Damn i've been cloned.

[phil the shed]

oh my god the credit card company called today to ask about transactions i have made as they had blocked 2 sales in phone shops for £230.00 and £340.00 on phones or equipment as they had authorised a sale only an hour earlier for £260.00.
so what do i do now because i can't work out where they have got my details from. well the card is cancelled and claim forms are on the way but where did they get my details it really does bother me now as they would need my 3 digit security code or my pin and they are safe in the head of phil the shed.

[smallblueplanet]

Ask the credit card company how the sales were authorized - a few years ago someone got hold of our Egg card details, no idea how, they bought tickets to the Millenium Stadium and some other stuff. The sales had gone through as 'buyer not present' - just the CC number. Their fault entirely to allow such sales....they cancelled the card and issued me another. It cost me nothing as it was no fault of mine.

[phil the shed]

Ask the credit card company how the sales were authorized - a few years ago someone got hold of our Egg card details, no idea how, they bought tickets to the Millenium Stadium and some other stuff. The sales had gone through as 'buyer not present' - just the CC number. Their fault entirely to allow such sales....they cancelled the card and issued me another. It cost me nothing as it was no fault of mine.

hopefully my tranactions seem the same so a good outcome i hope

[Tigerella]

Hi

The same happened to my card, they got my details from a petrol station where some people working there had cameras or something.
I bank with Nationwide and they are very good. They got away with over £1000.

T

[madmax]

There are a few ways a card can be cloned:

1) Skimmed - a card reader. The card is taken away and the strip read and the CCV (3 digit number recorded manually).

2) Cloned - When you enter your PIN on a portable EPOS terminal, this EPOS terminal used bluetooth technology to tx and rx the data to the main EPOS terminal in the store. And we all know just how insecure Bluetooth technology really is. Don't we!?!?!?

3) Simple video camera - One strategically placed where the victims card number, PIN and CCV can be monitored.

So I never use my Visa Debit card for any remote or portable EPOS transaction. ALWAYS my credit card as should this be subject to a fraudulent transaction, it is the banks money that is lost. Not mine.

So fellow grapes, read this and please act to avoid your card being taken away by the waitress to a remote terminal, 'spesh a portable remote EPOS terminal and always cover the PIN EPOS terminal keyboard. Look about for small cameras as well at the POS.

Shred anything with your name or bank, credit card details on it before you recycle any paperwork (or even better use it as compost). Also, very importantly if you do any online shopping close your browser after the transaction. Remove any 'cookies' when closing your browser and do not ask windows to remember passwords or any 'autofill' data. Enable your firewall (not just the Windows XP firewall either, as this is crap) on your router and install something like Grisoft AVG spy ware and virus protection. Remember, any open ports on your firewall (if you are sensible enuff to have one) can be used to monitor individual keystrokes so a hacker can monitor everything you type in.

If you have a USB broadband modem, get rid of it and buy a proper modem/firewall/router/wireless access point as the USB modem will prolly not have a hardware firewall installed. If you cannot do this download software firewall called Zone Alarm. If you use WLAN (WI-FI) enable WPA or WPA2 encryption as WEP is soooo easily hackable. As in 20 seconds - I have tools to hack this as well!

This might sound like I am paranoid but these measures have so far worked for Shirlthegirl43 and I. I work in IT and I know the technologies used, like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and these are basically not secure. Most cards are cloned at these EPOS terminals...

[scared55]

Very sound advice, MM, to which I would add use something like Spybot S&D to deal with spyware and evils like keyloggers, and keep the Operating System up to date.

We use Norton Internet Security and Spybot on all our PCs, have an active firewall onout modem/router. Our wireless router is physically separate, on a different subnet, and also has an active firewall. It only allows specific PCs to access the network and those laptops cannot see the desktop PCs that are connected to the main router.

In addition to that, I derive confidence by checking our bank accounts and Visa account online every morning.

I see this as basic online security, to which your excellent suggestions should be added.

KK

[madmax]

I used to use Norton - very good s/w. However Norton as well as Symantec AV SW can easily be crippled by a skilled code developer and a well designed virus! This is why I use AVG. It is free and is not so resource consuming on the host PC. I have Spy Bot installed as well.

Another thing to do is hide your SSID and enable MAC address filtering for ethernet and wireless clients. But we are getting into the realms here that are beyond most mere mortals! A good bit of advice for having the wireless clients on a different subnet. I tried to do that with a couple of Linksys routers but failed to get the configs to work. The BB modem/firewall/router on one subnet with an ethernet port connected to a seperate Wi-Fi access point.

I would hate to be cloned.. 1 of me wandering aimlessly about on this planet is enuff...

[Steve(spt)]

A good FREE software tool to "clean" out browswer and cookies is Ccleaner.

Another spyware tool is Spyware Doctor from PCtools .

Or you can dump Windows and use Linux Ubuntu


MM has given good advice, as I also work IT / Programming.

[quark1]

Phil the shed - above all you MUST report this as a crime to the police.

I had a credit card taken out in my name after having my post diverted (I fathomed that out as the method) - too long a story for here at this time.

It will be a most uncomfortable experience reporting the crime as they will take many details.

It is fortunate that your CC company has blocked some charges as being 'out of character'. Check your details for how much you 'may' be liable for before cancellation or change of card/acc - which MUST be done as a priority.

If you are liable for any charges indemnity) do check your household insurance as it 'may' cover for such losses.

In the meantime you have my sympathy - my fraud was for £10K plus - in the end - but I had NEVER done business with the particular card company. My losses were nil as it was a forgery from start to finish. I was even able to give some etails as to the transactions - ATMs in London and foreign travel purchases. Unfortunately there had been a very nasty murder enquiry in brighton at the time and the interview was postponed beyond the inward travel plans - so the perps got away.

Sadly CC crime is one of the easiest to commit and get away with. It is us and the retailers who pay in the end via higher charges - interest and % of spend. Again the crim is king - marvelous isn't it?

Best avoidance of skimmers is to take cash from an ATM INSIDE the store/bank - no guarantees - but more difficult to install by the bad guys.

Wish you a stress-free and swift solution.

[JanieB]

MM, So, so agree with you. I am so ultra careful you wouldn't believe. I worked in the security part of Nationwide for a while and learnt so much as to how our accounts can be breached.

Even after all my precautions, my account was cloned just before Christmas. This is a major problem at any time, but having your card cancelled just before Xmas is a big problem especially when you're off to Spain for the holidays.

I was lucky that my bank was on the ball and didn't let any "strange" transactions (£1200 in a sex shop in Bury, on the same day as £1 in a carpark in Brighton), go through. It would have been nice if they'd contacted me and said they'd cancelled my card. My grandchildren didn't get their presents in time for Xmas.

Ain't technology wonderful .

Sorry Phil, Sh1t ain't it.