Credit Card Fraud Alert

[Dudley the 1st]

Many Members ATS have had their Credit Cards compromised recently. You may want to check your accounts.

[MarkFeld]

I read the posts and it is somewhat alarming, enough so, that I checked recent transactions on my cards. Fortunately, all was OK.

 

It sounds as if one or more sites might have been hacked, but have not reported it publicly.

[Dudley the 1st]

Yes it certainly is alarming. Some have suggested that the ANA site was hacked. I hope that this gets figured out. Glad to hear your accounts are O.K. Mark.

[RWB]

I was at ANA for 3 days, so I checked my accounts, too. Everything was OK...must have been the tin-foil hat I wore.

[Dudley the 1st]

That reminds me, I have to buy another roll to cover my windows.

[DC Dawg]

Yes it certainly is alarming. Some have suggested that the ANA site was hacked. I hope that this gets figured out. Glad to hear your accounts are O.K. Mark.

I can tell you with with 100-percent certainty and catagorically the ANA web site was NOT hacked. NO personal information was compromised during recent technical issues. Anyone who says otherwise does not know the facts and is making a WAG about the situation. PERIOD!

 

Scott

 

 

[TomB]

I was also at the ANA for the week and, to this point, nothing is out of the ordinary.

[MarkFeld]

I was also at the ANA for the week and, to this point, nothing is out of the ordinary.

 

From the posts I have read, It appears that that timing of the fraudulent transactions was merely coincidental with that of the ANA.

[MarkFeld]

Yes it certainly is alarming. Some have suggested that the ANA site was hacked. I hope that this gets figured out. Glad to hear your accounts are O.K. Mark.

I can tell you with with 100-percent certainty and catagorically the ANA web site was NOT hacked. NO personal information was compromised during recent technical issues. Anyone who says otherwise does not know the facts and is making a WAG about the situation. PERIOD!

 

Scott

 

 

Scott, I don't doubt that the site wasn't hacked. But how can you state so with such certainty?

[Coindude]

I was at ANA for 3 days, so I checked my accounts, too. Everything was OK...must have been the tin-foil hat I wore.

Roger, that only works if you put in in a cone shape!

[Dudley the 1st]

Yaeh good question. From what I understand a few people who had their accounts hacked had recently paid their ANA dues with their CC's on the site, so this is where that link is being suspected, but the ANA has not made any public notifications of any such problems. I think " Penny Lady" said Coin World is doing a story for the next issue.

 

I hope that all who experienced this trouble gets things worked out ASAP.

[DC Dawg]

The ANA issued a statement that said in part:

 

"The stolen credit card numbers did not come from a compromise of ANA databases, its websites or from credit card charges made during the World's Fair of Money."

 

You can read the rest of their statement here, on the ANA website.

[Dudley the 1st]

Thanks Scott.

[Bill H-migration]

My credit card number was hacked, possibly in Philadelphia. The fraudulent charge was not made until this past weekend. My bank cancelled my card today, reversed the charge, and my bank has promised to inform me of the outcome of their investigation.

 

I chair the web subcommittee of the ANA's IT advisory committee and I can state with certainty that I have not used my credit card for any online transactions with the ANA in quite a few years so my card could not have been hacked via the web site. I have checked with ANA staff and other reports appear to have one thing in common with mine, my card has an RFID chip. If my card number was hacked in Philly, then I suspect we were victims of an RFID scanner since my card was not out of my possession or sight during the convention. I watched it being swiped through a reader once at the front desk at the Marriott, once for a credit card transaction on the floor, and once for a manual transaction on the floor. I watched all three transactions, so my card was never out of my sight.

[Dudley the 1st]

Wow ! This sounds as if this could prove to be a well organized gang with an at will target audience. It's a scary world.

[MarkFeld]

My credit card number was hacked, possibly in Philadelphia. The fraudulent charge was not made until this past weekend. My bank cancelled my card today, reversed the charge, and my bank has promised to inform me of the outcome of their investigation.

 

I chair the web subcommittee of the ANA's IT advisory committee and I can state with certainty that I have not used my credit card for any online transactions with the ANA in quite a few years so my card could not have been hacked via the web site. I have checked with ANA staff and other reports appear to have one thing in common with mine, my card has an RFID chip. If my card number was hacked in Philly, then I suspect we were victims of an RFID scanner since my card was not out of my possession or sight during the convention. I watched it being swiped through a reader once at the front desk at the Marriott, once for a credit card transaction on the floor, and once for a manual transaction on the floor. I watched all three transactions, so my card was never out of my sight.

