Ever have a credit card number stolen???

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my info was stolen from a small on-line brew place in California about three years ago. He had no clue until I isolated it and let him know....

I know it's a big forum of homebrewers; many (most?) of whom are likely to buy on-line from AHS (so that could be a coincidence), but I don't ever recall any threads about on-line credit card problems, and now we've got three....

I wonder if there was a big hack somewhere (certainly AHS isn't the only company using whatever "secure" server thing-a-ma-jig) - and we're just seeing the on-line beer store side of things....
 
Revvy said:
You all noticing how many of these have a walmart connection???
Click to expand...

It's just a handy way to launder the money. Purchase gift cards with it, and you have the cash without the bad bank connections. Then sell the gift cards on craig's for 90%, and you have cold hard cash. Then the scumbags can by their drugs..
 
Think bigger picture folks - I know of FOUR folks who have had cc / debit numbers ripped off in the past week - including myself.

AHS not among ony of the cards uses. ( I DO order from AHS, but call me a nut, I have a card I use ONLY for online stuff ). These cards were all in te local area, and were tapped FAST. Reports filed, banks taking it on the nose, it's a sad commentary on society, but it's modern theft at it's most efficient.

And Forrest - You guys rock.
 
Someone already mentioned this. My credit card company allows me to generate virtual card numbers, which are good for one transaction. I always use this for any online transactions. It's a slight pain to log into my account, twice, just to have one generated, but worth it.
I recently placed an order with AHS last week and decided to call in this time without filling out my credit card number for the purchase. I gave AHS my hard credit card number, and no funny activity.
Last year, around January 2010, my credit card was used in Beirut at a gas station. Thankfully I got a call from my credit card company asking me about my recent travel history. My credit card and I was in Illinois. Have no idea, how in the **** they got my number, but it happens.
 
AZ_IPA said:
my info was stolen from a small on-line brew place in California about three years ago. He had no clue until I isolated it and let him know....

I know it's a big forum of homebrewers; many (most?) of whom are likely to buy on-line from AHS (so that could be a coincidence), but I don't ever recall any threads about on-line credit card problems, and now we've got three....

I wonder if there was a big hack somewhere (certainly AHS isn't the only company using whatever "secure" server thing-a-ma-jig) - and we're just seeing the on-line beer store side of things....
Click to expand...

Well my experience in life has been that 1 occurrence is a anomaly, two is a coincidence but three or more is an epidemic....it just seems too many too quick tied in to transactions there. Forrest and I were just pmming and I mentioned that it occured to me that if any customer info with CC numbers are getting printed out, lets say to fill orders and not destroyed after, it could be outside his company, it could be his cleaning service, or it could just be people who dumpster dive businesses before the trash is picked up looking exactly for stuff like that. It happens even in residential neighborhoods these days, you see people rooting through trash bags all the time. It could be down as far as where the municipal waste is taken. So it's a good idea to make to make sure all credit card info on paper is destroyed by the end of the day.

Heck did anyone see that national story last year about how thieives can clear out the storage buffer on xerox machines, printers, and fax machines and run off copies of everything on there? Everything has a hard drive these days,

Some reporters went to used business equipment dealers (like the one's that turnover office equipment when business go under)in Miami I think and randomly started dumping data from a bunch of randomly grabbed equipment and everything had personal data on it. Including medical records and financial information.

Heck I just faxed over 3 pages of my medical history to the hospital on a machine that had a buffer...I bet you the buffer on the fax machine of the pre-surgical department of that major hospital has all manner of juicy info on it. And now with the big push into electronic medical records these days, all that stuff is floating around, and all it takes is one cumputer illiterate secretary to get a bit of malware on their work computer playing farmville or some crap on their lunch hour to compromise god knows what info...
 
Revvy said:
Well my experience in life has been that 1 occurrence is a anomaly, two is a coincidence but three or more is an epidemic....it just seems too many too quick tied in to transactions there. Forrest and I were just pmming and I mentioned that it occured to me that if any customer info with CC numbers are getting printed out, lets say to fill orders and not destroyed after, it could be outside his company, it could be his cleaning service, or it could just be people who dumpster dive businesses before the trash is picked up looking exactly for stuff like that. It happens even in residential neighborhoods these days, you see people rooting through trash bags all the time. It could be down as far as where the municipal waste is taken. So it's a good idea to make to make sure all credit card info on paper is destroyed by the end of the day.

