Potential Credit Card Security Issue, Renamed from: random credit card situation on Facebook Rating Options

[Jeremy]

So I get a message in my "other" messages on Facebook the other day, which means someone not on my friends list, from this guy:

https://www.facebook.com/loveforht

Don't know him from a load of coal since he lives in Vietnam of all places, but he's messaged me basically saying "Hey Jeremy, here's your home address information, please confirm". I ask what's going on and what this is in regards to, and he pulls out even MORE information. Cell phone number, debit card number except for the last two digits (XX), card expiration date, card security number. When I ask him what's going on and where he got the information, he proceeds to tell me he's trying to figure out the reason my information was published online I guess, and keeps insisting I need to check my records for transaction with an online shopping website for 4/27/2011. When I say I don't really use my debit card for shopping online much, he keeps pursuing the April thing repeatedly, expanding the date parameters.

I've called and deactivated my debit card by this point, the lady on the phone did say there might be a suspicious charge attempt for Google, since I don't use that for anything finance-related. I keep pressing the guy about who he is, and why this is any of his business. He keeps pressing for wanting to know about any shopping done in my April records, which really only include some Paypal deposits into my account, and one with Fun Publications/transformersclub.com. That one was listed as charged on the 29th in my online account records, but the actual transaction could have happened on the 27th for all I know.

He still fails to tell me what's going on, or why he's so interested, so I told him thanks for the heads up on the card security issue but that we're done as far as I'm concerned. I kind of feel like I need to report this to Facebook, the authorities, or both, but I'm not sure how to go about that at all. Figured there's a pretty big experience pool here at the Allspark, so wanted to see what people think.

I've gone ahead and contacted Fun Pub about this.

This post has been edited by Jeremy: Jan 16 2012, 11:27 AM

[Engledogg]

Cat, since you worked in banking, maybe you can answer a question for me (also, anyone else that has knowledge about this, chime in as well).

I bought the Iacon package the other day, and it appeared as a pending transaction on my credit card. I know that pending transactions take a few business days to process, so I didn't think too much of it.

However, last night when I checked my cc statement online, which I've been doing regularly since the OP's scare, the pending charge for the Iacon package was no longer there and didn't transfer over to my recent purchases. My balance also reverted back to what it was before the purchase. It is like it was never there at all.

I rationalized it as a way for the seller to authorize the card for a charge, making sure that there are sufficient funds to cover the cost of the item, so it shows up as pending. It then disappears and will reappear when the actual charge goes through...is this how it works or should I be doing something?

Thanks for reading,
MIKE
engledogg

This post has been edited by Engledogg: Jan 21 2012, 01:28 PM

[Quantumhawk]

I rationalized it as a way for the seller to authorize the card for a charge, making sure that there are sufficient funds to cover the cost of the item, so it shows up as pending. It then disappears and will reappear when the actual charge goes through...is this how it works or should I be doing something?

That, or the initial charge request was denied or canceled due to some problem between the banks. When that happens they resubmit and it'll show back up.