 

Several people who had fraudulent transactions on their cards, were not in Philadelphia. So, while there could have been a number of scanners used in different parts of the country at about the same time, it seems far more likely that a website or sites was/were compromised.

[comicdonna]

My wife's card was hacked this weekend. She was not in Philly. She had to cancel it, and get a new one.

[Dudley the 1st]

 

Several people who had fraudulent transactions on their cards, were not in Philadelphia. So, while there could have been a number of scanners used in different parts of the country at about the same time, it seems far more likely that a website or sites was/were compromised.

 

 

IT's looking that way.

[AnkurJ]

PayPal look more attractive every day!

[Dudley the 1st]

PayPal look more attractive every day!

 

 

Not for me. I stopped using/accepting PAYPAL over a year ago. Now it's either personal check or a USPS Money Order. I prefer peace of mind and security over convenience .

[wheat'swheats]

PayPal look more attractive every day!

One of the new tricks the scammers are using today is "I'll pay you with paypal and it's safe" Then they ask four your account number and hack your account somehow. No way is safe any more.

wheat

[Bill H-migration]

I don't know what to say about problems elsewhere. This thread raised questions about the ANA web site and something seems to have happened in Philadelphia or happened about the same time as the convention in Philadelphia. I was in crowds of people in the Marriott, the Convention Center, and on the street outside the Marriott.

 

I specifically reported my problem to ANA staff as requested in their press release and asked about whether others making reports also had RFID chips. I asked that question because the fraudulent use of my card was made through a clearing house for portable RFID chip readers, the kind you see in use on portable phones at trade shows. Anyone can establish an account through the clearing house and collect one-off credit card payments anywhere with a portable reader. The readers, like point of sale readers, require the credit card to be in close proximity, but only because they are low powered. You might have seen these readers in use by small dealers at trade shows or conventions. The actual source of the charge does not post to your account because the charge does not come from a brick and mortar company through a typical credit card clearing house. My credit card company has promised to report to me what they learn through their investigation of the charge with the clearing house.

 

With a little research and knowledge, one can and thieves do modify a reader to emit more power to excite a chip at a greater distance, capture the information the card sends, and store it for future use. In the proper criminal hands, that data can then be transmitted at a later date as if it were being read directly from the card.

 

Besides the convention, I was also in close proximity to a large number of people in the Philadelphia airport, the Denver airport, the Spokane airport, and the Seattle airport. I spent a few days at a B&B in Coeur d'Alene on the same trip, although I was with family the whole time. I mention that because a portable reader scheme would require a large number of people in a more confined space and you would want those to be people who likely would have credit cards with higher limits.

 

It also helps that I checked my credit card status last Saturday when deciding about a coin bid. The charge was not pending at that time. It posted on Sunday. Given that I am retired and I had a lot of project work to catch up, I know that I was not out and about in any other location where I could have been scanned after returning home following Philadelphia and Coeur d'Alene. The charge also happened to be $1.11 less than the amount that would have triggered a text message to me to verify the charge since it originated from an unusual source.

 

Millions of credit card numbers were stolen a little over a year ago from a central clearing house for the credit card companies. It is possible that some one started using a block of those numbers recently and this is all a coincidence, but I plan to invest in protective sleeves to protect my RFID cards. It just seems to be a simple and prudent measure.

[MarkFeld]

I don't know what to say about problems elsewhere. This thread raised questions about the ANA web site and something seems to have happened in Philadelphia or happened about the same time as the convention in Philadelphia. I was in crowds of people in the Marriott, the Convention Center, and on the street outside the Marriott.

 

I specifically reported my problem to ANA staff as requested in their press release and asked about whether others making reports also had RFID chips. I asked that question because the fraudulent use of my card was made through a clearing house for portable RFID chip readers, the kind you see in use on portable phones at trade shows. Anyone can establish an account through the clearing house and collect one-off credit card payments anywhere with a portable reader. The readers, like point of sale readers, require the credit card to be in close proximity, but only because they are low powered. You might have seen these readers in use by small dealers at trade shows or conventions. The actual source of the charge does not post to your account because the charge does not come from a brick and mortar company through a typical credit card clearing house. My credit card company has promised to report to me what they learn through their investigation of the charge with the clearing house.

 

With a little research and knowledge, one can and thieves do modify a reader to emit more power to excite a chip at a greater distance, capture the information the card sends, and store it for future use. In the proper criminal hands, that data can then be transmitted at a later date as if it were being read directly from the card.

