Got a call from VISA security last night...

[Viper GTS]

Apparently some moron telecommunications company in Rostov, Russia tried to charge $30 to my VISA. They got rejected, 'cause there's only like $12 in that account. The attempt was still enough to raise flags with VISA, so they called me & asked if I'd authorized that. Of course I hadn't, so my card is now cancelled & they're sending me a new one.

My question is:

Is it more likely that my card got leaked from somewhere that I'd used it, or was it randomly generated & they just happened to hit mine? The lady that called me was able to tell me that they entered the number by hand, that the card wasn't swiped... Which makes sense, of course, since I always have my card with me. Any advice as to how to prevent this in the future? I've been using my credit card online for a couple years now, & I've never had a single problem. Until now.

Viper GTS

 

[skywhr]

A lot of CC companies are doing the one time use CC #'s now, check into it, Im using them from now on... *cough*

 

[Doggiedog]

Last year, I was using my Amex to buy something online and the next day I got a call from some computer company asking me to verify my PO Box for a shipment to Florida. I live in Jersey. I guess someone must have been sniffing the packets coming out of my computer because they had all the info I gave the day before in a legitimate purchase.

I always make sure that the little lock symbol is on when I make an online purchase. I don't know what else you can do besides that.

 

[ArkAoss]

one time use cc#'s? how?? can you tell us more about that?

 

[yakko]

The most likely place for your number to be stolen is from a restaurant. You sign the receipt and walk away from it when you leave so there is your number just lying on the table waiting to be picked up.

 

[skywhr]

It depends on your credit card company, they issue you a one time use #, I know Discover Platinum uses them, they allow one sale on the number, once the sale goes through the # is cancelled and I guess they make sure to get the charge to your account. I have yet to try it but its all the rage in Hot Deals lol...

single-use card number is a unique
Discover® credit card number generated each time
you make an Internet purchase. A single-use card
number can only be used at a single store. It protects
your account because your actual Discover

 

[Emulex]

Dude i got a charge from ROSTOV-ON-DON from REBA-SYSTEMS for $30.24 on my card!!

i cancelled the card.

 

[Azraele]

You have to be careful, even the secure online companies have been hacked and thousands upon thousands or credit card #'s stolen.

Listen to skywhr

The one time cc things work by issuing you a 1 time credit card number used once for a single transaction. If anyone gets the number and tries to use it again, they can't.

 

[stonerdave]

Viper, read this. I didn't have time to look through it but there should be some info of use.

 

[Scrapster]

Im using them now

I have yet to try it

Skywhr,

You're confusing me.

 

[skywhr]

By I am using them now, i meant from now on sorry for the confusion, its a new feature offered by MY credit card but I have heard alot about them from other people using different CC companies...

 

[Demon-Xanth]

A little while back there was two charges on my CC for some of those "here's a free trial, cancel if you don't like it", one was one I rejected, the other was for my mom who had no clue what it was (and I never approved). I had not given either company approval nor had I given my CC number. Oddly enough this was shortly after a bad experience (customer service wise) with another company.

 

[Adul]

I have read about people who have had their card used online even though they themselves did not shop online. They didn't own a computer. I know they are random card generateers out there, so for you viper, it can be any number of things.

 

[Huma]

has anyone gotten a charge listed as "ZDP*OFFCL PLAYSTATION 3" on their cards for $45.97? it showed up on my card, so I called for more info and none was provided so I'm contesting the charge. I don't recall anything like that I would have ordered since I don't want/have a playstation.

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

Viper GTS - was it anything like GLOBAL TELECOM MOSCOW RU? Generally this is thought to have been leaked/hacked from egghead.com (check it out here for more detail).

 

[Cerebus451]

As a general note, those charges from the Russian Telecom company are coming from the stolen card numbers that you have read about. There is a hacker that keeps breaking into the credit card databases of various on-line vendors, and then gives out the stolen credit card info. The info is typically used for generating these charges. Don't know if they are being used to make free phone calls or if there is an additional scam going on. I can't remember the latest on-line vendor that was hit, but I think it was something like creditcard.com which was being used by several on-line vendors. I remember that CDNow was the first to be hit.

In general, if you see charges from a Russian Telco, get the charges removed and then cancel your card because the info has been leaked, most likely from some on-line vendor you have dealt with in the past.

As for the single use numbers, AMEX and Discover are both offering those for sure, and I think some Visa companies are now as well. They will become much more prevalent in the near future. The only other way to avoid this is to not deal with on-line vendors that store your credit card info, but I don't know of any that do this (they don't really need to, they just need the info long enough to secure the charge, then they can remove it from their system).

 

[Viper GTS]

The global telecom part sounds familiar, but it definitely was ROSTOV, RU.

Plus, I've never purchased anything from Egghead.com.

Viper GTS