Credit card fraud, any ideas?

[vraiblonde]

Yesterday I got a text that my credit card company had flagged a possibly fraudulent purchase. That purchase was indeed not made by me, so I texted them back and went on to check my statement - where there's one theft, there is usually many. Sure enough, there were 6 or 8 purchases to various online office supply and electronics entities. I called the credit card company and they got me all straightened out - new card will be here in a few days.

What I can't figure out is that today I checked my email and there are confirmations for several of these "purchases". They came to the email address associated with my credit card, they had my billing address, AND the shipping address is my PO Box.



Why would some scammer buy a bunch of crap, charge it to me, and have it sent to me?

Do I need to contact my credit card company again and make them aware of this?

 

[stgislander]

Call your Post Office too in the event the parcels do show up.

 

[RareBreed]

Yesterday I got a text that my credit card company had flagged a possibly fraudulent purchase. That purchase was indeed not made by me, so I texted them back and went on to check my statement - where there's one theft, there is usually many. Sure enough, there were 6 or 8 purchases to various online office supply and electronics entities. I called the credit card company and they got me all straightened out - new card will be here in a few days.

What I can't figure out is that today I checked my email and there are confirmations for several of these "purchases". They came to the email address associated with my credit card, they had my billing address, AND the shipping address is my PO Box.



Why would some scammer buy a bunch of crap, charge it to me, and have it sent to me?

Do I need to contact my credit card company again and make them aware of this?

I had that happen to me once. Somebody bought some ugly sunglasses using my credit card number and they showed up at my house! The credit card company didn't believe it was a fraud because of it. Luckily, they were cheap because I had to eat the cost of them.

 

[vraiblonde]

I just called cc company, who referred me to their ID theft department. The rep said it's either someone who's not very good at fraud, or it could be transaction fraud, meaning the companies are the scammers. #2 makes sense because the charges are from never heard of 'em office supply and electronics etailers for junk like will making software and off-brand ink cartridges.

Anyway, I put a fraud alert on my credit report (this is free, btw) and got my annual credit report from Experian (it was time to do that anyway - also free). It just weirds me out that they would have all that information.

Yesterday I spent the morning in ER, and prior to that I went to the local urgent care. They took my credit card for billing purposes, so I can't skip out on whatever my insurance won't pick up, and charged my card $1 as a test. Obviously they also had my email address, billing address, and mailing address. Can it be a coincidence that later that afternoon, I started getting hit with a bunch of fraudulent charges? I don't believe that they are the actual scammers, more likely that their system is compromised. So my next call will be to them to alert them to that possibility.

 

[vraiblonde]

Good info to have:

Put an initial fraud alert on your credit
http://experian.com
Scroll down to "How can we help you?" and click Fraud Alert
Next screen, click "Add fraud alert" and "initial security alert"
When it gives you the screen to fill in your information, scroll down to "Add a fraud alert using your personal information". The top option requires a report number, which you probably don't have.

Free credit report
http://annualcreditreport.com
You can get a report from Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion,

 

[vraiblonde]

Just got a call from one of the companies the scammer ordered stuff from, verifying my shipping address. I told her that those were fraudulent charges and were going to be declined, so don't send the stuff.

So that kind of blows my theroy that the companies themselves are the scammers, because they would surely know that I didn't order their junk. Or they're just being slick. Who knows.

Usually thieves work to their advantage - why charge $2000 worth of junk and have it shipped to me? What's the benefit to them? Unless it's just some stupid scammer playing a stupid "prank" just for the fun of it. That seems like an awful lot of effort to go through just for kicks, but people are stupid so it's not really outside the realm of possibility.

 

[vraiblonde]

Call your Post Office too in the event the parcels do show up.

Good idea.

 

[lovinmaryland]

Just got a call from one of the companies the scammer ordered stuff from, verifying my shipping address. I told her that those were fraudulent charges and were going to be declined, so don't send the stuff.

So that kind of blows my theroy that the companies themselves are the scammers, because they would surely know that I didn't order their junk. Or they're just being slick. Who knows.

