Identity Theft / Credit Card Fraud? (1 Viewer)

CantSpellPoker

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Got a text at approx. 6 AM this morning that my AirBNB reservation in China was confirmed. I went on my AirBNB account, and saw that my credit card was in fact used to book a place in China for approx. $1,500.00. In the hour since, I've received approx. 200 emails and 50 texts, almost all of them related to subscriptions. A quick Google search showed that this is a new method of scamming/phishing where hackers flood your inbox with so much stuff in hopes of you missing the legitimate transactions.

I've locked the credit card that was used in the fraudulent charge, as well as my other 2 credit cards that I have with the same bank (Chase).

The emails seem to have leveled off in the past 10 minutes. That's also somewhat consistent with what I saw on my Google search. You get bombarded for a short time and then the scammers move on.

Is there anything else I should be doing immediately? I also changed my Facebook and GMail password, but I'm unsure if that's even related. Before I go changing my entire life (online passwords, canceling all my credit cards, etc.), I was wondering if anyone here had any advice or had been through this before.
 
In Switzerland we have sites to check if your email adress has been known to being involved in database hacks. Maybe this helps to identify what kind of data might be at risk. Especially if you use similar passwords on different platforms.
Good luck, such things smell like big hassle
 
The emails appear to have stopped, looks like a total of about 250. The texts are still rolling in every 2-3 minutes. They are from legitimate phone numbers with area codes that I recognize. Obviously, I haven't responded to any of them, or the emails. I haven't even moved the emails to my spam folder.

I went ahead and changed all of my important online passwords (banking, PayPal, eBay, etc.) ... just wondering if there's anything else I need to be doing proactively.
 
Have I been pwned? is one such service, run by a well known IT security expert. Indeed, if you find your e-mail/username there, and have been reusing passwords across services (which is a big no-no, for exactly these reasons), you should change all of them before some perps do it for you.

Use good passwords, long ones, the longer the better (like, a sentence that you will be able to remember), even if no special characters are used - give it a try (not with a real password)... Also, turn on 2-factor authentication where possible. It is sometimes a bit of a pain (depending on the implementation), but nowadays where so much of our life is online, and so much harm can be done if we get our identities taken over, it is well worth it.

As for texts from seemingly legit phone numbers/areas, that cannot be trusted at all, unfortunately it is way too easy to spoof.
 
Check your bank account balances. I think @CraigT78 ran into a scam where in the middle of all the blitz they took money out of his bank account hoping he wouldn’t notice.
 
Check your bank account balances. I think @CraigT78 ran into a scam where in the middle of all the blitz they took money out of his bank account hoping he wouldn’t notice.

Did that about an hour ago during the bombardment, and again just now. All good on that front.

The emails have stopped, and the texts have slowed as well. All of the ones I'm receiving now are follow-ups from numbers that I had already gotten something from earlier. Hopefully they stop for good soon.

Spoke to AirBNB and they're opening a case re: the fraudulent charge. Spoke to Chase and they're issuing me a new credit card. I asked if I should be getting new cards for my other 2 Chase cards as well, but they didn't think that was necessary.
 
Sorry this happened, I’m fairly certain there’s another thread somewhere where this same exact thing happened to another member, might be some useful info in there.
 
Sorry to hear @CantSpellPoker , people suck :tdown: Did you have the CC info saved with AirBnB? Sounds like it may be a hack on AirBnB's end. It looks like you've taken all the important steps, I hope everything gets resolved.
 
Sorry to hear @CantSpellPoker , people suck :tdown: Did you have the CC info saved with AirBnB? Sounds like it may be a hack on AirBnB's end. It looks like you've taken all the important steps, I hope everything gets resolved.

Yes, credit card was saved in the AirBNB account. Obviously, the password has been changed and that card no longer exists as of 20 minutes ago, so hopefully that buttons things up as far as that. I don't know nearly enough about this stuff to even get a handle on what info of mine might actually be compromised (i.e. is it my credit card, my bank account, my phone, or some combination of all of it).

I just went through all the texts and blocked each number that texted me individually, and will continue to do so with any new ones that roll in, but it looks like they're done.

Also just got an email from AirBNB that my reservation has already been cancelled and my refund will be issued within 5 business days.
 
