We got HACKED! Options

[Potion Master]

Wasn't going to bother mentioning this, but since I've gotten 5 emails today about it, I thought I'd better.

For the next little while - it could be days or even weeks - your purchases will come up as going through "Southern Gothic TM" rather than "Times Square Productions".

It's ok, it's still us. Southern Gothic Magickal Scents was Danna's fragrance co name before she joined LP. We're using her old acct at the moment.

Reason being, someone apparently obtained and sold a swipe of our co debit card, or hacked a secure server on the web when we made a biz purchase recently, and on Halloween, our entire biz acct was emptied.

It's ok, it will all work out. All the parties know it was a fraud attack and it will all be straightened out, but in the meantime until it is fixed, your reciepts and invoices will come up as Southern Gothic or Taylored Ent, rather than Times Square or Love Potion.

Just a heads up so you won't be nervous about seeing an unfamiliar name on your receipts.

Thanks for your letters and concern, Loved Ones!

xoxoxo
Mara

[cinderfallen]

Oh crap, that sucks. I know it'll all be straightened out, but it must have been awful when you realized what happened. Good waves your way, Mara + Danna!

This post has been edited by cinderfallen: Nov 3 2009, 06:52 AM

[liz]

Glad to read that it's being taken care of ! but like Cinderfallen "oh crap, that SUCKS"" !!

[katz]

Holy Cow...Mara, Danna...I'm so sorry you guys are dealing w/that extra stress! It does SUCK! I hope this blows away as quickly as possible for you.

[likeprettythings]

Wasn't going to bother mentioning this, but since I've gotten 5 emails today about it, I thought I'd better.

For the next little while - it could be days or even weeks - your purchases will come up as going through "Southern Gothic TM" rather than "Times Square Productions".

It's ok, it's still us. Southern Gothic Magickal Scents was Danna's fragrance co name before she joined LP. We're using her old acct at the moment.

Reason being, someone apparently obtained and sold a swipe of our co debit card, or hacked a secure server on the web when we made a biz purchase recently, and on Halloween, our entire biz acct was emptied.

It's ok, it will all work out. All the parties know it was a fraud attack and it will all be straightened out, but in the meantime until it is fixed, your reciepts and invoices will come up as Southern Gothic or Taylored Ent, rather than Times Square or Love Potion.

Just a heads up so you won't be nervous about seeing an unfamiliar name on your receipts.

Thanks for your letters and concern, Loved Ones!

xoxoxo
Mara

The sooner it works out, the better. Thank you for letting us know.

[coffeemama]

OMG! I feel so bad for you guys, I hope it gets straightened out soon!

[starlitegirl]

Glad to know you've got it under control.

Recently I've seen on the news about those card swiping electronic devices that can read all the cards in your wallet/purse. They just get all the info and store it simply by walking by you or sitting in a room where you are. It kind of freaked me out to see how easy it was. If somebody didn't hack the system, it could have been something like that.

I'm just happy to know you lovely ladies are on it. Yay for Southern Gothic being able to save to day. Thanks Danna! That's a cool name too!

[AncientGoddess]

aww sorry you guys are dealing with these type of issues. That really does suck. Iam sure though you guys will get everything resolved. Many Blessings!
And thank you ladies so much for my recent order. Brought a big smile and warmth.

This post has been edited by AncientGoddess: Nov 3 2009, 03:56 PM

[KrazyKat]

I admire your calm demeanor Mara.. I would be absoloutely LIVID. I hope you find out who did this!!

[Michele20]

That sucks bigtime! I admire the way you handled it though! I just placed an order and saw "Payment to Southern Gothic TM" after I pushed the pay button. I thought, oh crap! but I figured I'd check the forums first before calling someone. I'm really glad you posted this!

[Tee]

That suck sorry for you all to have to go thru this.I would be freakin out.I always worry about that kind of stuff

luv ya,
Tee

[Dolly]

Pain in the arse, it is! Hugs to you ladies!!