Heck did anyone see that national story last year about how thieives can clear out the storage buffer on xerox machines, printers, and fax machines and run off copies of everything on there? Everything has a hard drive these days,

Some reporters went to used business equipment dealers (like the one's that turnover office equipment when business go under)in Miami I think and randomly started dumping data from a bunch of randomly grabbed equipment and everything had personal data on it. Including medical records and financial information.

Heck I just faxed over 3 pages of my medical history to the hospital on a machine that had a buffer...I bet you the buffer on the fax machine of the pre-surgical department of that major hospital has all manner of juicy info on it. And now with the big push into electronic medical records these days, all that stuff is floating around, and all it takes is one cumputer illiterate secretary to get a bit of malware on their work computer playing farmville or some crap on their lunch hour to compromise god knows what info...
Click to expand...

Revvy, I agree with you. This many people with a recent occurring (me included) all with a common variable. Doesn't seem like a coincidence to me.
 
I had mine stolen on monday, well I'm sure it was before then but thats when stuff got charged. 4 charges to a CCBilleu.com of 34.04 each. I ordered from AHS, midwest, and a Mary Kay order for SWMBO in the week before it happened. Figured it was the Mary Kay sense it wasn't made on my computer but something might not be right with the system at AHS if that is the common factor.
 
I got the call today from my credit card company. I ordered from AHS on 1/31 (stupid snow delayed shipping). I can say without a shadow of any doubt whatsoever that it was a result of ordering through their online site. The card hasn't been used since August 2010 and my computer security is as tight as it gets.

My card company identified the charge as fraud, canceled the card, overnighted a new one, and reported to the three major credit agencies that the card was closed due to fraud.

This was my first order with AHS, it went well and I was very happy with their service.

However, something is clearly going on with their site and they need to do the responsible thing, notify the public and take care of their problem.
 
I thought you were posting a stolen credit card number. I was all excited about buying some Blichman's and a kegging setup.

Don't use bank cards for online transactions. If the card is compromised, someone has a direct link to your money. Credit cards offer a buffer. If you don't have a credit card use gift cards.

I hope the initial shock and a little paperwork is the biggest headache you get from all this. You could always RDWHAHB.
 
WOW, I can't believe I ran across this thread.

This morning when I got to work I had an email from Chase saying that they had blocked several suspicious transactions. I called Chase and sure enough my card number was somehow stolen. They closed my account and changed the number.

Add another stolen card to the suspect list. I have recently ordered brew supplies as well. Not blaming or irritated and still plan on ordering from the vendors mentioned. I too have ordered from AHS and keg connection in the past weeks/months
 
I had my debit card number used to open two World of Warcraft account in my name once. The second one caused my bank account to over draft when I made a purchase, which is how I found out. All worked out in the end, but a real PITA. I feel for anyone this is happening to. Hopefully AHS gets the system fixed, whatever is causing it, because there definitely seems to be a common thread here.
 
This is exactly why you should use a credit card for online purchases and not a debit or "fake" Visa (aka Visa debit card). If your credit card number is stolen, the issuing bank is at a loss; if your debit card is stolen, you are at a loss until your bank reverses the transactions. Again, use a credit card for all online transactions!
 
My only (and prob last at this point) order from AHS arrived today....little printed receipt says 2/2, my bank says 2/4, fraudulent charges hit 2/8.
 
dabeers said:
Randomly stumbled on to the thread, read the 13 pages...add me to the list. I ordered from AHS Jan 31st, got an early email alert from Chase on Feb 8th about suspicious charges (Reg-Repair. com??). Like everyone else has said, I'm not blaming AHS and will still order from them, but this does seem like a lot of people over the same period of time. Card is cancelled, no biggie, but interested to see what happens...Anyway back to brewing my AHS sweet stout...
Click to expand...

This is the exact charge that Chase flagged and resulted in my account being shut down.

On 2/7/11 there was a random charge of 1.19 (can't remember the description). Then on 2/8/11 there was 179.99 to reg-repair as well.

Placed two orders from AHS in the past month. I ordered perlicks & another order for some more kegging stuff. Not trying to place blame but since it seems to be a common thread I figured I'd post

Nothing against AHS. They have great stuff, prices, & customer service. Even if the CC thing does trace back to them it's no biggie for me. Chase was all over and the transactions didn't even go through. They closed account and are sending me a new card with new numbers.
 
