...and used it to get a subscription to a porn site.
The offender apparently lives in Texas, while I live in California. I haven't even touched the checking account or debit card associated with it for three months, so I'm not really sure how this could be.
The only thing that I can see with some sort of connection is I sold an item through Amazon to a person in Texas. They got their order five days ago, but they are forty miles away from where the account was actually used.
Either way, this was just a complete shock for me, and I'm still baffled to how they got ahold of that account.
But hey, now you're subscribed to some high quality art!
...
That really sucks man, but if you explain everything to the bank and what not you can usually get all your money back. They'll have to change a bunch of stuff, but in my experience (happened to my mother and my bass player) it's actually not too bad. The banks/credit card companies were pretty efficient about getting it all straightened out, although I don't know if they ever catch any of these people.
Lonely Rolling Star wrote:The only thing that I can see with some sort of connection is I sold an item through Amazon to a person in Texas. They got their order five days ago, but they are forty miles away from where the account was actually used.
Bet you a dollar that is who did it. 40 miles is not very far at all, especially in Texas geography.
I assume you have already reported this to your credit card company, but you might want to report it to amazon too.
Did you look through the negative feedback for that seller and see if anybody else complained about similar theft?
Yeah, I'm in the process of getting the refund back for that porn subscription, and the bank already gave me back the overdraft charge. Since I reported the fraud, I'm assuming they already know.
How do you think they could've gotten hold of my information like that though? I find that to be really strange, and no, I haven't seen any negative feedback about that particular buyer. I was the seller actually. :P
If a hacker is clever enough and/or lucky enough, they can get practically anything that exists online, I'd say. Quite unfortunate, but it's not really much different from pointing out that if a thief is clever enough and/or lucky enough, they can get practically anything in your house as well.
If a person is smart enough (viz: anyone with a third-grade education and some common sense), he can get porn for free, without having to commit several crimes first. This is the internet. You browse around long enough, you'll run into porn whether you were trying or not. Why you'd steal someone's financial info to do it is a secret to everybody.
Lonely Rolling Star wrote:How do you think they could've gotten hold of my information like that though? I find that to be really strange, and no, I haven't seen any negative feedback about that particular buyer. I was the seller actually. :P
Did you pay the seller using paypal? If so, I have no idea how they did it either... but if you payed them through some other billing interface...
Mazin wrote:As he said, he was the seller. He didn't pay anyone.
Oh! I see. Silly me for not paying attention...
Then maybe the "Texas connection" is just a coincidence.
Really, it could be anybody. I remember about 6 months ago, somebody in Riverside tried to used my credit card number to by $600 tires. For whatever reason, Visa flagged it as "suspicious" and rejected the sale, so whoever did it did not get away with the tires, but I never did find out who it was or how they got my card number.
Whatever they ask me to do. I'm on the team that comes up with the dates when you'll get your stuff. You know how the checkout page says your order will ship on July 3, 2009? That's us.
Anyway, your buyer is female, which already makes her unlikely to be stealing your info for porn. What exactly happened? Is it your bank info that was stolen or was your credit card charged? If it's your CC, that makes it nearly impossible for this person to be the perpetrator.
I'm guessing the charge came from Houston. That doesn't mean the perpetrator lives there -- it could just mean the company fronting the porn site is based there. I'd be interested to know what information led you to the conclusion.
Mogri wrote:Whatever they ask me to do. I'm on the team that comes up with the dates when you'll get your stuff. You know how the checkout page says your order will ship on July 3, 2009? That's us.
That is awesome!
So, has your team had to deal with the Year 2038 bug yet?
