I guess you'll have to check his Reef Central thread. He stated he has able to get some leads after posting there.
Credit card/ID theft: Be careful!
- Thread starter techreef
- Start date
I guess you'll have to check his Reef Central thread. He stated he has able to get some leads after posting there.
- Location
- Upper West Side
Do you have a link?
Thanks,
Alfred
Thanks,
Alfred
Alfred, I don't know how to do links to other sites. Here, I'll try.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=927634
To save you time though, I haven't publicly posted any names of vendors yet, although someone else on that thread "outed" a vendor. I'm following up my leads. I will post here anything concrete or substantiated by fact. Don't worry; I won't let y'all hanging. I am already getting closer to fingering a particular vendor. There are two likely culprits.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=927634
To save you time though, I haven't publicly posted any names of vendors yet, although someone else on that thread "outed" a vendor. I'm following up my leads. I will post here anything concrete or substantiated by fact. Don't worry; I won't let y'all hanging. I am already getting closer to fingering a particular vendor. There are two likely culprits.
Some times, depends on whom/how they write the code for the online vender website... they have some fault with there programs... some vendor's website, although they said they are secure login, but they are not...
for example, when you type in your login and password, it wasn't secured/encrypted - meaning anyone have a little bit knowledge and with a right tool, they can snipe your login and password easily from the internet...
this big big big online vender, i sent them email few years back, and they either ignore or never-read my comments and suggestions... you can test this out yourself...
before the test, here is some basic info you will need to know.
- when you go online, whatever you TYPE and hit SUBMIT, the information is in plain text and send out to the whole world...
- in order to make this secure, vendor need to do something to encrypt the information (don't want to go through too much details here..)
- how can you identify a webside is secured? while "at the page" that you entering your personal information, you need to make sure their URL is said https:// not http://, or look for the "lock" symbol at the bottom of your IE (Internet explorer), if the lock-symbol in closed (closed lock), it mean secured, otherwise (open lock) it is not secured.
- always make sure when you type your information, you see https:// (with the "s" at the end) or the locked-symbol.
now, try this… (I do not want to spell out the website's fullname, but I am sure you can guess/figure it out) www.am???n.com
- browse anything, click [add …... cart], click [….check out]
- it said enter you login info, and your password… (now WAIT… see, I don’t see https:// and I don’t see the closed-lock-symbol in the bottom either…
- that mean, whatever you type will be open to public…
- Holly sh**!! what can you do - if you really need to buy something from this site?
- just hit sign-in "without" putting in any real information (ie. fake id/password…)
- it then now "route" you to a secured page (with proper https:// and secure-closed-lock-symbol in the bottom)
- you can now feel a "little" bit safer to continue…
;-)
in short, there are many ways we "give out" our personal info that we don't even know, and some times from a trust source...
:eek1:
for example, when you type in your login and password, it wasn't secured/encrypted - meaning anyone have a little bit knowledge and with a right tool, they can snipe your login and password easily from the internet...
this big big big online vender, i sent them email few years back, and they either ignore or never-read my comments and suggestions... you can test this out yourself...
before the test, here is some basic info you will need to know.
- when you go online, whatever you TYPE and hit SUBMIT, the information is in plain text and send out to the whole world...
- in order to make this secure, vendor need to do something to encrypt the information (don't want to go through too much details here..)
- how can you identify a webside is secured? while "at the page" that you entering your personal information, you need to make sure their URL is said https:// not http://, or look for the "lock" symbol at the bottom of your IE (Internet explorer), if the lock-symbol in closed (closed lock), it mean secured, otherwise (open lock) it is not secured.
- always make sure when you type your information, you see https:// (with the "s" at the end) or the locked-symbol.
now, try this… (I do not want to spell out the website's fullname, but I am sure you can guess/figure it out) www.am???n.com
- browse anything, click [add …... cart], click [….check out]
- it said enter you login info, and your password… (now WAIT… see, I don’t see https:// and I don’t see the closed-lock-symbol in the bottom either…
- that mean, whatever you type will be open to public…
- Holly sh**!! what can you do - if you really need to buy something from this site?