The same thing happened to me. On Saturday, I placed an order at AHS. Dont hold them responsible. On Monday I got a call from my credit card company. Card has been cancelled. Add me to the statistics...
 
I guess I'll be a control test here :) I made my first ever order with AHS last night. I was to lazy to do paypal and had my card handy so I put in the number. My computer is also super clean and have never had my card number compromised ever. Stay tuned.

There are alot of cases of AHS connections, but I bet there are even MORE people that have ordered from AHS recently and NOT had any issue.... Who all has ordered this month with no problems so far?
 
riverfrontbrewer said:
My only (and prob last at this point) order from AHS arrived today....little printed receipt says 2/2, my bank says 2/4, fraudulent charges hit 2/8.
Click to expand...

Aw, AHS has been great to me through many orders and the first purchase I make with my replacement card will probably be to AHS.
 
itsme6582 said:
I thought you were posting a stolen credit card number. I was all excited about buying some Blichman's and a kegging setup.
Click to expand...

Hahahahahahahaha great post
 
yeast_infection said:
This is the exact charge that Chase flagged and resulted in my account being shut down.

On 2/7/11 there was a random charge of 1.19 (can't remember the description). Then on 2/8/11 there was 179.99 to reg-repair as well.

Placed two orders from AHS in the past month. I ordered perlicks & another order for some more kegging stuff. Not trying to place blame but since it seems to be a common thread I figured I'd post

Nothing against AHS. They have great stuff, prices, & customer service. Even if the CC thing does trace back to them it's no biggie for me. Chase was all over and the transactions didn't even go through. They closed account and are sending me a new card with new numbers.
Click to expand...

reg-repair.com looks like it may be set up just to launder money to me.

Domain Name: REG-REPAIR.COM

Registrant:
N/A
Vladimir Vladimirovich Kirov ([email protected])
Gorkogo, 91, 101
Kiev
Kiev Oblast,02241
UA
Tel. +380.936904189

Creation Date: 25-May-2010
Expiration Date: 25-May-2011

I wouldn't accept their free offer to scan my registry. If I had one. Linux kinda lacks that 'feature'.
 
Add me to the AHS list. Purchased from them towards the middle of January, fraudulent charges on my card yesterday for more than $300 in clothes from an English designer men's clothing site. Card cancelled. Pain in the butt.
 
lazytaper said:
I got the call today from my credit card company. I ordered from AHS on 1/31 (stupid snow delayed shipping). I can say without a shadow of any doubt whatsoever that it was a result of ordering through their online site. The card hasn't been used since August 2010 and my computer security is as tight as it gets.

My card company identified the charge as fraud, canceled the card, overnighted a new one, and reported to the three major credit agencies that the card was closed due to fraud.

This was my first order with AHS, it went well and I was very happy with their service.

However, something is clearly going on with their site and they need to do the responsible thing, notify the public and take care of their problem.
Click to expand...

This one is the bullet.

Sorry there's only 1 post by this poster, but I'd guess it's ligit. I'm saying this is 99% an AHS problem.

I know we love our online homebrew shops, and Forrest is a superb member of our community. However, he needs to take care of this asap and respond. Needless to say, he and his company are not directly responsible; this is caused by criminals feeding on his site. But there is a hole and he needs to plug it.
 
I would hold them entirely responsible. Obviously they have something wrong with their security to have so many credit card numbers stolen. That is the issue with online retail; your transaction is only as safe as the guy on the other end allows it to be. It is a risk we all take with any transactions, but I have a funny money account setup to handle any transactions outside of paying my monthlies.
 
I'll add one more to the list. Ordered some stuff from AHS about a week ago and got a call from my bank this morning. Like others have said, it won't keep me from buying from them, but I might be getting a new card from my bank every month or so :drunk: . I use the card pretty regularly so I didn't think anything of it until I saw this thread but if it is a common trend with fairly close correlation in timing it is definitely worth AHS looking into their storefront system, firewall, or Sales office.
 
passedpawn said:
This one is the bullet.

Sorry there's only 1 post by this poster, but I'd guess it's ligit. I'm saying this is 99% an AHS problem.

I know we love our online homebrew shops, and Forrest is a superb member of our community. However, he needs to take care of this asap and respond. Needless to say, he and his company are not directly responsible; this is cause by criminals feeding on his site. But there is a hole and he needs to plug it.
Click to expand...

