Credit Card Fraud?

johnn on 29/05/2011 - 08:15

Just had a look at my bank account statement and noticed 4 unusual debit card authorisations from 'VODAFONE TULLAM' yesterday totalling $300.

Why unusual? Because I've never had an account with vodafone!

After doing some research I've found this problem has occured to others before and is probably NOT vodafone's fault (one thing I guess they can't be blamed for). However, many have indicated it is most likely credit card fraud, from hackers (or anyone) perhaps compromising an online website holding my details. Also, it's likely that those purchases were vodafone prepaid top-ups, apparently a popular purchase in credit card fraud, and that is why the vodafone name comes up.

SO, this leads to an interesting predicament. I've only made one online purchase in the last 2 months (this is rare for me haha), and it has been fairly recently. And let's just say it involved a lot of paper…

I'm not going to make unfounded accusations. All I'm saying is that I'd never previously had problems with credit-card fraud and have always (up until now) used trusted websites with encryption during payment processes. However on the last particular occasion, there seemed to have been issues with the website and it's database, with customer details showing up to random people..

Or maybe it was just card skimming at an ATM… I don't know.

My point here is, be safe with your details and where you shop online. It may seem obvious to most (and I thought I had it covered) but you should always used trusted websites and payment methods offering some protection. I don't remember the last time I didn't buy something with PayPal and the one time I didn't in a long time, my details are stolen.

I hope this doesn't scare people off, I merely wrote it to aware people of any issues that COULD be related and to see if anyone else had experienced something similar.

P.S I've already called my bank and cancelled the card. Will also bring up a dispute once the payments are actually authorised (no idea why they can't cancel it during the authorisation stage. seems ridiculous to me) And no I have never used the Playstation Network!

General Discussion

Comments

  • Derrick Crane on 29/05/2011 - 08:33

    Anything to do with this?
    http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-business/credit-cards-b…

    • johnn on 29/05/2011 - 13:34

      perhaps? although I'm with St. George and there's no mention in the article

      to be honest, I sincerely hope it ISNT from the website I suspected because I wanted to make more purchases from there! haha

      • Trance N Dance on 29/05/2011 - 15:28

        which website was it?
        just interested on saving my dad's CC

        • kasumi on 29/05/2011 - 16:25
          +1

          i believe OP would have been referring to the $20 credit frenzy and buying reams of paper at a particular store that had the highest # of votes for the past few weeks ;)

  • [Deactivated] on 29/05/2011 - 10:06

    Vodafone Tullam, looks like Vodafone Tullamore. (Ireland). Was the charge in Overseas currency? If so that will help your case.

    • mangew on 29/05/2011 - 12:06
      +1

      Think Tullam is short for Tullamarine in Victoria

    • johnn on 29/05/2011 - 13:36
      +1

      Yep it's Tullamarine. Apparently Vodafone's payment system is based there (and Chatswood, NSW) so that's why it shows up on the bill. I had hoped it was am indicator of where they were using it, but alas no

  • sparkles on 29/05/2011 - 11:41
    +1

    All this fraud stuff recently. Personally I'm annoyed that they are keeping the offending merchant a secret. People are entitled to know I think, they shouldn't be able to keep it on the down low when peoples money is being pinched by fraudsters. Be very aware of your PayPal account and password too, they can clean out your bank account that way too very quickly, I've seen it happen with $3K gone.

  • aar on 29/05/2011 - 12:03

    Makes you think you should keep an eye on that "other banks" backup card sitting in the draw.
    Happened to me when I got a call from the "other bank" asking about payment on the $5K that was racked up.

  • justhooked on 29/05/2011 - 14:12

    my card was cancelled in the latest scam the only transaction with a national account was one of the big supermarkets if it was them they would be wanting to keep it out of the news

  • [Deactivated] on 29/05/2011 - 16:07
    +2

    I think everyone should register for the paypal security code, it texts a message to your phone and u need to enter the pin everytime you log in. Might be a pain in the butt, but worth the extra hassle to stop any unauthorised transactions.

    • Trance N Dance on 29/05/2011 - 16:15

      knowing paypal does this function cost any money?

      • bbear on 29/05/2011 - 17:55

        "The mobile phone Security Key incurs your regular mobile phone cost per text message."

        From memory, the security key card costed AUD7.50, don't know why it is AUD32.95 now.

        https://www.paypal.com/au/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/Marketing_C…

      • cj3 on 29/05/2011 - 19:05
        +1

        Doesn't cost me anything.