[luna65]

Oh foul villains!

You know you always have our love (and our money too).

[SWBookworm]

That totally bites!! Sorry you're having to deal with that on top of everything else!!

[halo0073]

So sorry that you lovelies have to deal with dumb crap like that!

[Rosebud]

Reason being, someone apparently obtained and sold a swipe of our co debit card, or hacked a secure server on the web when we made a biz purchase recently, and on Halloween, our entire biz acct was emptied.

It's ok, it will all work out. All the parties know it was a fraud attack and it will all be straightened out, but in the meantime until it is fixed, your reciepts and invoices will come up as Southern Gothic or Taylored Ent, rather than Times Square or Love Potion.

This is horrible! I hope you get the money back?
Is it just me though or does have a bit of de ja vue to it? Except this time you're the victims & not the ones being portrayed as the bad ones without mentioning names?

[stkatz]

Thanks for posting the heads-up, Mara, and I am so sorry you're having to deal with something like this. Hope it all gets resolved quickly.

[Robert]

i had my info stolen before, too..people like that make me !

[july_girl]

Wow, that's awful!! I hope everything gets resolved quickly!!

[cheeseburger79]

That IS awful... I'm sure you were both like, screaming and kicking things...ugh..did they ever catch the guy/girl/party responsible???? I dont know how net crime works, but they must have someone who specializes in that??!

[Potion Master]

No screaming and kicking things....LOL!
It was not a personal attack.

There's a number of ways card numbers can be stolen these days:

You use your card at a store or a restaurant - fast food drive thru, etc., and someone there has a little electronic mini swiper in their pocket and they steal swipes of people's cards and sell them immediately, and the buyers charge up as much as they can until the card is cancelled.
or
You use your card online, and someone has breached the security of the website processing your order. Again, the numbers are sold the same day, and criminals charge whatever they can get away with until the cards get stopped.
or
You use your card at an ATM or a gas station, and a criminal has added an extra mechanism to the existing machine that steals and transmits your info.
or
There are criminals working in bank processing centers and steal thousands of card numbers in a day.
etc.

No one did anything to US, it's random theft that happens ALL THE TIME. This is actually the THIRD TIME this has happened to us within the past 2 years, as this account is so active. I contacted PayPal within hours of the theft, and contacted the co who processed the fraudulent charges three times. Eventually the charges will be reversed as it's completely obvious that the charges were fraudulent. There was SEVEN identical charges of several hundred dollars apiece, all identical, made repeatedly until the acct was emptied. And they were not even made in this country.

And yeah, we did actually find out who did it. The first person I contacted at the processing co inadvertently exposed the email address of the perpetrator and I googled him. I don't know if the companies involved are going to bother going after him, but I know who he is now. He's got a pretty boastful criminal screen presence...calls himself a "gangsta" and is all wrapped up in, let's just say, very UNartistic porn, and badly recorded rap music.

The FBI goes after this kind of crime in the US, but this person is located in Toronto so I don't know if they'd do anything about it.

Regardless, it's up to the Canadian co that actually got ripped off, (a ticket agency, like ticketmaster). The money will eventually be returned to us, but those guys are the ones who will end up being the only victims. Since it was theft of services rather than theft of actual merchandise (which is usually how these things are done), it's unlikely the criminal will be punished. It's likely done with a partner at the place that's accepting the charges, as like a cash advance scheme.

The other times this happened to us, the charges were to a translation service in China, and some travel service in Nigeria or something like that.

[Potion Master]

This is horrible! I hope you get the money back?
Is it just me though or does have a bit of de ja vue to it? Except this time you're the victims & not the ones being portrayed as the bad ones without mentioning names?

