Identity theft

[Quartlow]

I got a letter from Johnnys Seeds today,

I am contacting you to advise you that on February 4 2007 an unauthorized person, from outside Johnny seeds broke into our website and stole data. We discovered this theft on February 18,2007. Your name, address, phone number, and payment information, including your credit card number ending in XXXX where among the records stolen.

It goes on to say how sorry they are and so on. I didn't' open the mail till 5:45pm, bank closes at 6. good thing the wife works just 4 blocks away. I had to call her at work. she clocked out ran down to the bank and canceled the debit card.

What I'm wound up about is the amount of time it took to notify me, and why where they storing CC information in the clear? In fact why where they storing it at all?. Any time I've ordered I have always had to enter the CC information over.

I'm going ot have them on the phone Monday and they better have a darn good reason for knowing about this on the 14th but not mailing a letter about it till 27th

Wife checked the account, there was NO unauthorized activity. We where talking, I think we are going to open a second checking account and have a small portion of her check Direct deposited in that. use it for online purchases and just transfer funds in as needed. That way if it gets naile dthey won't get much.

[Ianab]

With computer hacking it's often hard to know what someone got access to. There may be a remote access trojan or keylogger thats been installed on a company workstation. It's found a week later, but what data has been compromised? At least they had the decency to tell you your info might be compromised. Also if you steal 10,000 credit cards.. how many can you actually use  : I guess if your surname is Aardvark it's bad  :D

The idea of opening a 2nd account that is only used for internet business is a good one, only transfer money into it when you want to send a transaction, and any money recieved into it gets transfered into your normal account. If you only keep a $50 float in there you dont have much at risk.

Cheers

Ian

[Ron Wenrich]

You may need to help me out here.  I'm not up on all those new fangled financial offerings.

I don't have a debit card or an ATM card.  I always figured if I need money, I'll drive down to the bank and get it out.  I also don't have any credit card associated to my checking account.  So, if they get my credit card number, they can't tap into my account (can they?).

Are you using a credit card that can dip into your checking account? 

[Quartlow]

I guess if your surname is Aardvark it's bad  :D

Cheers

Ian

Ian, Leave it to you make me smile.  ;D
My point was they new on the 14th, the letter didn't go out till the 27th

My bigger point is it can happen. we hear about it happening but how often does it happen to
someone we know. IF one person here changes how they do online transactions to safeguard themselves then it was worth posting. As for using them, Theres a huge market in Asia and Russia for them

Ron
Debit card looks and works just like a credit card. Even has a VISA or Mastercard logo on them. Yes it is tied to funds in the checking account. of course being poor has it's advantages, they have to hit it within 2 or 3 days of payday otherwise the money is all ready gone ;D

[Cedarman]

Ron, I am with you.  I have never used an ATM and have never used a debit card.  I have 2 credit cards for business and watch them like a hawk.  Check every transaction on each statement.  The credit card company has called when I did something out of pattern to see if I had really used the card.

Cash is king!!

[SPIKER]

I don't use any CARDS tied to my checking savings or anything else but I have been paying bills directly on-line from my checking account.   I DO watch it (my checking account0 to make sure what is going in is and what is coming out is all thats coming out....

I think it would be really smart to make a 2nd account for the on-line transactions and buying over phone though I haven't personally done it...  one reason is the crooks can't get too much :D  ;D >:(

Don't think that PAYPAL or EBAY will protect you either!  They won't do a dam thing if you were ripped off sold bad good or received nothing in return for you're purchase...   WE have had it happed 2 times (SHE has my woman so far every thing I got has been a good sale)

The delay in telling you may have been because they were researching to find out WHO may have been effected by the theft of the info...

MarkM

[Dan_Shade]

I had problems on 2 seperate occasions with a banking check card.  I've had a problem once with a credit card.

I cancelled my check card, these days they talk about how much protection they give you, but my experience is a credit card is a much safer way to make online purchases, mainly due to the fact that the burdon of proof is on the vendor doing the sale, with a check card, the burdon of proof is on the buyer... (at least that's the way I see it/understand it).

let alone, you could bounce a big check if your check card pulls out an unauthorized withdrawal.

Good luck, Quartlow, there are a lot of people out there doing these things that should be suspended from stout branches supported by a rope.

[DanG]

I use a debit card all the time, and occasionally use a credit card, but NEVER online.  None of our financial info is on our computer in any way.  We sometimes give out a CC number over the phone, but it is always on a low limit account, and we never give the debit card number to anyone.  Also, we have 2 bank(credit union) accounts at 2 different institutions.  One is used for day to day expenses and bill paying.  The other contains the bulk of our funds and money is dispersed either by check or at that bank. 

