Dennis Laff Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 Today I had a bad experience with PayPal which I have used for years . I got an email this morning from Eric Brown A forum member asking me if I sent him $860.00 I replied no I did not send any money to you .i than went on my PayPal acct and it said I just sent $860.00 to the person that sent me the email. As I was looking at my PayPal acct another payment went through for $1650.00 to Jim At Sandevices thanks to Eric Brown and Jim (Sandevices) who recognized my name from the forum I was able to get this corrected this morning both people had contacted PayPal and issued refunds PayPal is now trying to find how this happened. Thanks to Eric And Jim. Dennis Laff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santas Helper Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 Thanks for sharing this Dennis. Looks like we all need to keep a close watch on our PayPal accounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.Y.R.G. Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 (edited) Whoa......now that's scary to hear! Let us know what Paypal says happened. Had you previously sent money to them before this incident? Edited January 11, 2018 by B.Y.R.G. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 And change your passwords! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Mitchell Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 I hope you immediately changed your password. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Laff Posted January 12, 2018 Author Share Posted January 12, 2018 Changed password this morning ,not sure if I had any dealings with E Brown. But I do buy from Sandevices . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibblejr Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 I was ripped off on Dec 13 for $1 BestBuy. c o m and on 14 Dec BestBuy. c o m $549 . Cancelled the debit card, called my LEO friends at 0700 and before my friend got 1 mile from my house on the way back to the station I was able to call my friends in the detective office and tell them when and where the package was being delivered. 55 miles away. The bad news, BestBuy has still not cooperated with the court order subpoena. Unlucky for the thief that I called BestBuy in time and they were able to intercept the delivery, that was good luck for me because they were able to issue me a refund. 1- Xbox1 intercepted. The detectives know all the info just cant act until BB cooperates. The thief hopefully is sweating bricks knowing something went wrong. New bank card has not worked since the incident and the reissuance the 15th of Dec. This forced me to transfer all of my funds from that credit union to my other credit union. Since they let the scam (test transaction $1) through they have lost all of my business and the account closed. Since it is a Federal Credit Union it became a multi agency investigation. All of that happened because of the skimmer placed on a gas pump close to my house. Be careful everyone. I was lucky, unfortunate but lucky to recover the money. JR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebuechner Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 (edited) I own a gas station and I have found skimmer devices but I caught them before the thieves could come back and retrieve the information. Since then I've put additional locks on the pumps that use a very unique key that only I have. Then shortly after all this happened our city made it a law that those locks are required on all pumps. All the pump manufacturers over the years have manufactured their pumps with a one key fits all situation which was okay until the thieves figured it out. So a word of caution from somebody who knows what they're talking about double check the pumps where you get your gas and make sure that they have additional locking or anti-tamper strips across the access doors. If you're not sure, the person working behind the counter should be able to give you an intelligent answer to the question are the pumps secure and free of skimmer devices? If they can't give you a sense of security go somewhere else. Edited January 12, 2018 by Ebuechner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibblejr Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Ebuechner said: I own a gas station and I have found skimmer devices but I caught them before the thieves could come back and retrieve the information. Since then I've put additional locks on the pumps that use a very unique key that only I have. Then shortly after all this happened our city made it a law that those locks are required on all pumps. All the pump manufacturers over the years have manufactured their pumps with a one key fits all situation which was okay until the thieves figured it out. So a word of caution from somebody who knows what they're talking about double check the pumps where you get your gas and make sure that they have additional locking or anti-tamper strips across the access doors. If you're not sure, the person working behind the counter should be able to give you an intelligent answer to the question are the pumps secure and free of skimmer devices? If they can't give you a sense of security go somewhere else. There are new devices now and the thieves can just sit in their vehicles and get the card info right to their device and drive off when done. My inlaws also own a gas station and I normally use it however on the day in question I had just got the H2 out of the shop and filled it up close to my house. Its a very busy store so no telling who the culprits were. It was the most outward pump which made it easy for them to put the device inside the card slot. They are very thin these days. I have been pulling on the card reader for quite some time but that method is pretty much obsolete with the new paperclip style skimmers. They just slide in the card slot and are left once the criminal is ready to leave. But your advice is very sound. I get a lot of free prop coro from my inlaws gas station. LOL Hopefully you had a great show last year. JR Edited January 12, 2018 by dibblejr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Laff Posted January 12, 2018 Author Share Posted January 12, 2018 I understand when you use a credit card at a store or such but this money was paid out by PayPal not on a credit card I used somewhere . