A Thief Among Us

C

Craig Gottlieb

Joined
Mar 8, 1999
Messages
1,760
Gents, I have some very sad news to report. There is a thief among us. No, I'm not joking.

A week or so before I left for Nepal, we were contacted by our business credit card company. There were suspect charges on our account which turned out to be fraudulent. Although we were only obligated to pay $50.00 worth of the charges, I took it upon myself to do some sleuth work. And it almost made me cry when I discovered, with almost absolute certainty, that the thief was a forumite. I found his name, his shipping address, and even an email that was registered to him littered across the fraudulent activities. I don't know how he got my credit card info, but he used it to buy HP printers, join porn sites (using my wife's name), and other such dumb activities.

Thief: your name will remain in my heart until such time as the Secret Service and the FBI take action. If you are reading this: your name and information HAS been turned over to those agencies and if I have ANYTHING to do with it, you WILL be dealt with.

Folks, I posted this for two reasons 1) so the thief knows we know who he (they) are, and 2) so you'll hold your credit card close to your vest - only use it on sites that display a lock or other such icon in the bottom right or left of your browser.

------------------
Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
 
That is really sad news, Craig. I like to think that we forumites are, categorically, people of integrity -- a special breed who still adhere to the warrior tradition of personal honor.

I know that we shouldn't judge everyone by the actions of a single person, but it really is disappointing to discover that one forumite would rip off another.

 
This is a sad day indeed. The credit card fraud is sad in itself, but the violation of trust is a crime equal to, if not worse than, the financial part of the equation.

I lived for many years in countries where the punishment for theft (for personal gain) was punished by chopping off one hand of the thief. If a person stole because he had no other way to feed his family, his theft was repaid by the society and he was provided for until he could provide for himself and his loved ones. Not a bad system really. The needy were protected, greed was punished severely and common thieves were marked for all to see. Too bad we don't lean a little more towards that system here.

Just my 2 cents.

------------------
Blackdog
ffca0608.gif.orig.gif
 
I just got off the phone with my banking institution. It seems that someone, using my name, CC# and billing address, ordered a $1,000 television to be delivered on the other side of the country from me. I'm in Ohio, the TV was to go to Garden Grove, CA. I don't know anyone in Garden Grove, and I don't like anyone, anywhere well enough to make a gift of a $1,000 TV to them.

Fortunately, the company receiving the order thought it looked fishy and made efforts to verify. I'm very glad they did. I've had to block my card and request a new one. I will be following Craig's advise and encouraging others to do the same- BE CAREFUL WITH ALL OF YOUR PRIVATE DATA ONLINE.

Blackdog- It's unfortunate that we live in a society where any punishment is "cruel" if the criminal doesn't like it, and "unusual" if it fits the crime. I would love to see khukuris take their rightful place (or "leftful", if the thief is a southpaw
wink.gif
)in our justice system.

------------------
Be Worthy
 
Both of these stories make me sad because I love internet shopping (with my own credit card). I'm surprised I've been so lucky so far. There needs to be some sort of system set up so purchases can be confirmed before money is exchanged.

[This message has been edited by OMRie (edited 05-17-2000).]
 
MacHete,
Your post certainly struck a nerve - in December my credit card was used to purchase two expensive gifts for a person in - yup, Garden Grove, CA
mad.gif
! Same deal, it was caught early, credit card cancelled, no harm, no foul. But the coincidence of the location and the knife connection gets my attention - I had used that card to make 3 online purchases - a birdhouse, a nightgown, and a knife from A.G. Russell, all supposedly secure sites. Makes me wonder...
Berk
 
This really scares me: One of my fraudulent transactions was for an address in Garden Grove, CA! What does this mean?

Could it be the forumite is somehow tapping into a common merchant that we all have frequented? And Berk: the perp bought an AG russell product? This means it is CERTAINLY one of our ranks.

What to do?

------------------
Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
 
This really scares me: One of my fraudulent transactions was for an address in Garden Grove, CA! What does this mean?

Could it be the forumite is somehow tapping into a common merchant that we all have frequented? And Berk: the perp bought an AG russell product? This means it is CERTAINLY one of our ranks (although we are fairly certain that the perp's name is known to us, it could be a case of identity theft).

What to do?

------------------
Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
 
Craig,
No, I wasn't clear in my post - I bought a knife online from A.G. Russell, and made 2 other online purchases the same day. That was the only time I used that card all month. Only a dy or so later, someone used my card number to make 2 online purchases from J.Crew, and sent them to the same individual in Garden Grove, paying extra to have them gift boxed (a nice touch, IMHO, allowing the recipient to disclaim any knowledge of the purchase). Because of the timing & lack of other opportunity, I felt certain the thief got my number from 1 of the 3 transactions, but till now didn't know which. The common thread of the knife knut connection makes me suspect the A.G. Russell purchase. Perhaps our mutual acquaintance in Garden Grove makes a specialty of hacking knife-related transactions. ?Quien sabe?
Just out of curiosity, anybody else's case involve a person whose initials are T.C., or a 5-digit address on Brookhaven St. in Garden Grove?
Berk

[This message has been edited by Berkley (edited 05-17-2000).]
 
Berk: Maybe you could call me (I'm sure the thief is reading this eventually) and I could get info on that transaction. I sell AG Russell Rustfree, so I think they'd cooperate - I will want to ask them if this particular individual has ever ordered stuff from them "out of the closet" (using their own name and credit card info). I'm not sure what that'd tell me, but it'd tell us something, wouldn't it?

------------------
Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
 
Craig,
As soon as your new shipment comes in, I'm probably going to be calling you anyway
biggrin.gif
, so I'll get all the info together & call you then.
Berk
 
Berkley-

Check your e-mail.

------------------
Be Worthy
 
mad.gif
Grrrrr....makes me want to check if my khukuris are all sharp and ready for action. I hope that when they do catch the thief, they stick the charges to him and have no plea bargaining and then ship him out to Siberia.

Harry

------------------
Harry

Toujours l'audacite!
 
Oh crap..this situation isn't good...I specialize in credit card fraud where I work, so if anybody needs info, phone numbers, etc, as long as it doesn't violate any rules, let me know...

I would like to know how the info. (number expiration dates, names, etc) were obtained. Also, the Secret Service and especially the Postal Inspectors are very aggressive in investigating this type of activity, and federal law is a lot tougher then state, especially California, law...

--dan
 
Whoever this guy is cannot be that brite. Let's think about this, hmmmm. I wanna piss off a buch of guys with really big knives.

This guy is not a rocket scientist.

By the way can someone please explain to me what the technical difference is between a secure and non-secure site? What kind of protection does it offer me as an internet consumer?

------------------
Life is short, art endures.
 
Why us knife knuts? That's a sad thing when one of our own (used to be that is) turns on us by stealing.
mad.gif


I was going to say maybe sending payments through the mail is safer then, but, mail fraud and theft is there as well!
frown.gif


Doesn't seem like anyone is safe from crooks, it seems it's sad age we all live in!

Mark
AKTI Member #A000003

 
If that rope isn't long enough, I got some feather pillows and a 5 gallon bucket of roofing tar!
biggrin.gif


Vince

------------------
Stay sharp and be Safe!
------- ---- ---------
That which does not kill us only makes us stronger.
F.W. Nietzche
 
Dano: I'd say that the perp got my credit card info by calling UPS, giving them my account number (it's printed on all GH packages that are shipped), and posing as me, asking for account info. He'd easily have enough info about us to stump a dumb UPS operator - that's my guess, because I don't really use my business credit card on the internet.

------------------
Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top