- just hit sign-in "without" putting in any real information (ie. fake id/password…)
- it then now "route" you to a secured page (with proper https:// and secure-closed-lock-symbol in the bottom)
- you can now feel a "little" bit safer to continue…
;-)
in short, there are many ways we "give out" our personal info that we don't even know, and some times from a trust source...
:eek1:
I saw that, they say you won't have their "full protection" HA.
If pay pal won't back up thier end when things are compromised there is no way in H@LL i will keep access to my checking account with them.
all I ever used PP for was ebay and sending people cash, neither are worth the risk to me now.
I just ordered all 3 credit reports to make sure nothing else is happening since the incident. I think we all need to get at least one annual report.
This is one of the fastest growing crimes in America. The local police departments won't bother with it. So the most we can do is put the alert, and hope they stop any further activity. Then hope that the thief moved on.
Good luck Tech!
This is one of the fastest growing crimes in America. The local police departments won't bother with it. So the most we can do is put the alert, and hope they stop any further activity. Then hope that the thief moved on.
Good luck Tech!
Just reviewing this thread and realized that I too had some ID/Theft happen in my household as well...
This past Christmas my mom has her social number obtained somehow and the person ordered a new card under her name and went to town (literally) in upstate Ny ...Being that it was the holidays you could imagine the damage, lets just say whatever the max was thats how much they used...It makes me so mad to think that that person got all this stuff from someone elses hard earned money....We filed with the credit berau and even filed a police report and all that other good stuff, end result obviously we didnt have to pay a dime back, but duno if the person ever got caught...My question is why didnt the card company view some of the spending activity as debateable and at least make a call to see what was goin on, was it bc it was the holidays? I mean cmon...:irked: When i was in italy years back and used a certain card a call was made to my home wondering why charges were being made overseas, ..i mean this is what i would expect not oh its the holidays and some people are big spenders so we will overlook these charges, isnt that their job.....
This past Christmas my mom has her social number obtained somehow and the person ordered a new card under her name and went to town (literally) in upstate Ny ...Being that it was the holidays you could imagine the damage, lets just say whatever the max was thats how much they used...It makes me so mad to think that that person got all this stuff from someone elses hard earned money....We filed with the credit berau and even filed a police report and all that other good stuff, end result obviously we didnt have to pay a dime back, but duno if the person ever got caught...My question is why didnt the card company view some of the spending activity as debateable and at least make a call to see what was goin on, was it bc it was the holidays? I mean cmon...:irked: When i was in italy years back and used a certain card a call was made to my home wondering why charges were being made overseas, ..i mean this is what i would expect not oh its the holidays and some people are big spenders so we will overlook these charges, isnt that their job.....
J,
It's BS allright, but it's reality. The local police departments will not waste their time on something like that. As i mentioned before it must be over $10,000 before the FBI gets involved. The way most see it is that the insurance will pay for it.
I went to the police dept, i filed my report, the lady plainly told me they weren't going to do anything unless the CC asks for info. Which most times they never do. These people work in cohoots with delivery guys too. They put fake addresses and then wait there for their buddy to deliver it. It's really so easy to do it, that's why it's so popular.
Again, stay on top of your Credit reports, make sure you know what's going on, and be careful buying from shady places!
It's BS allright, but it's reality. The local police departments will not waste their time on something like that. As i mentioned before it must be over $10,000 before the FBI gets involved. The way most see it is that the insurance will pay for it.
I went to the police dept, i filed my report, the lady plainly told me they weren't going to do anything unless the CC asks for info. Which most times they never do. These people work in cohoots with delivery guys too. They put fake addresses and then wait there for their buddy to deliver it. It's really so easy to do it, that's why it's so popular.
Again, stay on top of your Credit reports, make sure you know what's going on, and be careful buying from shady places!
Yup, and yup, Pedro. It's a crappy side of modern life nowadays. I'm really glad that boards like MR are around though, so that when one member gets burned, others can learn from it.
I still haven't gotten confirmation from the other two credit bureaus about sticking a fraud alert on my credit record, so I guess I'll be calling them today. Oh, and as FYI, it's now a law that everyone is entitled to one free credit report each year, so that you can check your report for fraud.
