Dirty/Insecure vendors

Sasquatch

Sasquatch

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I just got a call from my credit card company that I had a large series (>$1k) of fraudulent charges on my credit card. Fortunately most of them were declined, but a few of them were 'pending', of which I don't know what happens to the merchant. They all seem to be online purchases- which makes me think if these fraud-prevention companies are any good, they have an address as to who to go to.

I asked the credit card about how my information is getting out there and they gave two venues: insecure card readers at gas stations or otherwise, and putting in CC information during online shopping. I think it's more likely the second one because they'd need things like the code on the back of the card to be able to buy something online.

This is the second time this year I've had fraudulent charges. I'm going to try to narrow it down as to the vendors I have bought from (if the same one is on the list twice), and if you've had something similar. There are a lot of not-well-protected websites that someone could be pulling this information off, especially the smaller vendors.


My list of potentials below (both first and second card):

Sportsman Warehouse (crappy ordering website)
Optics Planet
American Reloading (sketch website)
CDNN (sketch)
Academy
5.11 Tactical

My suspicion is CDNN, which I just bought from last week and got the fraudulent charges this week. Same as American Reloading- ordered last week.

Any hits on similar experiences?
 
I've ordered a *lot* of stuff from OpticsPlanet and Academy, and have never had that happen to me, so if that counts for anything, I wouldn't expect it to be either of them.
 
I dont do business at any of those sites but I do mostly at Midway and Brownells and mine gets jacked about once a year. The banks know where it got jacked but they wont tell you. They charge back the fraud to the merchant who accepted the jacked card. I know where my card got jacked once and I told the bank, the cops and the jacking establishment and nobody did a damn thing. Cost of doing business.
 
jimmyjames8 said:
I dont do business at any of those sites but I do mostly at Midway and Brownells and mine gets jacked about once a year. The banks know where it got jacked but they wont tell you. They charge back the fraud to the merchant who accepted the jacked card. I know where my card got jacked once and I told the bank, the cops and the jacking establishment and nobody did a damn thing. Cost of doing business.
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This is actually why I canceled my Capital One card- they said the information they have (about my stolen identity) is confidential and wouldn't let me know anything about the "investigation". Funny, they also got a huge fine for being insecure themselves.
 
I haven’t had an issue with Sprtsmans, but only have a few online transactions with them.
 
Credit card information can be gotten through any number of means, and one only has to watch the news to see how many such means are possible.

I have two credit cards.

One is my "major" credit card, which has a God-awful high limit on it. It doesn't get used for internet stuff...I'm very careful about what and how I use it.

The other is my "internet" credit card. It has a deliberately low credit limit ($600), which is generally enough for me to order most of whatever I may need online. It's low enough that I can pay it off ASAP after using it, even if I max it out. It's also low enough that if, for some insane reason, the credit card company refused to take care of a fraudulent claim I can tell them to bugger off, pay it in full, cancel my account, and go get another one from someone else. At most, I'm about $600 in the hole for a worse case scenario.

I've had both cards for over two decades with no problems. None, that is, that wasn't immediately taken care of by the credit card companies. They both have fraudulent tracking services to note "out of the ordinary" spending habits and will notify me if something outside my normal usage happens. One such example was a phone call I got from one of them which asked me if I had purchased a $600 airline ticket in New York for some island somewhere. (This was my internet card.) I said "Noooo...in fact, I'm currently in SC and had just made a payment on the card at the local Sears in Greenville yesterday." The lady said she can see that on my account. She said they're removing the airline charge, locking that card, and sending me a new card. I had the card the next day.

My advice: Be sure you have a good credit card company, use and track your cards wisely, and be sure to check their fraudulent tracking. They should happily work with you on this.
 
Most likely gas station or they just guess the account numbers, checking and saving accounts would start as multiples of 8 back in my bank days.
I try to use Paypal if I don't know the vendor that well, I've used CDNN Sports for years and never had any problems. Most card issuers can block any international charges if you call and ask.
 
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I've noticed online gun stores in particular have terrible security practices. PSA is particularly bad about it as noted by the recent email leak and years of cc fraud complaints. I started using privacy.com for temporary single use cards if there isn't a google pay or similar option.
 
HKparts.net is also a sight that has lost financial data of customers before, but they're also one of the only vendors for some hard to find parts.
 
My last abuse was three charges in a row to a Walmart a couple hundred miles from me. Got me to thinking the locals are scanning the cards in the drive throughs we frequent. Makes working at a McDonald’s window a lot more pleasant until being caught.
 
OldNascar said:
My last abuse was three charges in a row to a Walmart a couple hundred miles from me. Got me to thinking the locals are scanning the cards in the drive throughs we frequent. Makes working at a McDonald’s window a lot more pleasant until being caught.
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Never give your card to someone. All they need is a smart phone taking a video of the front and back of the card. I got this much from talking to the bank when my card got whacked the second time. Real easy to steal numbers that way.



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I’ve used Discover since Sears created it. In addition to loving the cash back, their security is impressive. They call whenever they see a transaction that seems unusual with respect to my history. They also call when they see a transaction done in NC and some distant state the same day.
 
I used a Chase cc for about 3-4 years. They were fantastic about catching fraudulent use, but it seemed to happen at least once a month. Never had one on my debit or other cards. Never cost me a dime but seemed fishy that it was the only card ever hit and I had the account number changed several times so I took my business elsewhere. I’m sure the board of directors is still reeling from the loss
 
I've bought from CDNN at least once in the past few weeks.
I also have my cc accounts all set to text or email for any transactions over $1. Helps me keep an eye out on my accounts and don't rely on the card provider to notify me.
In the past, Amex has called me about charges that seemed sketchy. Wells Fargo has too-
Thankfully haven't had any issues yet.

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Grits said:
Never give your card to someone. All they need is a smart phone taking a video of the front and back of the card. I got this much from talking to the bank when my card got whacked the second time. Real easy to steal numbers that way.
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Yeah...how many times have you heard people say DON'T WRITE YOUR PASSWORD/PIN DOWN WHERE PEOPLE CAN FIND IT!

You know...like for your computer or ATM card?

And yet...ON THE BACK OF YOUR CREDIT/DEBIT CARD...is the three digit security code. Not just inked, but embossed into the card.
 
RetiredUSNChief said:
Yeah...how many times have you heard people say DON'T WRITE YOUR PASSWORD/PIN DOWN WHERE PEOPLE CAN FIND IT!

You know...like for your computer or ATM card?

And yet...ON THE BACK OF YOUR CREDIT/DEBIT CARD...is the three digit security code. Not just inked, but embossed into the card.
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Mines just inked
 
Jeremy said:
CDNN has got me twice now. Both times ordering the cheap timbersmith ak sets they had.
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Weird, did you order online or call? Not sure if it makes a difference, just curious as I've called twice now since I want them to ship to my PO box.

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Both online. The only other order I had at the time was from PSA. Odd that i happened twice, but Ill still order from them. My credit union can make me a new card in the branch anyway.
 
I'll add what my CC company told me - just because they used it this week (or insert any time frame) doesnt mean that's when they got it or even just before that point.
Sometimes these folks dont try things out for months, apparently

And I think there was a post here recently with similar information.

It could have happened anywhere - gas station, restaurant, target etc, not necessarily where you online shopped last week or so
 
jimmyjames8 said:
Mines just inked
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Check again. It's embossed. Not at all like the 16 digit credit card number, too be sure, but it IS embossed nonetheless. I guess you could say it was "firmly stamped" into the plastic, instead of "embossed".

Run your fingernail over it. Look very closely at that spot on the face of the card...you can make out the image where it was stamped.
 
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