      • [Deactivated] on 30/05/2011 - 02:06
        +1

        has been free for me so far too, if you don't want to send the text msg you can simply click the 'don't have mobile with me' button and use other info to get passed. e.g. full account number etc. I guess it can be by-passed by they would need alot of info.

  • 7Alice7 on 29/05/2011 - 21:07
    +1

    I had a $149 charge for VODAFONE TULLAMARIN on 10 May. NAB fraud dept phoned me the same day and let me know. Don't know how they picked it up - they cancelled my card immediately. Had the card for a couple of months only and it hasn't left my purse. I had purchased a scoopon the night before and 3 other "group buy deals" before that. A total of 4 purchases on the card and that's all.

    • m0nkeycheese on 29/05/2011 - 21:54
      +4

      Wouldnt surprise me if scoopon was involved :s

      • Scoopon on 23/06/2011 - 16:55

        Hi m0nkeycheese,

        We can assure you that our payment systems are handled by a speciality facility which is secure. Scoopon is committed to the privacy and security of our Member's personal details and credit card details.

        However, we are always more than willing to help if you want to contact us at [email protected]

        Kind Regards,
        Team Scoopon.

    • johnn on 30/05/2011 - 01:45

      Did they reimburse you the $149? I think mine is the same case since I had 4 authorisations- 2 for $1 and 2 for $149 each

      • 7Alice7 on 30/05/2011 - 09:07
        +1

        Reimbursed on 20 May :). I also had a $1 debit taken just before the $149. The $1 has now disappeared from my banking records whilst the $149 shows as a debit on 10 May and a credit on 20 May.

    • quop on 30/05/2011 - 11:14

      who were the other 3 group buy deals with?

      i got notified thursday night that my card was getting cancelled as a precautionary measure. don't think i actually had any fraudulent charges on my account (and couldn't check cos i could no longer view the transactions on my cancelled card), but have purchased from a number of group buy vendors in the past, so would be very interested to know if it was a breach at one of their operations.

      • 7Alice7 on 30/05/2011 - 14:50
        +1

        Daily Deals, Spreets, Deals Com

        Someone suggested that they (the scammers) just guess an account number, try it out with a $1 transaction and if it works start using it until it doesn't work anymore.

        • chiuy on 30/05/2011 - 16:33

          scammers do that.
          they make tiny donations to charities to test the cards.

          its a pain cos the charities then have to refund the money.

  • molla22 on 04/06/2011 - 16:44
    +2

    staples has had big security issues on their website after that popular offer the other week, i didnt trust them and used a disposable credit card myself

  • nubzy on 05/06/2011 - 18:00

    My parents got called from the bank yesterday, as there were unauthorized transactions on there from germany. Hard to know what it is, used the card to buy something from TheHut recently so I hope nothing went wrong there. could have been a skimmer..

  • Ughhh on 05/06/2011 - 18:17

    Would it be related to this article http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/commonwealth-b…

    • johnn on 08/06/2011 - 22:42

      I think it probably is.

      Btw, I can't find the article but I've found out that the bank for the merchant who was compromised was St George

  • quickling on 06/06/2011 - 19:14

    the card i used on staples was hit for quite a bit on cheaptickets.nl

  • EnALup on 06/06/2011 - 21:09

    I did a online shopping for a 16 gb card with staples?
    Do I need to be worried?

    • johnn on 08/06/2011 - 22:41

      I'm not 100% sure it was said site since they never revealed which exact website was compromised.

      I have put off further purchases from staples though.. (which has been hard- I really want some more coffee and cheap usbs! haha)

  • overlook on 07/06/2011 - 11:14

    u know because of this thread i been monitoring my credit card on daily basis. So far nothing has happened, finger crossed.

    • johnn on 08/06/2011 - 22:50

      Haha that's good to hear. It's always good that people are becoming increasingly aware of the risks of purchasing online. Whilst in my case I wasn't too severely affected, it would be hard for struggling families to have a few hundred dollars taken away, even if for a few weeks.

      And a quick update on the matter, St George rang me a few days after I reported it and said they would refund it in full in a few weeks provided I could prove they were not my purchases by filling out some forms (which they haven't sent?). Couldn't hear them properly as they called me whilst I was out, but I'll give them a ring tomorrow to sort things out.

      • EnALup on 24/06/2011 - 03:27

        yea. you are right. Though money is received after few weeks, but still your mind becomes sick of thinking it again and again.

        I dont know, what will happen to mine. But I got my items from staples in 2 days. Love them. Checking my account everyday, like I do for facebook or ozbargain :)

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