I never thought it would happen to me :(

[NW-Bound]

eBay keeps offering to link my eBay account with my PayPal account for one-click shopping, and I keep saying no.

I have a different password for each.

 

[MissMolly]

Actually, it's been so long since I've been on eBay I couldn't tell you. I haven't bought anything from there for about 4 or 5 years. I tried to close it yesterday but due to all the investigation going on I wasn't able to do so. I will not be setting up my new card with them!

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk HD

 

[ghsebldr]

Please beware of a phishing scam similar to one of those mentioned above using the Square Logo. I received an email from Square alerting me to a customer complaint and chargeback so without thinking I clicked the very real looking Square login tab. When I got to my square account and found no such chargeback I emailed the original sender without looking at the address I was emailing and my email came back as a undeliverable email. It finally dawned on me that I had been scammed. Tried to call Square but they are only open during business hours (big help). When I finally got through to them they said I had been pfished, change my login info. I had already changed it within a couple of minutes of realizing I was an idiot.
I promise to never click on another login unless I go to the companies official website.

 

[Sunset]

No. Email can be just as timely. It depends how you prefer your notifications. If you don't check your email often, you might prefer texts.

I was just in another country, and had told the CC I would be there as I wanted to use the CC for "no foreign transaction fee" purchases (thanks to another thread).

So the card worked fine as I used the powerful USD for gas, food, etc.
But then I went and bought a $800 item over the phone from a store I had been in, and it was declined, and declined again after I confirmed the number.

Turned out the CC company thought it was fraud, and had denied it, and phoned me at home, which is no help since I had told them I was out of the country..

But at least they were looking for fraud Next time on a trip, I'll phone them before a big purchase to make sure it will work.

 

[Corporateburnout]

Other than alerts and notifications there is nothing that can be done to stop these fraudulent transactions other than not using your CC. In most cases the bank is liable for these fraudulent transactions and not you.

But if you want to prevent your identity from being stolen which is much more serious you have to freeze your credit reports with all bureaus. At a cost of $5 to $10 per bureau it is the most effective way to insure no accounts are opened in your name without your authorization.

 

[gauss]

Curious... what is the best defense to this? Seems the normal advice is always just to do your part to hide your information, but these days it can get hacked or leaked even if you are diligent. I spent some time researching LifeLock and wasn't impressed enough with their services to sign up. Maybe I should?

I have a multi-pronged approach to this but it is fairly simple and I loose no sleep over this:

- purchase "credit-freezes" at all three credit bureaus. I think it was $10/each when I did this. At this point, no credit reports can be pulled until the freeze is lifted by you. (note: law enforcement and several others will still have access so "no reports" is a bit qualified)

- understand the liability/protections that you have under Federal Law for different types of accounts (Bank, credit card etc) such as this. Be sure to fulfill your obligations in the event of a breach to limit your liability.

Occasionally I will get a phone call and/or email from CC processor seeking if I made a suspicious charge. I have never been stuck with any fraudulent bills.

One other trick that I use is that I have a CC with barclays. They offer separate card numbers for other authorized users on the account. I then have only one number that I register with any online accounts. That way if a card that I use (with a separate number) in the Doctors Office, Restaurant, Gas Station etc is compromised, it will not effect the one that I have registered at all the online stores etc.

Also, since medical offices are a place where major ID theft takes place (think low wages plus access to info), I generally avoid giving a SS number whenever possible. If required I will write it on a post-it separate from the hardcopy paper and ask them to destroy the post-it after the info is entered into the computer for security sake.

You may also want to e-file your Federal/State tax returns early each year. If you use your SS # then nobody will be able to use it to file a fraudulent return using your info after you have filed. The first return accepted blocks future attempts for that tax year. AARP TaxAide volunteers will prepare/file your tax return for free each year in almost all cases and are trained on this.

-gauss

 

[gauss]

eBay keeps offering to link my eBay account with my PayPal account for one-click shopping, and I keep saying no.

I have a different password for each.

+1

 

[gauss]

I was in the opm thing and the opm second thing and the home depot thing and .... and .... Right now I am getting reports from multiple watch programs set up by a variety of entities. That's scary enough but these "lifelock" types always say they will spend up to $1M dollars to solve a problem. So you get into trouble and one week later someone declares the $1M is spent and no results - tough luck. OR what

I think the $1M applies only to accounts that are already insured (ie FDIC bank accounts). I know that it didn't apply to the specific risks that I was concerned about (ie theft of retirement account money).

Make sure you aren't paying for the same thing twice (ie once explicitly via LifeLock and once implicitly via the rates we pay on CC charges etc.).

I also never use a PIN on a debit card used outside of an ATM - needless risk IMHO.

I would also not be the first one to get a true Chip/PIN card (ie United Nations Credit Union). Seems counter-intuitive at first, but it's too easy for the bank to claim that you must have leaked the PIN and been responsible even if the PIN is compromised on the back end as has been demonstrated.

-gauss

 

[Rustic23]

We set up Fraud Alert with USAA several years ago. Anything over a buck triggers it. Interesting this is it only triggers on completed transactions and not pending. You would think they could save a buck or two if they sent the alert when things went pending.

 

[audreyh1]

We set up Fraud Alert with USAA several years ago. Anything over a buck triggers it. Interesting this is it only triggers on completed transactions and not pending. You would think they could save a buck or two if they sent the alert when things went pending.

That's why I have the email alert sent from my credit cards - most of them support this. If a charge is made without the card present or from overseas, I get an email as soon as it is made - like a few seconds! While still pending, of course.

Wouldn't you know a recent charge occurred on the one card I have that doesn't support this feature! I lucked into discovering that while it was still pending. Fidelity AMEX.

My "real" American Express cards, Chase cards, and BofA cards all support the instant charge notification.

I think of the Fraud Alert services as something that helps notify and clean up after the fact. Not good for detecting credit card fraud in a timely manner.

 

[Sue J]

It appears it happened with my E-bay account. They bought the gift cards on E-bay which is linked to PayPal which is linked to my Discover Card. What a mess!

I don't buy much on Ebay, but DH does. I did buy something last month and noticed that it went directly to our PayPal account without a login step. I told DH about MissMolly's incident and he said he'd like to unlink our PayPal from our Ebay account. He couldn't find where to do that but I did.

Go to your Ebay account and click the ACCOUNT tab. Under Account Information scroll down to PayPal Account Information and on the right there is a place to "Unlink PayPal account". When I unlinked it there was a message that unlinking will require extra steps when making a purchase.

I'm ok with that. We have our PayPal set to withdraw from our checking account. Fraud activity like MissMolly's would cause a lot of havoc!

 

[Brat]

The husband of my daughter's first nanny was a PayPal programmer assigned to their international operations. They were from Romania. He shared with me Romania was their largest source of fraud and brute force attacks. He smiled and said, "They are skilled but not as skilled as I am!"