The Energon Pub

[Seibertron]

Transformers community warning!

In the past few days, we have received emails from several fellow Seibertronians that they recently had fraudulent activity on their credit or debit cards recently. If you've recently ordered a Transformers item online, you should double check your credit and bank accounts to verify whether or not any unauthorized charges have appeared or if there are any pending charges for suspicious activity.

If you found something fishy like a Sharkticon with one of your accounts, please let us know and where you might have used your card online recently for Transformers purchases. Hopefully we can all collectively figure out where the source of the problem is!

Thank you for helping out and doing your part to keep the online Transformers community safe and informed. Happy hunting!

[xyl360]

I'm pretty sure we know where it came from. The issue with the TFCC's previous credit card processor (the reason orders went down and they switched to another credit card processor yesterday).

I was one of the ones who got an order through with the old processor and I've seen no fraudulent charges so far, but my bank is also often slow about posting transactions to my account so it will likely be a few days or more before I know for certain, so until I'm sure, I'll be keeping a watchful eye on it. I highly recommend that anyone who ordered Overrun and/or SG Drift on the first day of pre-orders do the same, even if your order did not go through, as I suspect their original CC handler got hacked/infected.

[shesmovedon]

I noticed a couple on my AMEX when I was looking over my bill last night.

1. 1/31/12 Gamestop.com $49.99 purchase
2. 1/16/12 Experian credit report purchase of ~$17 (which is odd and the AMEX rep said "maybe they're trying to steal your ID"....great....)

Really lame but AMEX is great and am disputing them with no issues.

I use my AMEX for everything I can, BBTS, TFSource, and, most recently, Toy Arena in late December. My first purchase from them so maybe that's related? I use it on plenty of non-TF stuff as well so who knows.

[necr0blivion]

One issue which has been popping up lately is the "Man in the Browser" attack. Your computer is infected, and when visiting your banking account website later on, you are seeing false account information to hide unauthorized transactions. I'm sure I'm not doing this justice, so here's a recent article about the situation:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16812064

This may be too early to report on, but after reading Seibertron's post I checked both of my credit accounts via phone application and verified all recent transactions (pending and completed). To XYL360, I tried to order from TFCC on Monday and my transaction was suspended. I was able to purchase my figures on Wednesday night once the Club successfully switched vendors. It's too early to lay blame on a TFCC purchase, but will be diligent and report back if I see any suspicious transactions beginning 1/30/12.

*sighs* Just went through this last year, possibly due to the PSN hack. Thankfully, none of the charges held and there was minimal inconvenience.

[cybercat]

Thank you so much for the heads up! Queen of paranoia here, I called the card company, and I have had no charges that weren't legit on my card since Monday. Still it's better to know and check than be unpleasantly surprised!

[mbd88prime]

correction to my earlier post:

nevermind, im big enough to admit im a big dumbass sometimes, sorry tfcc, you didnt screw me

[geokaiser]

Since Nov, I have had all 3 of my credit cards used fraudulently. One of them just 6 weeks after canceling the prior card. 1 is visa and 2 are mastercard. 2 of them I used only rarely. I'm thinking info was stolen from a business with records going back for sometime. Unfortunately this doesn't narrow it down for me. Coulda be BBTS, TFSource, Robotkingdom, Amazon, or even Paypal. I doubt it was TFCC because I havent used all 3 there. I am suspicious of the TF stores because I know another local TF fan that had had the same thing happen. For what its worth, I buy from BBTS the most, rarely from TFSource for this very reason, and try to use paypal at Robotkingdom. I alerted BBTS & Paypal but didn't really get much of a response. Hope this helps.

[Heavy B]

I checked my online bank statment. All clear

[xyl360]

Since Nov, I have had all 3 of my credit cards used fraudulently. One of them just 6 weeks after canceling the prior card. 1 is visa and 2 are mastercard. 2 of them I used only rarely. I'm thinking info was stolen from a business with records going back for sometime. Unfortunately this doesn't narrow it down for me. Coulda be BBTS, TFSource, Robotkingdom, Amazon, or even Paypal. I doubt it was TFCC because I havent used all 3 there. I am suspicious of the TF stores because I know another local TF fan that had had the same thing happen. For what its worth, I buy from BBTS the most, rarely from TFSource for this very reason, and try to use paypal at Robotkingdom. I alerted BBTS & Paypal but didn't really get much of a response. Hope this helps.

TFSource was hacked a while back as I recall (like last year or even earlier) so that may be the source of your woes. I've only used them once or twice myself and the card I used has long since expired.

[kirbenvost]

Ah crap, not again.

Well, luckily I was checking my credit card earlier today and there don't seem to be any problems so far. I generally use my card through Paypal to pay for online purchases anyway.

[Megatron Wolf]

damnit not this crap again, this is why i try to avoid purchasing things online

[FurStreak]

My father had a $799 charge on his account, luckily we caught it, canceled his card and are getting a new one, however the charge was made in Mexico for a plane ticket. We will find the dirtbag and have him delt with.

[Stormrider]

Since Nov, I have had all 3 of my credit cards used fraudulently. One of them just 6 weeks after canceling the prior card. 1 is visa and 2 are mastercard. 2 of them I used only rarely. I'm thinking info was stolen from a business with records going back for sometime. Unfortunately this doesn't narrow it down for me. Coulda be BBTS, TFSource, Robotkingdom, Amazon, or even Paypal. I doubt it was TFCC because I havent used all 3 there. I am suspicious of the TF stores because I know another local TF fan that had had the same thing happen. For what its worth, I buy from BBTS the most, rarely from TFSource for this very reason, and try to use paypal at Robotkingdom. I alerted BBTS & Paypal but didn't really get much of a response. Hope this helps.

