I need to purchase a front right caliper and brake pads for both LH and RH wheels. Normally I would do this quickly and with little fuss using the internet. I like Roverland.com.

Problem is this: About 3 weeks ago or so I ordered a flex coupler from above mentioned Roverland.com. I paid for this part with my VISA debit card. The site is secure. Part came, installation went fine, blah blah. Two weeks later my entire bank account is wiped dry! All gone! My card number had been stollen.

I've not ordered anything online with this card until I ordered that coupler. The only time it could be compromised was then. I've re-couped some of the funds and VISA will investigate the others.

I don't blame Roverland. In fact, I called them to report the incident just so they could pass the information over to the people who handle their online purchasing. They said they would.

What to do now? I'm really nervous about ordering online again from the same site where I was ripped off. Or any site for that matter! But my truck is sitting in our driveway out of commission until she gets some brakes! AAAHHHH!!!!!

 

How did they get from your Visa # to your bank account? Is it a debit card? Do you have automatic withdrawl, or online banking?

I set up a separate bank account (in an entirely different bank) for my Paypal transactions. There is only a set amount in it ...just in case. Still, I often worry about the "what-ifs" of ordering online. Ultimately no information is "secure" no matter what safeguards are in place. That's the problem. If a company lists a phone number, I always call instead. Hope you get most of your money back.

Mark G

 

Yikes, that's too bad man. I guess you never think it could happen to you but it does. I buy a lot of stuff on line, I should rethink how I do it now. I use paypal a lot and it is linked to my bank account which could conceivably be wiped clean. Maybe setting up a smaller account or using a credit card with a small credit line just for online purchases would be a good idea. Unfortunately, it's got to be impossible to catch the bastards.

 

My wife and I have two accounts at the same bank. We use one for online bill payments and for ordering online stuff.
We keep $5 in the online account and when we need to pay a bill or order something we transfer $1 more than what is needed for the purchase. That way if they do wipe the account they get very little and the bank will reimbuse us.
Do you have a wireless internet network on the computer that you ordered from? Wireless is a very easy way to steal your info.
Just sit in the car next door with a laptop and steal info right out of the air.
Best of luck to you.

 

That is too bad and is not common thru any of the better, more well know sites. Go to Atlantic British, Rover Connection,LRRForums.com or DAP any of them are well secured.

 

IMHO, it's as safe or safer to make an online transaction through a secure server online than to hand your card over to a waiter in a restaurant. A friend of mine got thousands of dollars in charges on his bank card and it was traced back to his using it at a restaurant while on vacation. I understand that the card company wiped off the charges that he didn't actually make. Anyway, I now avoid using my debit card anywhere except at the bank's ATM machines. I use a VISA credit card for everything else so that at least my bank account balanceis safe if the number gets stolen.I haven't used it yet, but my credit card has the option of virtual numbers where you can go online and generate a one-time card number that's used only for a specific purchase online. After the number is used once, then it is no longer valid for anything else. I'm going to use that option in future online purchases. I hope you get all of your money back soon.

 

easy......just call them when you want to order and do it over the phone.

You should have fraud protection on your Visa, find out where the money went and they will get it back or re-imburse you. I realise it might take a couple of days. You also need some good antiviru on your computer.

 

There is problems ordering from online. I should open a second account with paypal and link it that one instead of the one it is to now. I am very careful of what and where I buy online. I check my balance daily to make sure nothing that I didnt buy has creeped up. ThoughI only keep enough to pay my bills in my checking.

If you are looking for a good anti virus I would go with Avast. They are free and update everyday. I am using it now and have reccommened to several people. If you want to pay stay away from anything that says security edition or internet security. They will slow down you computer and Windows and Mac both already have features that they are making you pay for. The other thing to do is keep your computer up todate. Also get Ad Aware or Deffender and run that on your computer once a week or month. That is how your credit number was probably stolen. Some Anti Virus dont pick up the trojans very well where these other programs do it with ease.

 

I know people that are computer neophytes that order online and they're time is just coming because they don't follow good pc protection practices. Not saying that's what happened to you.

Here is a list of good practices that'll help cut down on the chances of a hacker getting your PC: (and keep your PC running better)
1) Security Suite - Have a good security suite with a FIREWALL. Norton is the McDonalds of security and a resource hog. Macafee is better. There are other lesser names that are almost always at the top of the heap. One I use is Bitdefender. It's top rated. Has a nice transluscent window that sits on your desktop and shows in/out traffic to cut down on background traffic you might not know about. WebRoot Firewall is top rated firewall. I use it on my laptop. There are some free ones like AVG that I use on my inlaws PC and seems to work pretty well. I also good idea to cross-check periodically using Panda Online antivirus scanner. Not a good idea toinstall multiple anti-viruses on same PC as it'll likely slow it down a lot. Sometimes they can fight each other.
2) Anti-spyware sweeps. I use Ad-Aware to check for spyware. Then I use my Bit Defender too. Do it at least once a week.
3) Update PC - Keep the PC updated as well as M/S Office if you have it. Check for firmware updates too periodically.
4) Erase Drive Periodically - I completely erase my HD about once per year. I'm talking about a program that writes and overwrites ones and zeros on the drive about 25 passes. It takes a while but no info can be recovered. Then I reinstall my OS and programs/other stuff from backups. Besides getting rid of old credit card numbers, you keep your machine running clean and fast. Get away from the usual 2 year bog-down.
5) Watch what you download - Best thing people could do is quit using Outlook and Outlook Express. Scrap it and use something else or better yet, use an online email service like Yahoo or Hotmail. Don't ever answer ebay emails outside of Ebay. Don't download or open anything you don't know about. I switched to Pegasus email. It's not as intuitive as Outlook or Firefox email, but you can do "selective mail download" so you don't have to download anything you don't know what it is. Ya erase it directly off your mail server so it doesn't hit your PC. All my Ebay and online stuff (junkmail) goes to a Hotmail account. Anything I sign up for is routed to Hotmail so I don't get all the junkmail sent to my PC.
6) Personal Data - I think doing taxes on your PC is just plain stupid unless you plan to totally erase the drive (like outlined above). I did that once and then I realized I just put all my info including my SS# on my PC for any hacker to have. I erased my drive afterwards, never done it since. Realistically, I can do my taxes by hand faster than going through all the questions they ask ya. Ialwayshave to pay in, so I'm in no rush to get done quick. Or use a tax service.
7) Change Credit Card #'s - I have new card numbers requested about every 6-9 months.
8) Realize even if you do all the above you are still at risk, unless you go to all cash transactions. Banks and other companies get hacked into all the time. Just because you do your best, doesn't mean other companies do.

 

All of the above risk management ideas are good ones to implement. However, as was also stated, there is nothing youcan do to completly eliminate the danger of being robbed via the internet. It's a risk regardless.

As a matter of interest, I called the company where I ordered the part. Roverland. The rep on the phone was VERY upset at my phone call and what he percieved as a finger-pointing allegation. I did my best to explain that I didn't hold him personally responsible nor did I hold the company COMPLETLY responsible. I knew that his company probably does what most other online companies do and that is: use a third party to handle online orders. He confirmed this. He told me that the company he uses was, at the moment, involved in a huge fraud investigation. He had been on the phone with the FBI trying to explain to them that he doesn't see ANY financial information from customers and that the third party company handles that! He was pretty upset. My situation was probably just a coincedence.

Anyway, it's a bad world out there. I wish I could find the bastard, or bastards. Nothing stinks worse than a theif, ya know?