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Credit card fraud, confused.
Daedalus
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Recently my credit card information (including my name, address, and phone number) were somehow stolen, and a whole bunch of charges were placed on it. I've had the card canceled but the charges keep trickling in, and I'm working with my bank to have the charges reversed. I know what to do here, that's not what I'm asking about.
What I can't figure out is motive. You see, whoever stole the card number is having a bunch of stuff from semi-legit online businesses shipped to my house. $70 in Shamwow, for instance, or $120 in body care products, or whatever. What the fuck is going on? At first I was considering the idea that my housemate stole my card and did this, but that's not possible: one of the companies gave me the IP address used to place the order when I called them, and it was some (undoubtedly virus-infected) computer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (I'm nowhere near there), so that can't be it. So why? This makes no sense.
What I can't figure out is motive. You see, whoever stole the card number is having a bunch of stuff from semi-legit online businesses shipped to my house. $70 in Shamwow, for instance, or $120 in body care products, or whatever. What the fuck is going on? At first I was considering the idea that my housemate stole my card and did this, but that's not possible: one of the companies gave me the IP address used to place the order when I called them, and it was some (undoubtedly virus-infected) computer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (I'm nowhere near there), so that can't be it. So why? This makes no sense.
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1. Evil practical joke. I mean, $70 in Shamwow products?
2. Idiot kid(s) just goofing off attempting to cause problems.
3. Stuff I do between getting infractions on the Penny Arcade Forums.
This is totally likely. Either that or the proxy is my best guess, and it's just someone playing a practical joke on you.
The housemate in question could not possibly be more computer-illiterate if I beat her over the head with a meat mallet, so I think that's not too likely.
Now that I'm taking a closer look at the charges, most seem to be from those "services" that give you a "free" trial for a couple dollars and then move it to an expensive monthly service when you fail to cancel. Also, for all of them they spelled my last name slightly wrong.
There were a couple of reasonably large charges crammed in the middle ($49.95 and $67.00) from "SIXFGRE" and "SECRPAY" that seemed really suspicious, partly because I can't find those actual businesses online and partly because when I called up one of them they knew about the charge for the other one, as if they were really the same business (and they promised to refund both, natch, but I'm not sure if they actually will.) Perhaps that's where the money actually went to the scammer and the rest of it was just to piss me off, waiting on hold for an hour to get a dollar refunded.
That's the best theory I currently have, anyway.
Or I could be entirely wrong. I trust someone here will be able to tell me if that's the case.
So, still no clue. It's as if someone took my card and info and just signed me up for the most useless shit for no reason.
Yeah.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
I think the idea of snatching the packages off the doorstep might be right though. Who knows.
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
A) so return it to the company
C) throw it out
D) sell it
E) other
I assume you return it and get your money back, since it was charged to your credit card.
You didn't pay for it as visa refunded you and you have goods.
It's possible that someone has your card information and is using it to sign up for all these offer things in order to complete one of those online reward systems where you get money or gift cards or electronics if you sign up for X offers. The fact that they're weird trial things, and e-Book things, and someone else mentioned it happening to someone they know with diet pills and magazines. These are all typical things that you find in the trial offers on those reward sites.
You know, that makes a lot more sense than any theory I came up with.
I kept wonding why it was always the semi shady companies too, that they were buying the crap from. It all makes sense now.
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
Of course, there would be some complications in doing this continually, at some point, the acquirer would terminate a contract with too high a percentage of charge-backs.
(NB: This knowledge mostly applies to the northwestern european situation, I'm not sure how this works exactly in the USA)
In America, the retailer takes the hit from a chargeback, not the credit card company.
I dunno what happened to that person, but I think the lesson here is, anything could have happened, really.
An Acquirer is not Mastercard or VISA, but an inbetween company, which usually offers a contract for multiple brands of creditcards. I just checked, and a similar system exists in the USA as over here. As someone who works for such an acquirer, there are definitely situations imaginable where we foot the bill for hot cards. (Not allowed to tell you how exactly).
It also depends where the product was bought. Usually (but not always) a company in country X will also have an acquirer in X.
Shogun Streams Vidya
Shamwow was the only company so far that refused to refund me until after I sent back the package.
edit: and Puma, apparently.
You spend 20 bucks a year on Paper Towel anyway
Weeks dude! I had this same thing happen to me, and I just kept an open dialog with my bank, reporting each charge until they finally stopped. Just got to stick it out!
It's made in Germany, you know the Germans always make good stuff