Victim of credit card fraud

[Flip465]

I've been buying loads of helis and parts for years from HD. Several thousand dollars worth by now I'd guess. Only problem was once, one order had the wrong canopy on the heli I ordered. One email and the correct canopy was sent free of charge by USPS Express to Western Australia. (THANKS Larry) Always used PayPal and NEVER been hit even once.

OH YES - I've been used an encrypted 'Virtual' keyboard to enter every single detail, every letter, every number, on any and all my online purchases from anywhere, not just HD, for years now.

Before using this system, I was 'hit' several times buying from Fleabay, using PP (about 4 -5 years ago) Got stuffed around being told by both Fleabay and PP to contact the sellers, after having already tried that and sent copies of all emails as attachments with my claims to both Fleabay first, then PP.
In the end, after being stuffed around and getting the same request for information over and over again from both Fleabay and PP, each time with a different employees name on their emails, I gave up and took printouts of everything to my bank. The bank's accountant when through everything with me, took about 1/2 an hour to get that done and 24 hours later the bank has reversed those PP transactions and every last cent was back in my account.

[Ronnie Mund]

I've had 3 fraudulent charges on 2 different credit cards in the past 8 months (one of which was around $2,000). Previous to this I've never had a fraudulent charge and I've used my CC's for all purchases for about 10 years to get the reward points. And guess what? They started happening shortly after I purchased things from HeliDirect. I don't have definitive proof but needless to say I'll NEVER buy from them again. And now I'm feeling really guilty b/c in the past my wife and parents have bought things as presents for me from them.

And no I don't want a 50 dollar gift card for "my troubles", so shove it up your ass. Why don't you fix the problem instead?

[Diogenes]

I quit using credit cards long ago for direct purchases. I now use Paypal with the feature that requires me to send a six digit pin that gets sent to my droid before I can even log in.

[Grimmy]

You do that with Paypal? I know my gmail has the feature, but I didn't know paypal had it.

[Diogenes]

yep, it's in the account settings area, been a while so I dont remember exactly where

[Xrayted]

Same here......never put my actual credit card info on the net, and always use the card linked through Pay Pal. I also opted for the Pay Pal token ID fob a few years ago which generates a random number after your normal log in password for E Bay or Pay Pal. Its now a card rather than a fob like I have.

The security SMS text code is also an option

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin?cm...outside&bn_r=o

[Diogenes]

yep I use the sms text code, works great. Tedious. but teh security is well worth it

[kenkadish]

Never a problem here...always use paypal linked to my credit card...never a direct checking account withdrawal...best line of defense for me is to dispute the credit card charge...citicard is great for this.

Ken

[matthewcornell]

I just got hit a second time, once in 08/013 and again last week 02/014. While correlation is not causation, I made HeliDirect purchases prior to each one. But to be fair, I also bought from AMain and other sites. Just sharing...

Question: I saw the comments about PayPal being safer. Would someone have time to summarize why that's true, and how they use PP to pay for things on sites that don't have a PP button? I see these products: PayPal Debit Card, Bill Me Later, PayPal Prepaid MasterCard. Thanks HF PP smarties!

[BKF]

Originally Posted by matthewcornell

I just got hit a second time, once in 08/013 and again last week 02/014. While correlation is not causation, I made HeliDirect purchases prior to each one. But to be fair, I also bought from AMain and other sites. Just sharing...

Question: I saw the comments about PayPal being safer. Would someone have time to summarize why that's true, and how they use PP to pay for things on sites that don't have a PP button? I see these products: PayPal Debit Card, Bill Me Later, PayPal Prepaid MasterCard. Thanks HF PP smarties!

In a nutshell, I believe when you make a purchase with Paypal, it's Paypal that is actually sending them payment, and then Paypal takes their payment from you (via CC or bank transfer, etc...).

So your CC info isn't being passed along to the store... just an electronic transfer of funds.

Most RC heli stores do PP these days, and quite a few allow for Bill Me Later on purchases over $99. Bill me Later is basically a credit line. If you qualify, you're given a line of credit, and you can use that credit as another option in your payment types. Bill Me Later usually runs a special deal if you have a purchase over $99, you will have 6 months interest free financing. There are no fixed payments, and you just have to pay it off before the time is up, and you won't pay finance charges.

The Paypal cards actually use your paypal balance as a bank account. When you make a purchase, the money is removed from your paypal account, just like it would be if you used a bank debit card. I think (but don't know for sure) if you run under your balance, it'll then use your default payment method to provide whatever funds are needed to complete the payment.

[dantemcc]

I dont think pp is really completely safe. There are holes and areas that are vulnerable. I used pp to make a purchase and my CC was stolen. So, its not 100 percent secure. Now, I use billmelater for everthing. That way, neither pp or whoever i'm buying from ever see's or uses my CC. Anything other than that, I use a generated CC number from me bank.

[matthewcornell]

Thanks you two. I'll give pp a shot and see if I get another fraudulent charge. Ironically , the replacement card from the bank had no three digit code on the back.