joejoe31

I use pay pal here and one on goodwill.com I pray everything works out makes me scared to use mine again,but this is how I get my stuff mostly......ugh what to think....God bless jess

coopah

All I know is that my husband has three credit cards and ALL THREE have had to be replaced in the past TWO months. Favorite Fabrics, you should report this to PayPal and whether they do anything or not, at least you have done your part. On the third credit card, my husband asked who pays the debt. The credit union told him they turn the "bill" back to the vendor that accepted the card. So you would have been stuck with the bill and no material!! One bill was to a bakery in NYC for almost $500! Most financial institutions now have fraud units. PayPal should, as well. If not, you may want to reconsider doing business with them.

There's a lot of credit card fraud here in FL. The news says it is centered in Miami, but who knows? The only way we found out about the credit card fraud was that my nephew came to visit and asked if we wanted any computer help. My husband fessed up that he'd bought a program earlier in the day to help him "clean up" the computer and make it run faster. Nephew went through the roof! Scammers sell these and then can collect your inofrmation...passwords, anything you do online they can capture. Firewalls are there for a reason, but if you subvert them yourself, be prepared for a world of hurt. Luckily, they worked together to resolve the situation, but it took the next day to get with the credit union and we are still working to get our money back from the "speed up" program. You are right to be suspicious of large transactions. Or a transaction for under $10 followed by a large order. (The scammer wants to see if the card is good, then if you are dumb enough to bite on the bigger order.) Interesting thing: my nephew knew just from the name of the program that it was bogus. To us, it sounded fine, but he's been trained in this...thank God!

celwood

Sounds like another fraudulant scheme including the person that called you.

amandasgramma

A friend has this idea for safely ordering thru the mail.
She opened up a free account at a different bank than her own. She got a debit card. She figures out how much she'll need for a purchase, puts that much money in that new bank account (always leaves $10.00) and uses THAT account to make purchase. They can not access more than she has in the account -- I believe there is a setting that won't let anyone charge more than what's in the account. That way, if she DOES have a fraud then they don't affect her living expenses.

And it doesn't just happen online. A friend was RVing across country with her DH. She used her CC to pay for parking in St. Lake City ---- within days she got a call from her bank. Seems someone had accessed that account and charged over $5000. in New York City!!! That was the ONLY time she'd used her card in months.... They had to abandon their dream of traveling around the US and had to come home to file fraud charges with the bank and the police department! So, be cautious no matter where you are or how you purchase.

Favorite Fabrics

I think your friend's idea is a good one. It puts really tight limits on the risk. Plus, if her debit card has the MasterCard/VISA logo on it, she is also protected by their terms of service, which is very customer-friendly.

But it is very, very, VERY unwise to use debit cards that are tied in to the bank account(s) that you are using for meeting your living expenses! Because if someone uses it, that money is GONE from your account for several days until the bank fixes things. Whereas, on a regular credit card, you aren't out any money and you can just dispute the charges.

0tis

Lately, I have considered buying those credit cards - like you see at the checkout counter - Visa and Mastercard - you pay for the card $4.95 - but you can get $ 100 or $ 200 card - I have been thinking this might be the way to avoid these kinds of messes - the card only has the set limit and it only works until all the money is used up - it seems like a safe bet to me. Has anyone else tried this?

willferg

I think the prepaid Mastercard is a good idea, but sometimes they don't work online. That can be frustrating. Think I'll go check out my Paypal account and make sure there are no new addresses added...

Favorite Fabrics

Do the pre-paid cards cost more than the face value? I think I bought one for my son at Christmas and was disappointed to find out that there was an extra fee. As to why they might not work online, it could be that there is no address verification available for that type of cards. Some merchants might have their websites set up to reject transactions that don't have an address match.

kathdavis

I have to wonder if you should have refunded her the money. I wonder if they are now in your account or if she ever actually paid you before you refunded her. Something is not right.

rusty quilter

I like to believe that pay pal does all they can to keep us safe. I am saddened however to hear that you really did try to help someone from fraud--and they didn't even have the time to say thank you??? Don't remember the actual gospel, but goes something like, "where are the other 9"....how sad.