Help! Mystery credit card charges...

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Keropi
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Post by Keropi »

Since November I've had a credit card fraud charge on one of my cancelled credit cards and have had a charge on my one-year old expired credit card.

Apparently both credit card companies just let both charges go through with no problem. X|
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Cloud
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Post by Cloud »

Not many people say both.
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sensei
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Post by sensei »

I had one of these mystery charges last month. Visa immediately flagged it as suspicious and sent me an email message asking me to contact them. There was nothing in any of my recent transactions that it could relate to, so I told them to consider it as fraudulent. They immediately cancelled my account number and issued me a new card. It was irritating as I had to change some other accounts with vendors to update the number, but less so than having to dispute charges that were actually placed on my account.

The only Japanese account where I'd registered a Visa number is Mandarake, so I assume that is the database that was hacked or otherwise compromised. I'll never bid on their auctions again, at least not until they take PayPal.
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Keropi
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Post by Keropi »

I just paid for a Mandarake auction win with PayPal. :)

I don't know about the credit card on file though.
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benten
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Post by benten »

The major credit cards all let you generate secure account numbers for each credit card transaction via their web sites. My monthly billing shows the secure number used for each transaction. Your actual credit card number is never in the hands of the vendor. If you keeps a record of the secure number used for any given transaction, you can spot any breech in security and what vendor was responsible. You don't end up having to get a new card number issued. In the case of possible fraudulent charges, the credit card company can give you the secure account number used and you can use that to check against your records.

The inconvenience of doing this for each transaction, I believe, is worth the increased protection. For example, I have done all of my transactions with Mandarake using secure account numbers without a problem.
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murasame4
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DALLTO scammer UPDATE

Post by murasame4 »

Hi everybody,

The dispute road is long and trying. :( My credit card company investigated and then told me that DALLTO provided them with a receipt that "proves" I bought something from them. It turns out that DALLTO is an online gambling/gaming website in Japan--so I'm guessing that the scammer stole a bunch of credit card numbers from Animaxis or some other Japanese anime website business (he must be either a hacker or a crooked employee) and then went gambling.

I am posting the crook's name and email as a warning for other collectors that this guy is out there, and maybe this post can serve as evidence if he ever does it to anyone else.

According to DALLTO, the scammer's name is Taro Yamada. His address is just listed as 546-0021 (just a zip code, I'm thinking). His date of birth is 3/3/1980, and his email is popos7@infoseek.jp .

My card company wants me to prove, in writing, that I didn't make these charges (even though my name is obviously NOT Taro Yamada, and I am not a guy).

To all other Beta members--watch your credit card statements carefully as this guy is still out there. :( For all we know, he still works at Animaxis or Mandarake or maybe even CDJapan (the 3 places I have bought from). My chief suspect is still Animaxis, though, due to that hacking incident. But AGAIN, this person might not be a one time hacker, but a dishonest employee. He might have a gambling problem and steals when he loses.

I hope this helps, you guys.
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jenn-b
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Post by jenn-b »

Gods...that just sucks. I really hope that you are able to get things cleared up.
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redhusky3
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Post by redhusky3 »

Thanks for the heads up! I just hate to hear stuff like this and I hope the person gets caught soon
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zerospace
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Post by zerospace »

A long while ago I had my visa CC number stolen, too ... the person charged somewhere around $500, but the charges were never allowed to actually post to my account. I never could figure out how the number got stolen, but kinda wondered if Mandarake was the reason. I no longer store a CC on file with Mandarake, instead I provide a credit card for each transaction.

Benten is correct--many of the major CC companies now offer secure card numbers to use for online transactions. If you don't trust a company, this is probably the best way to go.

Also, just in case anyone hasn't seen this yet:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090818/ap_ ... er_charges

Makes you wonder... ;)
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metheus
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follow-up

Post by metheus »

I think I'm reverting to "forum lurker" status. Murasame4's email from the other day reminded me I should drop by and follow-up. The dispute process / bank investigation into the charges on my card took almost full month for whatever reason. I'd complain about the time, but they decided it was their error and returned all of the money as well as the exchange rate fees.

It ends well, but I'd rather not do this again anytime soon.
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