Scams

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foxyframer
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Scams

Post by foxyframer »

Bill Henry

Just read DTWDSM from Des Moines, Iowa on the Grumble.

Sure as hell sounds like a scam to me, no mistake.

We in the UK usually get this con from Nigeria wanting to do money transfers, with promises of a fast buck, if you willing to divulge your bank details. It only takes a small percentage of gullible and greedy idiots to make the scammers efforts worthwhile.

Two years ago we had one of these.

Anything like this gets sent off to county police HQ in Winchester.
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Grahame Case

Post by Grahame Case »

credit/debit card fraud is also on the up. i'm down over £280 due to debit card details being stolen on the internet. i'm not a happy bunny


My bank is currently investigating these fradulent transaction.

watch your personal details people
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Post by w00dward »

On average we stop around 100 advance money transfer scam emails a week. They are known as 419's because this is the section of law in Nigeria which relates to fraud.

It sucks about the debit card transactions Grahame. I have taken a credit card from Cahoot. As far as I know they are the only bank to offer a virtual credit card. I can generate a temporary 1 month card with a upper limit. If someone wants to intercept that and try to use it good for them!

Online they can only get your card details 3 ways. Either a fake site which looks real, trojans or spyware on your machine or the retailers database hacked. Its a lot easier to go through your trash to get personal details and apply for a credit card in your name.

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Post by kev@frames »

Im amazed at the number of customers who buy from us by card over the phone then ask us to keep their card details for next time! Obviously we can't do it.
On one hand it restores your faith in human nature that people can be so trusting, on the other it makes you shiver to think what could happen if a collection of customers credit card details got stolen.
foxyframer
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Post by foxyframer »

We have all recently been given new security directives regarding customer details on safe custody of credit and debit card receipts. We are the ones who get the copies with the account numbers and valid dates. The customer gets the starred copy.

These we keep for a set period of time, in case of dispute.

How many are keeping these in a safe.

Failure now could mean penalties.

Be careful.
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Bill Henry
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Post by Bill Henry »

Foxyframer,

Over the weekend, I got the same e-mail that Tim (DTWDSM) received.

Gee, it sounds like a great business opportunity, though. I’m still waiting for the $15 million that my uncle Mugabe left me from Sierra Leone. I’m assured that the check is in the mail.

Credit card fraud is a major worry for me. There was a story in the news recently that the customer database of a very large clothing store retailer got hacked. The company runs well over a 1000 stores under 6 different names. They have estimated that nearly 2 million customer accounts with credit card information were accessed. My wife shops in some of those stores.

But, like idiots, they sat on that information for months probably in the hopes that they could contain the damage. They couldn’t.

We are very closely scrutinizing our monthly statements.

I still shop on-line, but I cringe every time I type in my Visa card number.
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Post by realhotglass »

I admit I shop online very occassionally, and have used online shopping forms once or three times.
Generally, my Telcos / Voip / mobile suppliers etc sites I trust.
I also use my online bank transfer function for payments quite a lot.

In the main, I much prefer faxing cc info to suppliers and asking them to destroy details after processing payment.

That's what we do, framers etc fax order details etc and cc details on a special form we have, it gets processed, and then straight in the shreader.

Over here, I am fairly certain merchants aren't supposed to keep cc details after an order is finalised, but that is common sense anyway.
Why keep them ?

With old click-clack manual machines a merchant always had their paper copy, and were required to keep this for tax purposes etc, but now with electronic terminals, the merchant is left with some of the numbers blanked out on their copy.

For subsequent orders, a simple fax is best sent again.
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Post by kev@frames »

I rarely use my credit cards by phone or online, preferring to use paypal if possible.

why? !paypal always come out in the buyer's favour, chargebacks are very fast, and the money comes off the credit card anyway, but the merchant has never seen any of the card details. That eliminates the problems of a bent merchant or anyone getting your card details.

Paypal is often very underrated.
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Bill Henry
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Post by Bill Henry »

I won’t fax any credit card information … ever!

Fax transmissions are not encrypted, and with call forwarding and the like, the fax could be bounced through several phones before it reaches its intended destination. You can’t be sure exactly who has access to it. And, since I’m fairly distrustful by nature, I would worry that the original would not be destroyed as I requested.

In addition, several of my distributors capture faxes electronically (as opposed to printing directly) and store them on their server, and since it is not encrypted, I would be concerned that the CC information would be available to anyone (a disgruntled, sleasy employee, maybe).

I routinely fax orders, but only if the company already has my account number.

I have mixed feelings about PayPal. I’ve used it frequently on eBay, but, for some unexplained reason I am a little uneasy about it. Other than eBay, I haven’t seen it offered as a payment method on too many other sites.
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kev@frames
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Post by kev@frames »

You may not see it, but it may still be the payment gateway, processing credit cards. You can fully integrate paypal pro into a site, and the customer is hardly aware of it until half way through checkout ;)

we do make a big thing about accepting paypal online, as it is another payment option. I dont much rate nochex etc- funnily enough I just feel uneasy about nochex for no reason, and dont know much about google checkout.
we take paypal on our site, and paypal process all the online credit card orders (the customer does not need a paypal account to pay by credit card if the seller has a verified merchant account). On their Merchant rates, which is over £3000** GBP per month through paypal, (approx $5900 USD), the cost is comparable to the desktop electronic terminal in terms of taking any customer not present card transactions.

From a sellers point of view, its also useful for invoicing - "click this link and send the money", simple as that.
I believe Dell, Boots and several other big "household names" in the UK take paypal.
I like it as both a buyer and seller. Although you do have to strictly comply with distance selling regulations, trackable delivery etc if you are to avoid the scammers. And when selling, you have to remember paypal works to the letter of the law fior chargebacks etc, and that is always based on the law in whichever country (or state) the seller is.

**I think its 3,000 a month for merchant rates, it might have dropped to or might be £1500 a month, we have been using it so long that I forget, :oops: but it'll be on their site.
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