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[UncleUB]

Hi all,We have just had a call from the Halifax asking us to phone a number to check our security details.I was a bit concerned so I phoned the Halifax who informed me it was a genuine number.When i called it I was told there had been some transactions in the early  hours of this morning on my card. £678,£339 and £11. All these amounts were declined.My card is at home with me and rarely goes outside.I do use it for online purchases,and this is where it seems someone has got my details,but obviously not the pin number.This is so frightening because I never buy from a site without the gold padlock sign.I have been using the internet for years to buy things without any problems but this has really knocked me for six.

[fudgem]

that is very worrying, I'm glad they didn't get away with anything though

I scan my computer, and check for any spyware, before using my card on line, and only use reputable companies.  You just hope this is enough to safeguard you.  It's nice for you to know your bank is on the ball

[UncleUB]

Just run a full scan with Mcafee and the only thing removed was a few tracking  cookies(are these a problem).Other than that I,m at a loss,only to add one attempted transaction was at a hotel at 1.20 this morning.

[kitz]

>> I was a bit concerned so I phoned the Halifax who informed me it was a genuine number

Glad you did that.    However the rest is a bit worrying and I can understand your concern.   I too would want to be knowing how someone had got hold of my details.

When I worked in the industry one of the ways that determined fraudsters used to get hold of details was from the "carbon copy" when the card was run through one of the old manual machines.  Electronic processing has mostly done away with that trick only to be replaced with the "false front" on cash machines.  You say that you rarely use it outside and that they dont have the PIN...  therefore that makes me perhaps think that a list of card numbers has been compromised somewhere and someones "trying their luck".  Bit doomed to failure though these days if they only have the card no and name without anything else.

Most online stores use reputable 3rd party agents to deal with the processing of their online transactions, and phishing sites are where most details are harvested from.

>> a few tracking  cookies(are these a problem)

Not really -  tracking cookies are normally only for dishing out "relevant advertising" on websites

tracking cookies are simply a text file, and far more limited in capability than executable software installed on users' computers. While installed software can potentially record any data or activity on a computer (see System Monitor), cookies are simply a record of visits or activity with a single Website or its affiliated sites.

[roseway]

I had something rather similar happen with my Egg card, and after speaking to me they cancelled the card and sent me a new one with a different number. I had a discussion with their security department about this and they said that it's far more likely that the number was pinched in a shop or restaurant. As Anne says, I was pleased that the bank was on the ball.

[UncleUB]

Thanks for the feedback guys,just to say my Halifax account is suspended at the moment,till we get the new card sent out.You never think this will happen to you,especially when you are on the ball for all the scams there is.I feel sorry for these poor vunerable pensioners who have had their life savings scammed from them.

[roseway]

Yes, the people who do this are evil. Personally I would like to operate on them with nutcrackers.

[scottiesmum]

and  ......  without anaesthetic !!

[mr_chris]

lol!

UB, did they tell you where the transactions had come from? That way you might have more of a clue who had stolen your details?

[UncleUB]

Mr Chris,the last time the card was used outside of home was between xmas and newyear.Since then it has been used 4 times from
these stores ,Tesco,cottontraders,both of which I have used in the past without any problem.worldofbags.co.uk I purchased a camera bag from(and returned it because it was faulty).I have never used this store before.Thinking back,it took quite a few days to get my card refunded as they said they only do refunds on a monday?My most recent use of the card was 24 Feb to snapfish (HP photo side).This was less than a tenner.Never used them before.
The only other thing I can think of is a couple of weeks back when I ordered a new mobile phone from tesco It never came,first i was told it had been left at the rear of my property(can,t get to the rear,its fenced off)Then told it was lost in transit.They sent me a replacement order.All there is on the invoice is my name ,address and order number,no card details.
All thes sites I have used displayed the gold padlock secure sign.

[guest]

Happened to me a few years ago. A Zen employee was harvesting card details, using them to buy Steam subscriptions which he then sold on via ebay to get the cash. Zen was my ISP at the time.

You can have all the "gold padlocks" you want but all it means is that the connection from you to the site is probably secure and the site is probably genuine. It doesn't stop the back-end systems being full of holes and/or dishonest employees.

[oldfogy]

It happened to me a few years ago.
You can have all the "gold padlocks" you want.

I paid a bill to "British Gas" over the telephone using my CC, two weeks later somewhere around 8:30am on a Sunday morning I receive a phone call from my CC people asking if I had just used the card etc, NO I'm still in bed.

Prior to this British Gas did phone me to say they had lost the details in a systems crash, this did make me suspicious if they had lost them, how did they know I had paid them, so can they have them again, "yes after I phone them back on the number I always use", not the number now being given out.
Although all that was cosha.

I was also then advised to contact the police and my credit card company and to report the number as being "STOLEN"
So it now turns out to have been stolen from British Gas's computer system, not lost in a system crash, but they never publicly admitted a employee had stolen lots of numbers.

Sorry for the rant,
My point being, it makes no matter whatsoever with whom or where you use your card, "it can still be compromised"

Wrong Place, Wrong Time, and bingo.

[dave.m]

To help prevent fraud on purchases made on-line, why don't they only deliver to the address of the card holder. Easy enough to check with the card company if a delivery to an address is going to go to the same address as they send the account to.

OK! So there are times of the day when the house is empty.

Most people who order on line have a printer attached to their PC so why not be able to print off a note with the supplying company's logo whereby the receipient could then add a note to the driver to deliver at (next door neighbour or some other address).
If this note is attached to a front window on the INSIDE then it would be obvious to even the simplest mind that  the potential recipient lives here and knows that a parcel is coming. The note re-routing the package could not have been placed their without the card holder's knowledge.

dave

[roseway]

>> To help prevent fraud on purchases made on-line, why don't they only deliver to the address of the card holder.

This has been a hobby horse of mine for a long time. I find it incredible that they don't do that simple check as a matter of course on ALL credit card purchases where the cardholder isn't present  to sign or enter a PIN. The reason of course is that there would be a small cost in doing this, and banks don't like spending money on unimportant things like security.

[Floydoid]

banks don't like spending money on unimportant things like security.

Ooh you old cynic you