Thread: in india you can buy credit card numbers

in india they are selling UK credit card numbers on the blackmarket. call centers that collect payments for UK cell phone customers are recording the data and then selling it off to the highest bidder. BBC says U.K. credit card information for sale in India - Network World

About 2 years ago I bought something online from a major software company. It was NOT Symantec but it was a company about the same size and I bout directly from their website (in the US).

About 2 days later I saw three strange charges for computer games (also from a major games company everyone has heard of) for a total of about $100. I immediately reported to the card company and they were very good at taking care of it.

I also emailed customer service at the place I bought the original software and at the games company alerting them to the fraud and informing them the charges had been reversed. The original software company sent an email back threatening that if I reported the fraud they would prosecute ME!

I picked up the phone and called the legal counsel for the software company (got the info from the annual report). I told them one of their employees had threatened me and that I was informing them as a courtesy. I also forwarded them the email on their request.

Man did things happen fast after that...good things! They reacted very quickly, sent an apology and really got on top of it. The lawyers knew that, while the original theft of the card information and resulting charges were probably not their fault, the threat by the employee trying to get me not to report it was a criminal act and also exposed them to civil liability for future charges.

I think the original customer service guy that threatened me was in India but it doesn't matter.

Yeah, it was pretty shocking to get threatened by customer service! They said if I reported the fraud or had the bank cancel the charges they would report me to a credit bureau and to the police. This is called "obstruction of justice" and is a crime. The idiots doing customer service should have known this. The lawwyers for the company certainly did! It was fun. I bet that customer service guy was looking for a job soon after that.

It is a really shocking matter.