warning to buyers:

DBrown · Post by **DBrown** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 8:21 am

man, this has been a messed up morning........get a call from my bank about 10 minutes ago. seems someone in CA is burning up my debit card. just wanted to warn everyone. I have been using ebay here lately and recently had a new accout created on Bidpay.com........being as I have had no problems from the other payment options I use I am assuming that that is the leak. got charged around $250 worth of grocies and gas at two different locations. so now instead of finishing moving I have to got sort out everything at the bank and see what I can do about pressing charges. just thought I would give everyone a heads up. I know if I was buying I would want a warning. cool thing is my bank caught it and they are moving on it with out it costing me anything....it pays to have a good relationship with your bank

Post by **Nobody** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 8:26 am

Holy crap. So you think your bidpay account got hacked?

They must have had a way to make a fake card.

What bank?

DBrown · Post by **DBrown** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 8:37 am

I bank with BB&T. I have had my accout there for about 8 years now and they have always treated me good. now this just reenforces my trust in them. I don't know the exacts yet I am going to talk to the main branch today and get it all sorted out so I will let you know when I find out where the leak was. I am assuming that the bidpay was it, because I have always used paypal with no problems. I just recently used bidpay for the first time. the good thing is I never give any banking info so all they can get is the debit card number. and that was stopped instantly when they found out I wasn't in CA. I basicly told them that any perchase from CA needs to be stopped and the card cancled. so they are now shut down. I am pissed, but it's one of those things you just can't freak out about. I plane to make sure they prossicute the crap out of the person when they catch them. if it was at a major groc. store they are probably on camera so they will be caught eventualy.

Post by **Nobody** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 8:47 am

I hate hearing these stories because it scares people away from the internet.

Thing is, this stuff happens all the time by people giving the methhead pizza guy a check which has their account number on it, or dropping checks in their mailbox instead of the post office.

At least on the internet there are logs with IP addresses etc.

I also recommend always using a credit card for online purchases. I have a special card with an $800 limit that I only use for online purchases. Credit cards give you buyer protection and recourse. Debit cards offer some buyer protection, but not to the same extent.....and as you've found out, the damage is directly to your pocket, if only temporarily.

DBrown · Post by **DBrown** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 12:09 pm

ok I have an update.

went to the bank and come to find out, you were right they did have to make a fake card. the lady said that all my money is ok, they are going to take care of the theft. I signed a bunch of papers and she told me kinda how this thing works. basicly they don't even know whos card they have they just reproduce it and run up the bill. what flagged them is they saw I used my card last night at ACE to get some stuff for the house and at like 7am it was used in CA. they flagged it and I got the call a few house later saying that they needed to verify the perchase. everything is going back were it is supost to be and they are going to cover all fees associated with the theft so I am covered. the only problem is it is going take 7 business days to go back into the account so untill then they are going to have major overdraft fees to take care of but they said I do not have to worry they will cover it. the only thing that really sucks is now I have to go into the bank to get money out because of them having to turn off the debit card, which is better then loosing over $200.

so, the summery is they think there was no leaks at the online junk it was just a random hit. but I am going here shortly to file a police report so I have documentation of what happened and if they ever catch the guy I am going to request that they contact me.

Phillippi · Post by **Phillippi** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 4:13 pm

Well FYI, my wife got a letter from our bank last week that advised us that Visa had notified our bank and someone hacked into their (Visa) database and stole a bunch of visa #s. My wives # for her debit card was listed as stolen. They cancelled her card and issued her a new one. They caught it so soon that nothing was even tried using her card. I think banks are doing a pretty good job getting info out and covering $ that is stolen.

Its good to hear that you didnt have to loose any money yourself.