I still haven't gotten confirmation from the other two credit bureaus about sticking a fraud alert on my credit record, so I guess I'll be calling them today. Oh, and as FYI, it's now a law that everyone is entitled to one free credit report each year, so that you can check your report for fraud.
also, I'm waiting for some affadavit to arrive in the mail from my CC company. that will allow me to submit the 2 vendors that appear to be the most suspicious, based on what fellow reefers have been telling me this week. although really, if it was someone just trolling the internet, catching CC info from unsecured web sites, it could be any of 12 different reef vendors. but hey, I gotta try something.
Mystery solved
Sorry for the delay re: this thread, but I was out of town last week, back today. (my tank survived it's first 1-week vacation perfectly! :birthday: )
As it turns out, Savko was the online vendor responsible for my CC fraud. Their website was hacked. This was confirmed by the owner of Savko, Andy. I was PMing with someone over on RC about this case, and he sent me the actual text of Andy's email to another reefer who was burned by Savko's online ordering.
If anyone has ordered from Savko online in the past, say, 3 months, be aware of your CC activity. Andy wrote that they were repairing the breach now, and were very sorry for 1)the imposition this put on his customers, and 2) the loss of trust this fraud has cost him w/ his customers. I'd just like to say that I still have nothing but good things to say about Savko, and will continue to shop with them in the future.
So for anyone following this thread, the story has come to its end. Thanks to everyone who corresponded w/ me trying to figure this out.
Cheers,
Tech
Sorry for the delay re: this thread, but I was out of town last week, back today. (my tank survived it's first 1-week vacation perfectly! :birthday: )
As it turns out, Savko was the online vendor responsible for my CC fraud. Their website was hacked. This was confirmed by the owner of Savko, Andy. I was PMing with someone over on RC about this case, and he sent me the actual text of Andy's email to another reefer who was burned by Savko's online ordering.
If anyone has ordered from Savko online in the past, say, 3 months, be aware of your CC activity. Andy wrote that they were repairing the breach now, and were very sorry for 1)the imposition this put on his customers, and 2) the loss of trust this fraud has cost him w/ his customers. I'd just like to say that I still have nothing but good things to say about Savko, and will continue to shop with them in the future.
So for anyone following this thread, the story has come to its end. Thanks to everyone who corresponded w/ me trying to figure this out.
Cheers,
Tech
- Location
- Philippines
:arg: am cHecking minE....
bad coffee
Inept at life.
- Location
- Location: Location:
I already put the word into my cc. anything suspicious and they call me.
Thanks for the info. Everything I've read about Savko's dealing with this has been good.
B
Thanks for the info. Everything I've read about Savko's dealing with this has been good.
B
- Location
- NY
What did Andy say they are doing to prevent this from happening again?
here is the text of Andy's email to another reefer who was burned by the Savko hacker.
(start of email)
Mr. Brown,
Thank you for your email. Let me first start off by saying how much we appreciate your business, as we have strived to make sure our internet clients receive the best service possible.
We just found out that we did have a site break in. Once we were aware of the site break in, we were able to make immediate changes to the Savko web page to insure its security. I do apologize, as the business that I have been a part of for so long and our web page that has been operating for many years, has had this break in and a possible reflection on our credibility. We will consistently be working on this issue to make sure this does not happen in the future.
I thank you for your time and interest. If it is okay with you, I would like to stay in touch to keep you informed on what we find out and the steps we are taking to insure the security of the site.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions or other concerns that I could help address.
Sincerely,
Andrew Puskas
President
Savko Plastics
(end of email)
(start of email)
Mr. Brown,
Thank you for your email. Let me first start off by saying how much we appreciate your business, as we have strived to make sure our internet clients receive the best service possible.
We just found out that we did have a site break in. Once we were aware of the site break in, we were able to make immediate changes to the Savko web page to insure its security. I do apologize, as the business that I have been a part of for so long and our web page that has been operating for many years, has had this break in and a possible reflection on our credibility. We will consistently be working on this issue to make sure this does not happen in the future.
I thank you for your time and interest. If it is okay with you, I would like to stay in touch to keep you informed on what we find out and the steps we are taking to insure the security of the site.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions or other concerns that I could help address.
Sincerely,
Andrew Puskas
President
Savko Plastics
(end of email)
...and the full thread re: the issue.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=921732&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=921732&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
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