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Got a text at approx. 6 AM this morning that my AirBNB reservation in China was confirmed. I went on my AirBNB account, and saw that my credit card was in fact used to book a place in China for approx. $1,500.00. In the hour since, I've received approx. 200 emails and 50 texts, almost all of them related to subscriptions. A quick Google search showed that this is a new method of scamming/phishing where hackers flood your inbox with so much stuff in hopes of you missing the legitimate transactions.

I've locked the credit card that was used in the fraudulent charge, as well as my other 2 credit cards that I have with the same bank (Chase).

The emails seem to have leveled off in the past 10 minutes. That's also somewhat consistent with what I saw on my Google search. You get bombarded for a short time and then the scammers move on.

Is there anything else I should be doing immediately? I also changed my Facebook and GMail password, but I'm unsure if that's even related. Before I go changing my entire life (online passwords, canceling all my credit cards, etc.), I was wondering if anyone here had any advice or had been through this before.
Change all your passwords. File a police report so that you have it if you need it.

As @ekricket said - this happened to me a year ago or so, but it was wire fraud. Keep an eye on your bank balances - we had to change our checking and savings accounts twice, but you only need to do this is you notice anything off.

Good luck - this stuff sucks, you get your $$ back most of time, but not the time and effort you put into it all.
 
I can't help ya thru this part of it, even tho I've done this fix a few times with a much smaller issue. Can't say I've dealt with AB&B in China.

But after, download the privacy.com app. You can connect it to accounts and run single time CC numbers attached to your cards. I use it for my oddball purchases. Alot of banks now offer the service too..

I've gotten CC number alerts from buying gun parts trying to access my accounts months later. Privacy will alert you when someone uses a one time account number multiple times. So you can know which retailers are leaking....
 
I too was the victim of identity theft. It sucks. In my situation, They made a fake drivers license (had my info) and fake credit card, went into M&T bank (in New York) and drained my account (And it was my poker account!! - which was not chump change until I started buying chips!). They were clearly monitoring my account because as soon as money went into the account they went back to the bank to withdrawal the money. That time they were arrested, but it was only the lo level part of the group (guy had 5 different drivers licenses, etc). i filed a police report in maryland and worked with the police in New York. I also put a fraud alert on my credit (creates extra info hoops if u want to get access) and got a credit monitoring service where I can lock my credit so nobody can Access it. I like the credit monitoring. It alerts me whenever there is a change/access. I recommend that even if u have not been an IT victim.
 
This stuff is happening all too much lately. Some people I work with had their CC used fraudulently. It was tracked back to a gas station that had a skimmer device attached to the pump.

I would caution anyone that uses a debit credit card to make purchases anywhere to stop.
This video from Frank Abagle explains it well.

The entire video is great but here is the part that talks about debit credit cards.

@43:15
 
Had something similar years ago. fortunately the card did not process through.

Immediately after my gmail was flooded with spam emails.

The CC security people said that they had tried to use credit card number on shady websites as they are less strict about having all the details ( exp. date / security code) but they did have my CC number and name.

I still have the same email address, and has taken years to finally filter down to the regular spam.
In hindsight i would have just set up a new email. PITA as it might be.

One thing EVERYONE should do is put a credit freeze on your credit.

Doesnt take long , costs about $5 per company. Only 3 companies needed to do it. Experion, Equifax, and Trans Union.

Its simple and makes sure that no one can open a CC in your name or get a car loan, or ANY loan for that matter.

When you personally do need to get a loan, you temporarily unlock the freeze. So the loan company can check it.

Nothings full proof but its the best layer of protection against shit head scammers.
 
One thing EVERYONE should do is put a credit freeze on your credit.

Doesnt take long , costs about $5 per company. Only 3 companies needed to do it. Experion, Equifax, and Trans Union.

Totally agree with this. I've done it. It doesn't cost anything for DE residents. I can take it on and off as needed. I think they are fighting to make it free for all states which it should be. Especially after the Equifax breach.
 
Add all of credit cards to Apple Pay. Anytime there is a transaction it shows up as a pop up on your phone. I don’t use my phone to pay but it’s nice seeing transactions in real time.
 

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