Usually thieves work to their advantage - why charge $2000 worth of junk and have it shipped to me? What's the benefit to them? Unless it's just some stupid scammer playing a stupid "prank" just for the fun of it. That seems like an awful lot of effort to go through just for kicks, but people are stupid so it's not really outside the realm of possibility.

A lot of times card wont go through unless the address is correct. I know we have one system that is like that. It will decline if the address and zip code don't match.

How many times have you had a company call you to verify your address on an order you placed? Personally its never happened to me and I do a large amount of online shopping. $2k worth of stuff seems like a lot to go to a po box...depending on what was ordered. Maybe their thought was it would throw up a flag so they'd call to verify and at that time theyd give a different address?

 

[vraiblonde]

A lot of times card wont go through unless the address is correct. I know we have one system that is like that. It will decline if the address and zip code don't match.

How many times have you had a company call you to verify your address on an order you placed? Personally its never happened to me and I do a large amount of online shopping. $2k worth of stuff seems like a lot to go to a po box...depending on what was ordered. Maybe their thought was it would throw up a flag so they'd call to verify and at that time theyd give a different address?

Ah, I didn't think about that.

The emails I received yesterday did have the correct billing address, and my PO Box for shipping, although I almost never have stuff shipped to my POB, I usually have it come to a physical address. The person who called me from the "company" could have very well been phishing. I didn't give her any more information other than the purchases were fraudulent and had already been reported to my credit card company, and she didn't ask for any more information.

So anyway, the fraud "companies" are:

inkcartridges.com
nolo.com
suppliesoutlet.com

So heads up.

 

[frequentflier]

I just called cc company, who referred me to their ID theft department. The rep said it's either someone who's not very good at fraud, or it could be transaction fraud, meaning the companies are the scammers. #2 makes sense because the charges are from never heard of 'em office supply and electronics etailers for junk like will making software and off-brand ink cartridges.

Anyway, I put a fraud alert on my credit report (this is free, btw) and got my annual credit report from Experian (it was time to do that anyway - also free). It just weirds me out that they would have all that information.

Yesterday I spent the morning in ER, and prior to that I went to the local urgent care. They took my credit card for billing purposes, so I can't skip out on whatever my insurance won't pick up, and charged my card $1 as a test. Obviously they also had my email address, billing address, and mailing address. Can it be a coincidence that later that afternoon, I started getting hit with a bunch of fraudulent charges? I don't believe that they are the actual scammers, more likely that their system is compromised. So my next call will be to them to alert them to that possibility.

Hope you are ok

 

[vraiblonde]

Hope you are ok

Thank you

Emergency medical care is a whole 'nother rant. Next time I'd rather just die.

 

[GURPS]

Yesterday I spent the morning in ER, and prior to that I went to the local urgent care. They took my credit card for billing purposes, so I can't skip out on whatever my insurance won't pick up, and charged my card $1 as a test. Obviously they also had my email address, billing address, and mailing address. Can it be a coincidence that later that afternoon, I started getting hit with a bunch of fraudulent charges?

an employee skimming info to pass along to her BF :shrug: or other group .....
also having stuff delivered to 'your residence or PO Box' they either steal it off your front porch knowing you are out of town
someone shows up at the Post Office with a fake DL and picks up the items




I hope you are getting better

 

[vraiblonde]

an employee skimming info to pass along to her BF :shrug: or other group .....

Doubtful. More likely a compromised cc system.

also having stuff delivered to 'your residence or PO Box' they either steal it off your front porch knowing you are out of town
someone shows up at the Post Office with a fake DL and picks up the items

They know me at the Cali PO, so if someone showed up with a fake DL claiming to be me, they'd be busted immediately. Plus, again, it was a bunch of junk - crap software, ink cartridges, like that. If they were going to commit a $2000 crime, I'd think they'd get something better.

I hope you are getting better

Thanks.

 

[my-thyme]

So far, no packages.

And no big ugly guy claiming to be you.

 

[vraiblonde]

So far, no packages.

And no big ugly guy claiming to be you.