Very sad….my debit card was hacked! I was checking my bank account online and seen two charges from www.pay-thetickethelp.com, one was for $1.00 and the other was for about $39. At first, I started to think maybe I purchased something online and I had just forgot about it. I went on to the site and the first thing I noticed was that all the links were dead. I then saw a warning on their homepage, with the title in green: Chargebacks and Fraud from Our Members. The message reads:
“A billing chargeback will place your name, address, zip code, and credit card number into an Internet fraud database. ALL INTERNET CREDIT CARD COMPANIES USE THIS DATABASE. We DO NOT have any control over this fraud database.
If you chargeback your membership, the billing company WILL add your information to the ban database. If you get into this database you will not be able to use that billing company again. It is impossible to get off the ban lists.
BE SMART! DON’T DESTROY YOUR INTERNET CREDIT BY BEING ADDED TO THIS LIST AND INVESTIGATED FOR FRAUD!”
After reading this I knew, I had been hacked because, first of all, not all Internet companies use the same database and second, obviously if a site is posting information about doing chargeback and fraud on their homepage, something is up.
Another message on the site states “What Am I Billed For?” and states the following:
“If your credit card statement directed you to visit this web site, then your credit card was used to purchase a subscription to a membership based web site. The “descriptor” or “merchant name” on your credit card statement is not the same as the name of the web site that you joined. The best way to identify exactly what membership the charge on your statement was for is to use the automated “research a charge” tool below or to call us and speak with a representative.“
I Googled the site pay-thetickethelp.com and came up with porn sites in the search. I called my bank immediately to cancel my card and have the charges disputed. As I was calling I noticed another charge on my account in pending status, the merchant name was Napster, LLC. I do not use Napster, so knew my card was again used fraudulently.
I have worked for an e-commerce company for 8 years, so I am aware of certain protocols, but sadly, not everyone is in the knowing. I bet there are quiet a few people that have left the charge because they are small charges and 1) never noticed or 2) and they don’t want to take the chance of being blacklisted (which again does not exist).
Even though not much was charge on my card, it could have been worse if I had not checked my account in a while. It is an inconvenience to have to cancel my card and wait about 5 business days for a new debt card to come in. I hope my blog post turns out helpful to someone else having to experience this awful feeling of being violated.
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Thanks! Happened to me today..called the bank and the fraud dept was already on it! I hate being without my debt card for 5 days!
My husbands account just showed up with three $1.00 charges today from Napster, LLC. He said he did not sign up on their page and has no clue why these charges are on his bank account? Just one charge showed up for $1.00 this morning…but I just looked this afternoon and now two more are added…all three charges are pending. We plan to call the bank first thing Monday morning.
Thanks for posting this on your blog.
Glad to help!!! I hate the fact that it’s so easy for our accounts to be hacked and used fraudulently. You should call your bank right away so that they may refund you whatever amount they are trying to debit. Sucks that are probably so may people that are clueless to this stuff and may leave the charge. Good luck!
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