I also had fraudulent charges on my credit card a few months ago and then again a couple weeks ago. Each time, I was issued a new card. I only use my credit card online at TF Stores.

[Stumpybot]

In late December I renewed my tfcc membership and got charged for a purchase with tfsource (one id long since stopped wanting after 14 months on preorder)

January I got stung for £1000 in fraudulent charges (there could be more)

I've never been a victim of fraud before and the timing made me think immediately it was one of them since the only time I normally buy from the US is thru PayPal

If its tfcc using cheap crap software that caused it I hope they get some prison quality ass torture

Guess we'll wait and see

[Constantine]

I have one card which I use for all of my online purchases. Last week my bank called to alert me to "suspicious activity" and there was a $1.00 charge from some place called "Premium Rewards." The bank advised (as I already knew) that this is a technique to test a stolen card number to see if it's valid, before putting through larger charges.

The card was canceled and reissued and the fraudulent charge was refunded to the account. I have recently used this card on BBTS, although in the semi-recent past I have also used it on TFSource, Amazon, Netflix, Vudu, Hulu, iTunes, Equifax, Mozy, and the NYS DMV. This card is not linked to my PayPal account. The only other thing for which I used it recently was a small donation to the Arbor Day Foundation.

[Rated X]

Just checked my cards and no false charges.

[3.8TransAM]

To anyone in the States I heartily recommend Discover.

When u call in they are polite, speak english and are even based in the United States, not someone in India named Bob. Somewhere in Arizona, believe it or not.

I use it for everything and checked my account just a little bit ago and called due to a gas station charge amount being wrong. Found out it is nothing to worry about and common with gas stations till the transaction actually clears processing.

So everything is good on my end, no fraudulent charges to speak of.

I did order from FunPub on Wedns after they changed credit card processors.

I hope everyone here at a bare minimum goes thru their entire credit card statement when they get it.

[bvzxa]

My card got messed up last year around may after using TFSource. I did get a new membership as well as preoreder runamuck from TFCC on Wednesday night after they switched to the new company.

[amtm]

Fortunately I've never had a problem with credit card fraud. Only thing that ever happened to me is a parking garage charged me twice for the same day. The credit card company cancelled the transaction and that was that.

I did get a notice from my bank a few years ago when someone stole thousands of credit and debit card numbers from TJX (TJ Maxx, Ross, Marshalls), but my card number wasn't one of the ones stolen. Got a new one anyway but obviously there wasn't a problem since there were no false charges.

[alldarker]

My CC was abused on January 9th of this year. I hadn't really used it much in the last months, although it was the card registered with PSN.
However, BBTS did charge my card for Stepper coming into stock on January 4th. I have no idea if that has any relation to the fraud and I am not accusing them, 'cause I use the card for Amazon as well. Still, apart from Paypal, it's the most Transformers-related recent usage of my CC. I haven't bought anything from TFSource or any other online retailer in ages.

The pre-order of SG Drift and Over-run this monday is literally the very first and only usage I have made with my new CC. No strange charges have shown up on my CC since Monday, though.

[mattwhite924]

I ordered from the TFCC on Monday, and my card still looks good. I also had an order through BBTS this past week, so I doubt any fraudulent charges are coming from there either.

[thestealthmc]

I was just warned of a fraud alert on my credit card, with two purchases from Australian sites. This is the first time I've ever been compromised, almost right after ordering from TFCC. Hmm ...

[Slick_Prime]

I just got hit with a charge for $3.50. Glad I caught it early, but now I have to cancel all my orders this month at BBTS till I get a new card.

[necr0blivion]

I just got hit with a charge for $3.50. Glad I caught it early, but now I have to cancel all my orders this month at BBTS till I get a new card.

You don't have to cancel your preorders. The items will come in and you will get an e-mail from them showing that they were unable to process your card for payment; you will then be given time to find another source of payment. Send a reply stating your situation and an approximate time you expect to receive your new card.

This happened to me last year, and they were very understanding and provided ample time for me to provide another payment source.

[Cyberseven]

I noticed a couple on my AMEX when I was looking over my bill last night.

1. 1/31/12 Gamestop.com $49.99 purchase
2. 1/16/12 Experian credit report purchase of ~$17 (which is odd and the AMEX rep said "maybe they're trying to steal your ID"....great....)

Really lame but AMEX is great and am disputing them with no issues.

I use my AMEX for everything I can, BBTS, TFSource, and, most recently, Toy Arena in late December. My first purchase from them so maybe that's related? I use it on plenty of non-TF stuff as well so who knows.

I am so glad that Seibertron posted this. I recently caught the fraudulent charge of an Experian credit report membership on my card, and filed a fraud report with my card company and they have refunded the charge and issued me a new card.
The reason I am glad Seibertron posted this and that I read the post here from Shemovedon is that now I am almost sure I know where it came from. It was either BBTS, or Paypal that got hacked. My charge for the Experian report membership was dated right after I had purchased items via Paypal, and BBTS.
I suspect Paypal more, but since Shemovedon had same fraud charge after BBTS purchase, unfortunately I think they might have been the ones hacked. For me to have the same fraud charge as a Seibertron member I don't even know, and using a different card then mine, is too much of a coincidence to be sure.

I love BBTS, but they may need to do some investigating for hacks. I am holding off on further purchases via BBTS until further information is researched.