pud333
02-21-2012, 02:45 PM
Hi everyone,
I didn't see a thread on here yet, at least not an active one, so I just wanted to make sure people at AFN knew what was going on, if they already didn't know so. (Mods, if there is an existing thread, please merge this with the existing one)
I am a subscriber to the GI Joe Collector's Club, and there has been quite some discussion recently regards to possible fraud charges that may or may not have stemmed from a potential breach of security through the GI Joe Collector's Club, or rather, the company that handles the transactions. This also has implications to the Transformer's Collector's Club, as it appeared with their members first. The company that runs TF Club also runs the GI Joe one. At this point, nothing is 100% certain, but it seems to be leaning towards a breach of security through the clubs, and the clubs are investigating on their end.
Members started to notice fraudulent charges on their credit cards after recent purchases/transactions through the clubs. Fraud charges seemed to have appeared as early as January 2012 so far.
I recently renewed my club membership on Feb 15th with the Visa I always use for online purchases. I only ever use this Visa for online purchases, and for any gifts for my girlfriend that I don't want her to know I am buying for her.
Yesterday morning, my bank called to ask me about suspicious transactions. I'm not going to list in detail here, but there were multiple transactions, totalling several thousand dollars, by companies like "Pan Digital," which is just one of several apparent "services" that I supposedly paid for. All transactions seemed to have been done by phone, or over the internet, and all happened on the same day, February 19th. I have used this card at the club, BBTS and HLJ since the beginning of this year. Considering the fraud happened so close to my club transaction, and considering the complaints by many other club members over the past week, I feel it is too much of a coincidence.
Needless to say, I cancelled my card. This thread is not to panic people or to bash the clubs. So long as you did not do the transactions or willingly compromise your own card, your institution should not be charging you these transactions. We all know that fraud happens, so I recommend the following:
1) Call your Credit Card company and check transactions.
2) Cancel your credit card if you had any dealings with the club with said credit card. I do not know how the club compiles data and credit card information, but it is reasonable to assume that if security has been breached, the thieves have your info, and it is only a matter of time before you have to deal with this problem. So long as that card is active, it is vulnerable. So cancel your card, and get a new one. The few days you'll be without a card is nothing compared to the headache you can get if you have fraud on the card.
3) If you use the same password to log in to the club sites as you do your own personal email/banking, etc. then change passwords. eg: If your password for your club account is the same on your email account where the club receipts and emails for purchases goes to, you need to change the password on both accounts and make them different from each other. Before you change passwords, always do a virus check of your computer to remove any trojan horses or other viruses/malware. Then you can change your passwords.
4) The club is asking for members who have been defrauded to send detailed account and transaction info regarding when the fraud happened, how much, the name of the company, etc. All I can say is, talk to your bank BEFORE you decide to give over this info. The thing is, I am almost 100% sure the bank will tell you NOT to do this. You would be giving more detailed info to the business where the breach occurred. You have no idea if it was a third party that stole this information, or someone from the club. I personally don't see how this could help the club investigate at all; in fact, the authorities will be able to get all the info they need by investigating through the financial institutions. It is in the financial institution's interest to work with the authorities, so this info being given to the club is redundant. I appreciate that the club wants to investigate, but it's not the way to do things. Please, let your bank handle the fraud.
Here is the link at Hisstank for complaints:
http://www.hisstank.com/forum/g-i-joe-news-rumors/202849-possible-credit-card-fraud.html
And here's the TFW thread:
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-general-discussion/543525-fandom-card-issues-2-2012-a-102.html#post7241226
I didn't see a thread on here yet, at least not an active one, so I just wanted to make sure people at AFN knew what was going on, if they already didn't know so. (Mods, if there is an existing thread, please merge this with the existing one)
I am a subscriber to the GI Joe Collector's Club, and there has been quite some discussion recently regards to possible fraud charges that may or may not have stemmed from a potential breach of security through the GI Joe Collector's Club, or rather, the company that handles the transactions. This also has implications to the Transformer's Collector's Club, as it appeared with their members first. The company that runs TF Club also runs the GI Joe one. At this point, nothing is 100% certain, but it seems to be leaning towards a breach of security through the clubs, and the clubs are investigating on their end.
Members started to notice fraudulent charges on their credit cards after recent purchases/transactions through the clubs. Fraud charges seemed to have appeared as early as January 2012 so far.
I recently renewed my club membership on Feb 15th with the Visa I always use for online purchases. I only ever use this Visa for online purchases, and for any gifts for my girlfriend that I don't want her to know I am buying for her.
Yesterday morning, my bank called to ask me about suspicious transactions. I'm not going to list in detail here, but there were multiple transactions, totalling several thousand dollars, by companies like "Pan Digital," which is just one of several apparent "services" that I supposedly paid for. All transactions seemed to have been done by phone, or over the internet, and all happened on the same day, February 19th. I have used this card at the club, BBTS and HLJ since the beginning of this year. Considering the fraud happened so close to my club transaction, and considering the complaints by many other club members over the past week, I feel it is too much of a coincidence.
Needless to say, I cancelled my card. This thread is not to panic people or to bash the clubs. So long as you did not do the transactions or willingly compromise your own card, your institution should not be charging you these transactions. We all know that fraud happens, so I recommend the following:
1) Call your Credit Card company and check transactions.
2) Cancel your credit card if you had any dealings with the club with said credit card. I do not know how the club compiles data and credit card information, but it is reasonable to assume that if security has been breached, the thieves have your info, and it is only a matter of time before you have to deal with this problem. So long as that card is active, it is vulnerable. So cancel your card, and get a new one. The few days you'll be without a card is nothing compared to the headache you can get if you have fraud on the card.
3) If you use the same password to log in to the club sites as you do your own personal email/banking, etc. then change passwords. eg: If your password for your club account is the same on your email account where the club receipts and emails for purchases goes to, you need to change the password on both accounts and make them different from each other. Before you change passwords, always do a virus check of your computer to remove any trojan horses or other viruses/malware. Then you can change your passwords.
4) The club is asking for members who have been defrauded to send detailed account and transaction info regarding when the fraud happened, how much, the name of the company, etc. All I can say is, talk to your bank BEFORE you decide to give over this info. The thing is, I am almost 100% sure the bank will tell you NOT to do this. You would be giving more detailed info to the business where the breach occurred. You have no idea if it was a third party that stole this information, or someone from the club. I personally don't see how this could help the club investigate at all; in fact, the authorities will be able to get all the info they need by investigating through the financial institutions. It is in the financial institution's interest to work with the authorities, so this info being given to the club is redundant. I appreciate that the club wants to investigate, but it's not the way to do things. Please, let your bank handle the fraud.
Here is the link at Hisstank for complaints:
http://www.hisstank.com/forum/g-i-joe-news-rumors/202849-possible-credit-card-fraud.html
And here's the TFW thread:
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-general-discussion/543525-fandom-card-issues-2-2012-a-102.html#post7241226