Oh Rosebud, the people you are referring to are such liars. First off, they (Company A) are not referring to us, they are referring to another company (Company B ), whom they abused and who supposedly retaliated - both sides being pathetically immature. The incident happened like 4-5 years ago, before we were introduced to either entity, and Company A keeps dredging it up as if it's brand new every time they need to create a smokescreen to cover their own questionable behavior.

The things they keep averring...it just doesn't work that way. It's a flat out lie. Just to set that record straight, when a company pays for advertising on Google and Yahoo, etc., the co/advertiser sets it's own limits. For example, I can set a limit of 5 cents per click with a maximum of $5.00 per day, or I can set it for $5 per click with a max of $200.00 per day, or any other amounts that you could wish for. It's your numbers. No one can change those numbers but the account holder.

If someone wants to be "mean" to you and use up your budget, there are safeguards in place, on Google and Yahoo both. You can only be charged 2 or 3 clicks from a single entity in one 24 hour period. If I click a link a hundred times, the advertiser will not be charged for more than 3 clicks.

If, as they claim, someone is perpetually using some kind of software that makes it look like the clicks are coming from different sources, that too is just THAT easy to circumvent. First of all, only put in your budget what you can afford to pay. And secondly, you can turn your campaigns on and off with one click, or change the keywords in minutes. If they put in a budget of $10,000 per day or whatever number they can't actually afford, and refuse to change their keywords even in the face of these so-called attacks, then they have to look in the mirror for the party actually responsible for allowing the "crime" to happen. Personally, I think it's a load of hogwash. It's a nonsense smokescreen and the people/person spewing all of that BS is obviously tremendously unstable. What blows my mind is that anyone actually believes it.

[Dolly]

Personally, I think it's a load of hogwash. It's a nonsense smokescreen and the people/person spewing all of that BS is obviously tremendously unstable. What blows my mind is that anyone actually believes it.

I think that anybody with half a brain understands that....at least I hope they do.....

[Sinister Girl]

Bwahahahahahaha!

Ok, the work Hogwash kills me- srsly.



Or End of the World people are out to get me hogwash, or even I'm the only ethical person out there hogwash.

[Robert]

Bwahahahahahaha!

Ok, the work Hogwash kills me- srsly.

HA!

[luna65]

Pigs (Three Different Ones)!

[Quin]

Identity thieves should be tied up in boxes with string and left in small, dark rooms with no electricity.

*nods*

[Beccah1]

Don't they say a lot of identity theft funds terrorism, & that a lot of banks don't even do that much about it. Mostly, because the banks make more money selling peoples names on lists. Not that any of thias applies in this case,lol.

[Potion Master]

Don't they say a lot of identity theft funds terrorism, & that a lot of banks don't even do that much about it. Mostly, because the banks make more money selling peoples names on lists. Not that any of thias applies in this case,lol.

Not exactly - it's not the US banks. The gap in that line of security came to light when it was learned that many individual credit card companies (many less than ethical and not bound by the rules of the US banking industry) were farming out the processing of their daily charges to cheaper labor forces in Mexico and other countries...and that's where the mass thefts were/are occurring.

[Li Eden]

I was wondering what that was all about when I made recent purchases. Ahh... All that matters is that it got straightened out. Just a PIA I guess...


Li

[starlitegirl]

Not exactly - it's not the US banks. The gap in that line of security came to light when it was learned that many individual credit card companies (many less than ethical and not bound by the rules of the US banking industry) were farming out the processing of their daily charges to cheaper labor forces in Mexico and other countries...and that's where the mass thefts were/are occurring.

This type of practice is the downfall of this country. Outsource everything to another country. And they wonder why the unemployment is so high... How about keeping a few jobs here. Then maybe people could afford to buy things. Doh'

[cheeseburger79]

SG. your hilarious!!
Mara, that's nuts and gives me the creeps. Just the 'bastards are everywhere' aspect..like my friend Eric would say "there's microphones in the water"-of course theres not, but these pricks lend that kind of paranoia..

As for what to do with them, I agree with Quin...