 

Besides the convention, I was also in close proximity to a large number of people in the Philadelphia airport, the Denver airport, the Spokane airport, and the Seattle airport. I spent a few days at a B&B in Coeur d'Alene on the same trip, although I was with family the whole time. I mention that because a portable reader scheme would require a large number of people in a more confined space and you would want those to be people who likely would have credit cards with higher limits.

 

It also helps that I checked my credit card status last Saturday when deciding about a coin bid. The charge was not pending at that time. It posted on Sunday. Given that I am retired and I had a lot of project work to catch up, I know that I was not out and about in any other location where I could have been scanned after returning home following Philadelphia and Coeur d'Alene. The charge also happened to be $1.11 less than the amount that would have triggered a text message to me to verify the charge since it originated from an unusual source.

 

Millions of credit card numbers were stolen a little over a year ago from a central clearing house for the credit card companies. It is possible that some one started using a block of those numbers recently and this is all a coincidence, but I plan to invest in protective sleeves to protect my RFID cards. It just seems to be a simple and prudent measure.

 

Bill, welcome to the forum.

 

Many people who have reported fraudulent charges on their cards were NOT in or near Philadelphia at that time. If it is an issue with scanners, they were used in different parts of the country. It seems far more likely that one or more sites were hacked.

 

 

[Prethen]

In the past several weeks I've had two of my MasterCards compromised. One of them is essentially out of use and put away for awhile. The other I use all the time. Very strange and coincidental.

[newprepper]

Just as a side note, I shred EVERYTHING that has my name or address on it. That includes ebay purchases that do not have my name on it, just my ebay name. Also, magazine pages with address labels, anything, I even put the envelopes for credit cards and bills in the shredder. I don't even want anybody to know who I do business with. And then it gets burned

[newprepper]

PayPal look more attractive every day!

One of the new tricks the scammers are using today is "I'll pay you with paypal and it's safe" Then they ask four your account number and hack your account somehow. No way is safe any more.

wheat

 

With paypal you should only give an email thats associated with your acct. Use a free email.

[lehigh96]

Add my name to the ever growing list. I was not in Philly for the ANA show, but yesterday someone charged $10 on my AMEX to American Endowment? Today they attempted to charge $575 to an airline based in Los Angeles but I received a fraud protection alert and cancelled the card within 30 minutes of the transaction. I don't use my AMEX for online coin purchases but I did use it for my ANA & NGC memberships.

 

It seems that they have a long list of CC acct#'s and are working their way through them. If your credit card has not been compromised, don't simply assume that you are safe. It could mean that they have not gotten to you yet.

[ldhair]

My BOA card was hit about a week before the show.

[johnny9434]

our local credit union got hit here tuesday

[CoinPulsive PCM]

PayPal look more attractive every day!

 

 

Not for me. I stopped using/accepting PAYPAL over a year ago. Now it's either personal check or a USPS Money Order. I prefer peace of mind and security over convenience .

 

 

Paypal is worse than anything if you use them for a "Bank."

Their security system is pathetic and it does not work, their customer service doesn't communicate or know a Key Board from a stone and Chisel.

 

I have had to make 4 different paypal accounts over the past 3 years because of their "security model." One account acctually had money stolen by one of their employees and they tried to cover it up and kept saying the money will be back in my account. After 5 months and still missing $700.00, I contacted my attorney and the BBB and the FTC. 3 months later Paypal issued my money back with a formal statement of what happened.

 

BUT everytime I have ever done a transaction that is "larger than usual" They hold the funds. Paypal's security model thought an Ebay transaction of $550.00 was money laundering. WORSE part was that they people there have no way to override the system and I had to wait yet again..It took 3 weeks. Eh, Paypal just sucks but you need it for Ebay.

 

All the CCs and accounts that were hacked recently, most likely has nothing to do with the ANA show timing. Every day people have their info stolen and it is done numorous ways. The fact that several people on here all had fraud issues around the same times means nothing except your info was stolen. It could be from a Trojan keylogger virus on ANY website, a Skimmer on an ATM machine anything.

 

I had my Identity stolen two years ago and I have had many fraud issues where my bank info was stolen. Most of the fraud came from websites with bad or fake SSL certs.

 

My advice: Buy an Aluminum wallet or just carry cash. Bank and CC fraud is everywhere today and the stress of lossing everything in your savings because of Identity theft is rediculous and it sucks. Whenever I carry more than $500 on me, I keep $50 in my wallet and the rest in a bank bag in my car. I also have a CCW permit and I always carry. I would rather have someone grab my cash and the sisuation to allow me to defend myself and money than have someone walk next to me with an RFID scanner and get my CC info without me even knowing.

 

-Dave