I don't do business with folks that insist on online transfers, period!  I've never purchased on Ebay, though I've bid a few times.  I always check the acceptable payment method, and if they only take Paypal, I don't bid.  If people don't want my money bad enough to wait for a check to arrive, they can just do without it altogether. ;D

There are things that businesses can do to protect their customers, but hardly any do.  One who does is Pilot Travel Centers.  If you use a debit or credit card at one of their pumps, you have to enter your Zip code before it will authorize the transaction.  Now that was a pretty simple and inexpensive programming change on their part, and was done for their own protection, but I appreciate the fact that they are doing something other than moaning about the problem.

[Ron Wenrich]

I did have a credit card number ripped off one time.  It was a card that used very sparingly, and only when they had to have either a Mastercard or a Visa.  So, the account wasn't used too much.

I got a bill that was a little higher than usual, and it was at someplace I didn't recognize.  Called up the card company and told them of the problem.  The card was used in Great Britain at some grocery store.  It was used 3 times and was about $150. 

The credit card company discontinued the account, reissued another card, and I wasn't held liable for any of it. 

Since it was a card, I wonder if someone is stamping these things out someplace with those numbers on them. 

[Raphael]

  I have a small advantage in this area as my wife is the assistant branch manager at our bank, one thing you can do is report the breach to the big three credit reporting agencies and they'll watch credit requests for six months (free of charge) in case the thieves try to use your information to set up bogus account (apply for a new CC in your name, etc.).

 I don't put anything important on our windoze PCs and keep what little Microsoft software I do run fully crippled so I don't have to slow down my machines with active virus scanning.  They are slow enough already.  :  Since the Microsoft invasion of MAC they aren't as secure as they once were either.

My web browsers don't even know my email address and the difference in spam volume vs. my fathers PC is amazing.

[Quartlow]

Well I think I'm safe for now.

Like I said I posted this more as a warning than anything else. We are going to the bank First thing Monday to set up another account for online stuff. I think thats gonna be the safest way to go.

[DanG]

Quart, why not set up the new account as your main, and keep the one that's already spattered all over the internet for the online stuff?  Set up the new one at a different bank, too.  If you have more than one account and somebody bleeds one of them, they'll transfer funds from the other one. >:(

[Don_Papenburg]

My S&L will not transfer from one account to the other unless I call them. I have two checking and one savings account there .  They told me that if the routing numbers don't match that the money does not move.

[Quartlow]

DanG, either or, Theirs a new card coming with a new number on it, so either one works. Besides the old account has ties to other bill payingstuff so you probably right.

Like Don, small town bank if routing numbers don't match they won't transfer the funds.

[Daren]

I had a credit card number get in the wrong hands . I have 2 cards, a personal card with a small limit for emergencies when we travel and a second card with a very high limit for the business. I do alot of online shopping for the business, it is just necessity I live in the boonies and have to buy stuff I cannot get locally.
Dec. 2005 the wife is looking over the statement and sees a $5500 charge to an online jewelry place in the Netherlands...we had agreed to keep Christmas for each other small and spend the money on things we needed. She came to the shop to scold me for buying her something expensive, I said I had not bought her anything yet. I called the credit card company and talked to a customer service guy and he said "So I am assuming this other charge to another store in the same area for $2700 that just showed up isn't yours either?" $8200 !!
The thing that really urked me about the whole deal was 75% of the time when I would buy something business related (tools, hardware...) from a reputable company like Grainger/Rockler/McMaster Carr... for $150 I would get a call or e-mail saying "suspicious activity" and I would have to ok the charge before the company that I had already made 100 purchases from would get their money, and I would get my product. This sometimes put me back a few days on an order. If I ordered something on Friday and they wouldn't push the payment through till Tues. I lost 1/2 week. I used to get so frustrated with that. But some screwball in another country buys 8 grand worth of jewelry and I don't know it till I get the bill, they just paid right up.
I did get it fixed on the phone with the guy I was talking to, he just dropped the charges and said tear up the card you will have another in 3 days. I was not liable for the charges, but it turned into a hassle. I had that card number for a few accounts like UPS/USPS online shipping accounts and some business related monthly autopays and other stuff. I had to go and update all that info because I was either denied service or got past due notices because they didn't get paid.

[Quartlow]

I talked to one of the manager yesterday. Seems they found out when a customer called because they had a fraudulent charge on CC and the only place they had used it was at Johnnys.

Apparently the hacker only took chunks of information here and there in an effort to not get noticed. They had to go through and figure out who's information had been stolen. The do have the FBI involved and they know it came from the U.K.

I feel the gentleman I talked to was sincere. He said he was under the impression that the network was secure before. He said they have hired some new IT people who have made a lot of changes. The are working with the Insurance company right now to reimburse anyone who is out any money and compensate every one for the inconvenience. I'm not holding my breath on that one ,  I know insurance companies.