Even if it isn't him he needs to change his practice of hand processing cards. If it isn't him now, it WILL be in the future. He needs a service that will take the card holder DIRECTLY to the processors site to complete the transaction. Standard stuff for the small guys now.
 
Bishop916 said:
I would hold them entirely responsible. Obviously they have something wrong with their security to have so many credit card numbers stolen. That is the issue with online retail; your transaction is only as safe as the guy on the other end allows it to be. It is a risk we all take with any transactions, but I have a funny money account setup to handle any transactions outside of paying my monthlies.
Click to expand...

Cart before the horse.....there is still no proof that AHS's server was hacked....

I ordered from them in January also, and have had no problem
 
Add me to the list of folks with card numbers stolen. :( I'm a bit different from a lot of you I suppose. It's been nearly a month since my last transaction with Forrest (2 days short of a month to be exact). I suppose I'll PM Forrest just to let him know anyways, but I'm thinking this wasn't related (not that I have a clue where else it may have happened).

At least my card company realized the charges were fraudulent almost immediately and closed down my account. Got a call from one branch tonight asking why I had decided to close my account with them. When I sounded very confused he suggested I call card member services to find out who had closed the account. That's when I found out about the charges they stopped 3 days ago before locking the account. They recognized the phone number the charges came from as a know fraud site. Yay me for that much at least. :)
 
to offer another perspective...

i have NOT recently ordered from AHS and I have NO fraudulent charges on my credit card.

that is all.
 
Add me to the list of fraudulent cc activity... and I've recently ordered from AHS. Hmmmm..... interesting.
 
AZ_IPA said:
Cart before the horse.....there is still no proof that AHS's server was hacked....

I ordered from them in January also, and have had no problem
Click to expand...

I agree. The real question: I havent read any posts that anyone has contacted AHS. Not blaming them but there is enough posts that it would be good if they were at least aware.
 
AZ_IPA said:
.....there is still no proof that AHS's server was hacked....
Click to expand...

Sorry that came off as so critical-sounding; I work in a secure environment and it simply comes down to tracing the root cause if there is ever an intrusion; sometimes its hard to 'place blame' on a trusted associate, but I'd at least consider AHS to be a compromised site and handle with care for now...
 
Bishop916 said:
Sorry that came off as so critical-sounding; I work in a secure environment and it simply comes down to tracing the root cause if there is ever an intrusion; sometimes its hard to 'place blame' on a trusted associate, but I'd at least consider AHS to be a compromised site and handle with care for now...
Click to expand...

agreed....
 
Well, Revvy mentioned earlier in this thread that he's spoken with Forest, and Forest has posted a few times in the thread I started a couple nights ago on the subject. They've gone to their hosting company and verified they're clean with no sign of being hacked or otherwise compromised. So it definitely sounds like they're doing their due dilligence, though more and more folks keep popping up with the same sort of story.

One key point to raise is that at least one person posting in another of these threads also had their info compromised, but did NOT purchase anything at AHS, while everyone else reporting problems (it reached 10 in that thread before I stopped counting) had.
 
count_dookie said:
I had mine stolen on monday, well I'm sure it was before then but thats when stuff got charged. 4 charges to a CCBilleu.com of 34.04 each. I ordered from AHS, midwest, and a Mary Kay order for SWMBO in the week before it happened. Figured it was the Mary Kay sense it wasn't made on my computer but something might not be right with the system at AHS if that is the common factor.
Click to expand...
CCBilleu.com

Looks like anyone can set up an account and start accepting money through them. Another one listed was an obvious laundering site supposedly selling security software out of UE.
 
Add me to the list of people who woke up to phone calls from their credit card company today inquiring about suspicious transactions against the account.

I also purchased from Austin Home Brew recently. I did not make any purchases from keg connection.

Maybe a coincidence, maybe not. But it does seem sorta strange that others are reporting the same thing happening to them.

I sent Forrest a note letting him know.
 
sudsmcgee said:
Has anyone else considered that maybe it's THIS site?
Click to expand...
Ask the admin how they handle transactions. I'll bet they NEVER see the info and it goes directly to the clearing house that does the charges so it ends up being a secure transaction between the user and the processor.
 
One more for the list. I placed an order from AHS late last week, got the call from my bank Monday morning. Two suspicious charges, one for the Apple store, another for some "M Group" out of Kentucky. Fortunately, the charges only totaled $4.33.

Regardless, once this gets sorted, I'll continue to buy from AHS.
 
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