Julienne, credit card number purchasing is actually a huge business. You don't have to brace yourself for theft. You just have to be proactive in protecting and being smart your card info. This includes monitoring your account.

They probably did "forgive" the charge; meaning they wrote it off. Ash probably closed the account because they didn't want any other problems with it. Mainly, with that type of fraud, the fraudster already has a specific card # either from skimming it or figuring out the banks BIN (Bank Identification Number ie the first 6 digits of the card #) and they are able to use algorithms for the rest. We would probably be surprised at how many times our card #s are compromised when we buy things. There are people who sell credit card numbers on the Internet for a price. They do not actually committ any of the fraud but rather collect card numbers for sale.

This is the first time I heard that credit card numbers can be sold. That's scary. So does this mean we'll just have to brace ourselves for whatever may happen whenever we use our credit cards for buying merchandise?

They probably did "forgive" the charge; meaning they wrote it off. Ash probably closed the account because they didn't want any other problems with it. Mainly, with that type of fraud, the fraudster already has a specific card # either from skimming it or figuring out the banks BIN (Bank Identification Number ie the first 6 digits of the card #) and they are able to use algorithms for the rest. We would probably be surprised at how many times our card #s are compromised when we buy things. There are people who sell credit card numbers on the Internet for a price. They do not actually committ any of the fraud but rather collect card numbers for sale.

Because in this world, you have to understand that "Fraud" can not only come from outside thieves, it can be coming from the person who is filing the claim themselves. In the Investigations Department there will always be a job available

I couldn't believe it...
This morning when I log in...Backtrack,
I am one of those folks who log into their accounts and check
everything everyday. Thats just how I do...
So I log in and see a pending charge. This is a card I don't
normally use. I call them up and ask what the pending charge
is about. They told me it relates to Napster. I said No, I don't use
Napster. I'm so busy I would even have the time and patience
to deal with them. So they give me the customer service number
and I give them a call. After asking me some questions, The rep
apologizes and tells me that my card is one of the ones that has
been linked to an online user who has used tons of other credit
cards which is fraudulent. Thats just great, another card I have
to cancel in six months because of the same issue. I don't
know how these people do it? I had them cancel the card etc.
I'm so careful about shredding and taking precautions and I'm
being targeted for some reason? Totally insane and fustrating

How come they didn't just forgive/delete that charge since they already know it's fraudulent?: I'd say it's such a waste of time having to call them when they already know what the issue is. Where's their customer service?

Have you tried scribes? I understand the meaning of not having a full time job, but if the student loans are there, whew, they stick to your cr like glue.

I'm not sure what you mean by "tried" but, honey, no one is going to hire a 42-year-old who stutters really badly and hasn't worked full-time in almost 20 years. I think I said 28 years, but I meant 18, sorry. Still, that's a long long time to be out of work. Thankfully, like I said, our company landed a pretty good writing project that's ongoing pay, so I think we'll be ok. But, yeah, if I could erase this whole college loan...that would sure be a blessing.

Have you tried scribes? I understand the meaning of not having a full time job, but if the student loans are there, whew, they stick to your cr like glue.

What's going on is that I've just had a very bad 15-16 years. I graduated from art school in 1994 and I immediately was out of work AND my parents had sold their house. So, I couldn't go home to live and find a job. Fortunately I met up with my cousin and she said I could stay with her. I tried to find a job I really wanted, but my stutter made it really hard for me. So her and I co-own this writing and research company and scrape by. I've not held a fulltime job in about 28 years, God's truth. My last 8-5 job was in 1990. THAT'S why I'm so screwed up, and if you think any financial expert can help me.. hah.. guess again. I'm a special case and they won't touch me.

I applied recently and found out my score is under 550 -- and I think that's a record for me. Going on 20 years since I had a good rating.

20 years? Ok whats going on scribes? If you are willing to share what you have on your report, we will all be more than happy to hook you up with some good info.

Ash is correct about crown jewelry. People only use them for fico purposes and then they leave. A few of my friends and family if going this route. But what you have been saying abuot their unsecured site is sort of making me nervous Ash. I warned my sister about this a few months ago when someone posted here about it. I will hope they correct this issue. Seems to me that they are ready to bail out on their card holderss....eww, I think I hear the parachutes!

I don't get it. Why are so many jewelers joining the credit roundup? Oh, that's right, because gold is nearly $1,000 an ounce, riiiight. Silly me. I applied recently and found out my score is under 550 -- and I think that's a record for me. Going on 20 years since I had a good rating.

www.crownjewelers.com

They will issue an account without doing a credit check, instead they check other things like employment, need a home phone etc. For the first six months if you buy something you have to pay 20% then they finance the rest. After you complete the program you can buy with no money down. People do this for fico boost purposes, credit reporting, and rebuilding if they have trouble getting cards after a bk.

For me I used to get stuck in that 300 credit line club until they reported a 1500 limit. After that I noticed I started getting higher credit lines. Job done mission accomplished...At least until I hit the High 6's or bump 700. After a couple more payments I'm not going to but anything else from them. Part of that reason is a year ago I app'd with K-jewl and they said no. This time I started re-apping with some I got denials on before. So this time around they said yes instant 1K. I'll take it because its much more well known and you can go into the store too.

Slowly I've been closing accounts that are no longer needed. They've got next (LOL)

Crown Jewelers, where do I know that name before? I swear I've seen many TV ads featuring them in relations to jewelry and pawning. Is that the one I'm thinking of? Are they in Cleveland too?

Actually I know what’s up...


Its Crown Jewelers again. CJ is a great rebuilder however they have issues
with the website. It’s not secure, they say secured by authorize.net but when you click the icon it says this merchant is not a participant. Now they are also not displaying the hacker safe icon as well. Some folks were trying to figure out why someone would hack into their data base. The thieves probably know they accept multiple methods of payment and figured out they store the cards on their server after the fact. I posted a thread on this before and here we go again.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that someone uses their card or debit card to make a down payment or pay a bill and then shortly after that the same card gets fraudulent charges. I pulled my statements and sure enough those cards were used on their website. I have been warning people on the board who may not know about this to prevent a future problem. For the last few months I started using Pay Pal to transfer a payment. I back tracked a year to compare the cards if any I used and canceled them yesterday. I wish I would have seen the post people were making before I made my payments. Everyone I’ve chatted with agrees that the one thing we all have in common is that if there is a card in the last couple of months that had fraudulent charges on it we all have a CJ account reporting to the bureaus. Coincidence??? I think not…

Ash, I'm so sorry to hear that! How unlucky for you. That's most unfortunate and I hope you get it all sorted out quickly. You should let the credit report agencies know too as well as the bank so they can add a fraud alert to your files. That's rotten, you have my sympathy.

I called the credit company to report a suspicious card issued in my name, that someone was paying on, and all they did was send me a form in snail-mail so that I could report it as fraud. I tell you, the credit system of this country is whacked.

Ash, I'm so sorry to hear that! How unlucky for you. That's most unfortunate and I hope you get it all sorted out quickly. You should let the credit report agencies know too as well as the bank so they can add a fraud alert to your files. That's rotten, you have my sympathy.