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibblejr Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 9 minutes ago, Dennis Laff said: I understand when you use a credit card at a store or such but this money was paid out by PayPal not on a credit card I used somewhere . Yeah, that's a crazy mix up. Glad you caught it that would have been costly. JR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iflights Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 In regard to gas stations...I just used my card on Tuesday to fill up, and last night received calls from credit card company about fraudulent usage at a store. These were "card present" transactions. So they essentially not only got my card data, but created a card that can be used in a Walmart. Heard about skimming. Didn't realize it was that widespread and would occur at the station I use all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 This is exactly why I never use my debit card. A credit card is fully insured and usually only takes a phone call to get your money back, at least with my fraud experience. However, most debit cards have the card owner responsible for the first $500 and is much harder to get your money back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santas Helper Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 My credit union has 100% coverage against fraud actions with my debit card so I use that. I don't own Visa or MC cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibblejr Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 1 minute ago, Santas Helper said: My credit union has 100% coverage against fraud actions with my debit card so I use that. I don't own Visa or MC cards. Yes, all crefit unions do “if they are actually in the NCUA system. That was our problem. I have Navy, Marine Corps and another Crefit Union Buy were not local. I joined AFCU to have easy access to services. Unfortunately they didn’t auto cover, had B.B. not refunded the money I would have had to wait until after the investigation. This all happened 15 Dec. Yesterday I received the letter from cu that “we did discover the transaction was fraud”. So if I was a broke person or living pay day to pay day that $551 would have been a big hit. The 3 other credit unions have that protection you mention. My advice to anyone in a credit union, ask to see if they are a member of the NCUA and or what their policy is for fraud transactions. JR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdwillie Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 OH NO! Time to check my paypal! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santas Helper Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 In today's world of hacking and crime, everyone should keep tabs on ALL online accounts activity on a regular basis. No company/profile with online access is safe anymore. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebrown1972 Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 17 hours ago, Dennis Laff said: Changed password this morning ,not sure if I had any dealings with E Brown. But I do buy from Sandevices . Dennis, Glad I could help. About a year and a half ago you purchased a red usb adapter off of me. I have no idea what happened with paypal but I think if it were some type of scam or fraud whoever was behind it would have sent the money into an account they had set up for that purpose. We may never know what happened and probably won't. When I received the email from paypal saying that you had paid me $870 I thought it was a fake email. When I went to the paypal site the money was there. Weird for sure! Although I know there have been a few scammers on the forums in the past I am thankful that we look out for one another on here and although I've never met any of you in person I feel as though we are all family! Eric 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Laff Posted January 12, 2018 Author Share Posted January 12, 2018 Eric again thanks for helping I spoke with paypal this morning they said my password was used by someone . I asked why someone would send money to total strangers they said they where probably watching to see if it went through with out any problem then next they would send money to someone that they new . so your quick action ended the scram Thanks Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebrown1972 Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 6 minutes ago, Dennis Laff said: Eric again thanks for helping I spoke with paypal this morning they said my password was used by someone . I asked why someone would send money to total strangers they said they where probably watching to see if it went through with out any problem then next they would send money to someone that they new . so your quick action ended the scram Thanks Dennis Glad to hear it Dennis. I changed my password yesterday just in case. Whoever was behind it wasn't very smart. If my job was that of a criminal I would have sent very small payments to see if those went through and then saved the bigger payments for myself. LOL. I've worked as a law enforcement officer for almost 18 years now. Internet fraud is one of the most reported crimes of all now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts