My day got off to a bad start when I checked my email this morning. My credit card company had sent me a notification that a large purchase had been applied to my account. Fortunately, I had instructed them to do so for purchases over $300.
Unfortunately, I did not recognize the company. I called my wife, and likewise she had no idea what the charge could be. But there it was: $541.44.
So I went to the website that was associated with the charge. They sold toys. I have children, but my youngest is now 12. I didn’t see anything on the site that would interest them.
So I called the 800-number and questioned the purchase. Apparently, I wanted over $500 worth of . . . wait for it . . . legos and I had moved from Pennsylvania to Tennessee. This little treasure trove of plastic building blocks had been ordered on-line and an email address with my name in it had been used. It was not my email. They had my home address, but the items were to be shipped to some place in Tennessee.
The lady on the phone was very nice and I think I caught the issue before the order was actually shipped, as she said they would stop the order. I still had to call my credit card company and naturally they are going to close the account and issue me new cards.
There was also a charge on the same day for Itunes for $1.00 and for Yahoo Mail for $19.00. I do not use Yahooo mail, but my wife has a free yahoo address. I did just make a couple of purchases from Itunes, and I thought it interesting that they requested my credit card number again–and didn’t download the song I requested. I clicked to download it again, and the second time it worked without requesting my card number. I’m pretty sure that is when the security breach occurred. But how they infiltrated iTunes I do not know?
I am sure of it now that I googled “iTunes credit card fraud.” Among the top links was a messageboard with posters lamenting security issues with their iTunes account. Another story described the $1.00 “test” charge like the one applied to my account. I actually purchased more than $1.00 worth of tunes and that purchase hasn’t been applied to my account yet. Now it won’t thanks to this theft and the company closing that account number.
But there is a much more significant issue here. What is wrong with criminals these days? $541 worth of . . . LEGOS???? Seriously? Did they buy the Death Star? You go to all that trouble to steal someone’s credit info and you buy . . . plastic bricks? I’m offended. Isn’t my card good enough for an HDTV? Or a 3-D TV? Have I been scammed by a six year old??? Good God, if you’re going to risk going to jail, why not buy some jewelry. Apparently our edumacational sistem has faled these yuths.
theeyelife 