromised. 
https://haveibeenpwned.com/

I was not sure if i would be allowed to reveal the retailers name but here goes! JD Williams.

The password i use is very long and uses upper case and lower case plus numbers and symbols leading me to believe this was more likely some kind data breach or inside thing.

born_again

Spender£ said:

I was not sure if i would be allowed to reveal the retailers name but here goes! JD Williams.

The password i use is very long and uses upper case and lower case plus numbers and symbols leading me to believe this was more likely some kind data breach or inside thing.

Common target for fraudsters.
Will not be a inside job, or you would not have got any emails.
Data breach is most likely, but not with them, or there would be thousands of cases, but elsewhere.

Tokmon

Spender£ said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Spender£ said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Spender£ said:

Does anybody know if anything does get investigated because the company are responding to my phone calls with legal script read statements, they are refusing to speak to me as a human being!

It is not entirely clear what you want from them? What do you actually want to speak to them about?

They will conduct some level of investigation within the company, they will not share the results with you. If there is enough evidence they will pass to the police, although there rarely is, again, you will not be informed. 

I know i won't be informed but i want my account as it was before, with this company you get good discounts by ordering and paying the statement in full a month later however, if you pay in full before ordering no discounts are available.

It is highly likely that they will not reinstate the credit account if they have specifically made the change to place your account to payment only. Credit is offered entirely a their discretion and they can remove it at their discretion. You can attempt to converse with them, by phone is probably the wrong method, you could write to your customer care team, but I expect you will not get anywhere. 

Spender£ said:

The fact that they have reduced my account to zero means i am unable to do this and i also received an email today saying my credit limit has been reduced to stop me from falling into debt, this was from their debt management Dept.

I don't like being blamed or treated as a bad payer when i have never been in debt, i guess it is easier for them to just dismiss one customer and move on.

They are not treating you as a bad payer, they are likely treating you having a credit facility as a fraud risk due to your account being compromised once already.

Spender£ said:

I also can't find a way of closing the account which is annoying as i would rather close it and negate the chance of this happening again, the silence game makes me think this might have been an inside job.

If you say who the retailer actually are then people on here may be able to advise you how to close your account. Their silence in no way indicates "an inside job", it indicates that they are not able to talk to you about a fraud investigation, nor to disclose to you the results of the investigation. 

When it comes to accounts with retailers being compromised the primary factor is almost always a user re-using passwords across multiple sites (where a password, or style of password is recognised from a compromise elsewhere), compromised security questions (usually via social engineering), or very occasionally a direct breach at that retailer, however the latter is the least usual. 

Edit: Also put your email through this site to see if it and potentially your passwords have been confirmed as compromised. 
https://haveibeenpwned.com/

I was not sure if i would be allowed to reveal the retailers name but here goes! JD Williams.

The password i use is very long and uses upper case and lower case plus numbers and symbols leading me to believe this was more likely some kind data breach or inside thing.

Is this a password that you have stored in a password manager that autofill's into the website?

I was going to say that you may have been duped in a phishing attempt because that is the most common way that people lose access to their accounts and leak their passwords. But that is very unlikely to happen if you don't know the password in the first place.

MattMattMattUK

Spender£ said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Spender£ said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Spender£ said:

Does anybody know if anything does get investigated because the company are responding to my phone calls with legal script read statements, they are refusing to speak to me as a human being!

It is not entirely clear what you want from them? What do you actually want to speak to them about?

They will conduct some level of investigation within the company, they will not share the results with you. If there is enough evidence they will pass to the police, although there rarely is, again, you will not be informed. 

I know i won't be informed but i want my account as it was before, with this company you get good discounts by ordering and paying the statement in full a month later however, if you pay in full before ordering no discounts are available.

It is highly likely that they will not reinstate the credit account if they have specifically made the change to place your account to payment only. Credit is offered entirely a their discretion and they can remove it at their discretion. You can attempt to converse with them, by phone is probably the wrong method, you could write to your customer care team, but I expect you will not get anywhere. 

Spender£ said:

The fact that they have reduced my account to zero means i am unable to do this and i also received an email today saying my credit limit has been reduced to stop me from falling into debt, this was from their debt management Dept.

I don't like being blamed or treated as a bad payer when i have never been in debt, i guess it is easier for them to just dismiss one customer and move on.

They are not treating you as a bad payer, they are likely treating you having a credit facility as a fraud risk due to your account being compromised once already.

Spender£ said:

I also can't find a way of closing the account which is annoying as i would rather close it and negate the chance of this happening again, the silence game makes me think this might have been an inside job.

If you say who the retailer actually are then people on here may be able to advise you how to close your account. Their silence in no way indicates "an inside job", it indicates that they are not able to talk to you about a fraud investigation, nor to disclose to you the results of the investigation. 

When it comes to accounts with retailers being compromised the primary factor is almost always a user re-using passwords across multiple sites (where a password, or style of password is recognised from a compromise elsewhere), compromised security questions (usually via social engineering), or very occasionally a direct breach at that retailer, however the latter is the least usual. 

Edit: Also put your email through this site to see if it and potentially your passwords have been confirmed as compromised. 
https://haveibeenpwned.com/

I was not sure if i would be allowed to reveal the retailers name but here goes! JD Williams.

The password i use is very long and uses upper case and lower case plus numbers and symbols leading me to believe this was more likely some kind data breach or inside thing.

The "strength" of the password matters little these days as outside of the absolute idiots who have password or similar as their password they are very rarely subject to brute force and/or dictionary attacks. More often than not they are either decrypted through poorly implemented password security (badly implemented password encryption, lack of salting, or in some cases even stored in plain text), passwords shared across multiple sites or compromise of the user's device.