Credit Card Fraud

Anonymous · ‎11-24-2009

Hello everyone I have been lurking here for about a month but decided to join and post!

Just got a call from the fraud department at Chase. The fraud rep said there was some suspicious activity on my account that they needed to review with me. Sure enough there were a few charges, each of them under $5, that I didn't recognize. I had this happen before on my Chase account and on my Capital One account. How is this happening?

Nobody uses my credit cards but me. I dont make a lot of online purchases although I do make some. My cards were never lost or stolen. I have paperless statements on all my accounts so no way someone could dig through my trash to get my info.

This really has me confused. I dont know how this keeps happening and its very frustrating.

There have been several packages show up on my doorstep for stuff that I didn't order. Weight loss pills, baseball cards, Gevalia coffee, and the list goes on. This is another thing that puzzles me.

Any help you guys can offer will be greatly appreciated.

DI · ‎11-24-2009

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello everyone I have been lurking here for about a month but decided to join and post!

Just got a call from the fraud department at Chase. The fraud rep said there was some suspicious activity on my account that they needed to review with me. Sure enough there were a few charges, each of them under $5, that I didn't recognize. I had this happen before on my Chase account and on my Capital One account. How is this happening?

Nobody uses my credit cards but me. I dont make a lot of online purchases although I do make some. My cards were never lost or stolen. I have paperless statements on all my accounts so no way someone could dig through my trash to get my info.

This really has me confused. I dont know how this keeps happening and its very frustrating.

There have been several packages show up on my doorstep for stuff that I didn't order. Weight loss pills, baseball cards, Gevalia coffee, and the list goes on. This is another thing that puzzles me.

Any help you guys can offer will be greatly appreciated.

First thing you want to do is have a new card with new numbers issued to you. It's somebody you know more than likely. From the things you listed that was purchased, I cannot get a complete profile of who it could be.

DI · ‎11-24-2009

Do you have anybody listed as an authorize user?

Anonymous · ‎11-24-2009

Hi and thanks for the quick response.

The Chase CSR closed my account and issued me a new card with new numbers. No authorized users on my account. My initial thought was that it was someone I knew as well but I just don't know who it would be. Like I said my credit cards are always in my possession no one else has an opportunity to use them.

DI · ‎11-24-2009

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi and thanks for the quick response.

The Chase CSR closed my account and issued me a new card with new numbers. No authorized users on my account. My initial thought was that it was someone I knew as well but I just don't know who it would be. Like I said my credit cards are always in my possession no one else has an opportunity to use them.

Do you make any purchases online on your computer? Run a system check on your computer to make sure no spyware is on it. Just a thought.

Message Edited by DI on 11-24-2009 08:08 PM

Uborrow-Upay · ‎11-25-2009

Welcome to the forum,cjbell!

My best guess here is that you have a wireless router that is not entirely secured. Someone (a neighbor kid, most likely...not a professional hacker) is sniffing your transmissions and decrypting (assuming it's encrypted in the first place). The stuff that gets delivered to your home unexpectedly would be easy for the neighbor to pick up when you're not at home.

If a pro had your account numbers, there'd be some pretty hefty charges on that card very quickly. The low dollar amounts and the deliveries to your home has me thinking it's a neighbor, and it's your wireless connection. But theft may not even be the motivation here, if it is a neighbor. It could be someone just messing with you for grins and giggles.

DI suggested a system check, which I totally agree with. You may have inadvertently downloaded a trojan or other malware, or your browser has been hijacked. It never hurts to scan your system regularly, just for things like this. They're much more prevalent than most people would imagine.

Do you have a wireless router? Do you live in an area with lots of neighbors close by (apartment building, etc)?

If not, do you use your laptop at local hotspots? Hackers LOVE hotspots!

Please let us know.

DI · ‎11-25-2009

Also, if you have an open wireless connection...close it by placing a password on it. Vista operating system is the best to prevent a hacker attack. But maybe that isn't the case for your situation.

Anonymous · ‎11-25-2009

Hello,

The same thing is happening to my husband's Chase credit cards. Nothing has been ordered, but a change of address was requested to somewhere in Brooklyn, NY. We live in Manhattan. Sometimes I believe it's an inside job because the Mastercard has never been used; only the Visa. The latest incident was a change in address for the same building that we live in, but a letter of the apartment number was missing. Also, Sprint did 2 inquires withinin three months. He has never applied for a Sprint phone. I just placed a fraud alert on his credit file and will be filing a police report. Someone is using his social security number. I am so worried. He had excellent credit score 799 and the 2 inquiries caused it too dropped to 784. Hope it goes back up after the inquires are removed. Thanks for any suggestion.

Anonymous · ‎11-25-2009

Thanks to everyone for the responses your help is truly appreciated.

@Uborrow-Upay wrote:
Welcome to the forum,cjbell!

My best guess here is that you have a wireless router that is not entirely secured. Someone (a neighbor kid, most likely...not a professional hacker) is sniffing your transmissions and decrypting (assuming it's encrypted in the first place). The stuff that gets delivered to your home unexpectedly would be easy for the neighbor to pick up when you're not at home.

If a pro had your account numbers, there'd be some pretty hefty charges on that card very quickly. The low dollar amounts and the deliveries to your home has me thinking it's a neighbor, and it's your wireless connection. But theft may not even be the motivation here, if it is a neighbor. It could be someone just messing with you for grins and giggles.

DI suggested a system check, which I totally agree with. You may have inadvertently downloaded a trojan or other malware, or your browser has been hijacked. It never hurts to scan your system regularly, just for things like this. They're much more prevalent than most people would imagine.

Do you have a wireless router? Do you live in an area with lots of neighbors close by (apartment building, etc)?

If not, do you use your laptop at local hotspots? Hackers LOVE hotspots!

Please let us know.

I ran a full system scan last night with my antivirus software and it didn't find anything. I do have a wireless router and there are a couple of teenage kids in the neighborhood. This is probably the best explanation I've heard so far. My connection is secured but I'm sure it's not too hard to bypass the encryption on a router if you know what you're doing. The main computer in the house that I do most of my online banking on has a wired connection directly into the router if that matters.

Uborrow-Upay · ‎11-25-2009

Yup. Hard wired for me, all thru the house. I'm paranoid about this stuff, and the more I learn, the more paranoid I get!

Are you any kind of a techie, cjbell? Can you check your router (or, do you remember) and see if an administrative username/password has been set for the router itself. You DO NOT want to keep any default setting it came with, but one you gave it (or whoever set it up). If the router itself still has the defaults, those are pretty well-known, and most settings could be changed by a hacker and you'd probably never notice anything.

You might want to set up your router (if you're into admin anyways) to only allow specific MAC addresses onto the network. That way, only your own machines can get access.

Thanks for the compliment about my explanation, but remember I'm just guessing from afar, and it might have nothing at all to do with your computer or your network. It may just be some random screw-ups triggered by some data entry people having a bad day.

Anyways, I've taken to using virtual credit card account numbers these days for most online transactions that are not recurring. Shopping sites, software purchases from random vendors, etc. That's a feature I like that's on at least two of my credit cards (Citi & Discover) and I feel better using a number that can only be used once, then it's dead.

Good luck with all of this, please let us know how you make out.