Watch what details you include in uploaded trees .....

FionaZ · Post by **FionaZ** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 11:18 pm

One Sunday afternoon I too paid by credit card for an Ancestry Subscription and within minutes my bank phoned to ask whether I had just paid for something on the internet. I was fairly suspicious as I had not realised that banks monitered these transactions especially as it was the weekend. I do believe it was a genuine call from the bank as apart from asking me to verify the amount which she stated, no other questions were asked. I have however been monitoring my account just in case.
Today I have received an email from Paypal (where I opened an account to pay for my Tombola tickets) asking me to log into the website 'mentioned below' to verify my details. I will not be doing so as I do not know whether it is a genuine email from Paypal. The website looks similar to the one that verified my payment a couple of weeks ago but is not exactly the same.
Cheers, Fiona

Post by **AndrewP** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 11:24 pm

FionaZ wrote:Today I have received an email from Paypal (where I opened an account to pay for my Tombola tickets) asking me to log into the website 'mentioned below' to verify my details. I will not be doing so as I do not know whether it is a genuine email from Paypal. The website looks similar to the one that verified my payment a couple of weeks ago but is not exactly the same.

You do right to avoid this one. There are e-mails circulating just now pretending to be from PayPal and asking for your details. As PayPal is a means to spending your money, treat your PayPal details with the same privacy as your bank details.

All the best,

AndrewP

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 11:32 pm

Hi Fiona
The rule is:
If ANY website asks you to update details by clicking in a link within the email DON'T!
If paypal, ebay, your bank or whoever else wish you to to make some checks on you account they will send an email asking you to go to their web site and sign in to the site the usual manner, not by clicking on an embedded link. Never go to sites which hold sensitive details about you via a link in an email.

From the Paypal site:

Protection Policies - Privacy & Security

What should I do if I receive a fake email?

If you think you have received a fraudulent email, forward the entire email to spoof@paypal.com and then delete it from your email account.

If you already replied to a fake email with your personal information, please Contact Us right away. You may also want to contact your financial institution to alert them of possible suspicious activity.

As Andrew says, there seem to be quite few circulating at the moment - I've had 2 in the last fortnight pretending to be from ebay.
Best wishes
Lesley

StewL · Post by **StewL** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 3:39 am

Hi all

I too have had the usual fraudulent emails from PayPayl and ebay only trouble is I dont have an ebay account

As previously said PayPal have a system for contacting you and it will never address you as dear customer or such like. All those with PayPal accounts will know how they address you

This thread just reminded me to clean out my deleted junk emails from a number of financial institutions I dont have accounts with anyway

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 3:55 am

Stuck in London on the way here, I naturally used the credit card telephone in the hotel room to inform various folks of the 24hr delay.

One of the calls (successful) appears to have led to a request for authorisation on the part of MasterCard. The lack of a call from the retailer, - the automatic credit card phone system, - led to my card being immediately suspended, and telephone contact was not made with my home telephone number until 36 hours later.

It wasn`t that convenient the following day in London to have my card refused on 6 separate occasions with no knowledge on my part as to why this was happening.

The "problem" sum that led to all this?, - £2.50 (two pounds and fifty pence).

When I later spoke to MasterCard (a) they didn`t even apologise, and (b) clearly stated that it was all my/the retailer`s fault.... Ehhhhhhh

Yes, I want them to be on the ball in terms of "unusual activity" on my account, but not for £2.50 ................

David
in Melbourne

mallog · Post by **mallog** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 7:01 am

Is that not part of what a credit card is for - to use when we are travelling ??? !! Will we have to send them our itineray next?

I registered on eBay then got several spoof emails from PayPal (and eBay) and it has really put me off opening an account. I also noticed that after visiting a bank's website I got a spoof email from them too. It's tedious having to go through spam. It's like junk mail but more worrying.

Mallog

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 8:13 am

mallog wrote:Is that not part of what a credit card is for - to use when we are travelling ??? !! Will we have to send them our itineray next?...snipped........

Errr........ Yes, or so I thought.

What got me was that a phone call from a hotel, albeit furth of Auld Scotia, but still in the UK, and valued at just £2.50, set the alarm bells ringing

Maybe it`s that free bus pass for all travel in Scotland that confused them........

David

jintyb · Post by **jintyb** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 2:23 pm

DavidWW wrote:
mallog wrote:Is that not part of what a credit card is for - to use when we are travelling ??? !! Will we have to send them our itineray next?...snipped........
Errr........ Yes, or so I thought.

What got me was that a phone call from a hotel, albeit furth of Auld Scotia, but still in the UK, and valued at just £2.50, set the alarm bells ringing

Maybe it`s that free bus pass for all travel in Scotland that confused them........

David

We had to come home last year from our holidays as my Mother in Law passed away.When trying to buy plane tickets with Visa it was rejected.I phoned
when we did get home and you have to register to use card abroad!!Luckily there were enough funds in debit account.So if you're taking a visa with you, check and make sure you can use it abroad.
Best wishes
Janet

Post by **SarahND** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 5:30 am

And I just got a call from the credit card company due to those suspicious £6 charges that keep coming in from Scotlands People

Sarah

Post by **emanday** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 11:30 am

OK, so I seem to have opened a can of worms here, but I am thinking that the original reason for my topic has got lost somewhere.

I accept that "Big Brother" can be, and often is intrusive...

However, the point of my posting was what thieves were using details about living people they found on genealogy site family trees; That being using those details to obtain credit cards, loans, etc... for which the actual victim gets the bill. Further, that they also use those fraudently obtained cards to re-register with those same sites to obtain even more living people details to DO IT AGAIN to someone else.

That is why banks are keeping a watch on transactions on those sites.

As to SarahND's experience; Got to say your CC company needs to do its homework, as SP do not provide records for people who may still be alive (under the 100 year rule) so any info someone got from there is unlikely to be of use to them.