[UPDATE] Official statement from Fun Pub about Credit Card issues, Official Statement from Hasbro added 03-05-2012 Options

[Cheetimus Primal]

This is going out to all members:



Fun Publications wants to take this opportunity to apologize to all of our members.



After many days of analysis, Fun Publications has determined that there is a security issue with our e-commerce systems. We appreciate all of you who have sent in your details. Your help has allowed us to ferret out several different patterns of fraudulent charges that have appeared on some members' cards (any that have been used over the last year with both the club store and our event registration system).



We have several different internet/networking companies looking into the matter. Unfortunately, as of yet, we have not been able to identify any forcible entry either into our internet service provider's servers or network. This is like chasing a ghost through the wires, as unfortunately, the perpetrator did not leave a trail, foot prints or finger prints.



For those of you who have been affected, we apologize for all of your time this has wasted and any inconvenience it has caused you. We understand your frustration as this same type of fraud has happened to everyone in our office on our personal credit cards at some point in the past. Our merchant services provider wants us to remind everyone that even though this can be a huge annoyance for you, the customer, your issuing bank will not hold you responsible for any fraudulent charges that might be placed on your card(s).



We know that this issue has been a huge topic of discussion on all of the boards for the past few weeks. However, we are required to investigate to determine and confirm a security issue thoroughly before making any public statements. This is why we put out a general alert statement two weeks ago.



Until the analysis is finished (can take several weeks) we don't know if the shut down by our former (Jan 31st) e-commerce provider caused the security issue or not. We do know that it has not been limited to those who have purchased before the change to our new provider.



Please, watch your cards closely as this type of security issue appears to be on the increase across the net. No site is 100% safe. You may want to consider having any cards you have used with Fun Publications in the last year replaced.



At this time, we do not know how long our e-commerce site will be offline for both the store and registrations. We will get back to you once we have a solution for this security issue.



Thanks for your support - Brian

[Jeysie]

Yet another example of just how technically incompetent Fun Pub really is. I mean you can tell it just by looking at their sites, but then you have things like this. Things that cost fans not just money but their financial security. At some point it would just be easier to have the license pulled and given to someone who knows how to run the web/financial side of things.

Agreed, much as I hate to say it.

I mean, I am very happy with the creative side of FunPub, and will always continue to fully support the fiction and art side of things.

But the web and technical sides are just ridiculous. They could improve their web presence a hundredfold just by moving to a new PHP-enabled server and setting up 100% free software, never mind if they invested some money in business software or a pro webmaster... which considering how many members they have times the costs of everything, they ought to be able to afford.

And these sorts of security-related issues could be solved by... you know... using freakin' PayPal. The increased fees would amount to maybe a few bucks extra in prices, tops, and it would avoid the major loss of business caused by things like this.

I mean, while I haven't been hit yet, now I'm going to have to change my debit card just in case... and since I don't have any checks or other cards to use, paying for things is going to be irritating until the reissue is all finished.

This post has been edited by Jeysie: Feb 25 2012, 08:33 AM

[Lukeblast]

And these sorts of security-related issues could be solved by... you know... using freakin' PayPal. The increased fees would amount to maybe a few bucks extra in prices, tops, and it would avoid the major loss of business caused by things like this.

I'm pretty sure that Paypal doesn't allow preorders. That's a sizable portion of Fun Publications' business that they don't really have the ability to change.

Also, as has been pointed out, Paypal has a bad habit of locking down accounts for "suspicious activity" when they see spikes in activity. Again, a sizable portion of their business that they can't really change.

[Kalidor]

And these sorts of security-related issues could be solved by... you know... using freakin' PayPal. The increased fees would amount to maybe a few bucks extra in prices, tops, and it would avoid the major loss of business caused by things like this.

I'm pretty sure that Paypal doesn't allow preorders. That's a sizable portion of Fun Publications' business that they don't really have the ability to change.

Also, as has been pointed out, Paypal has a bad habit of locking down accounts for "suspicious activity" when they see spikes in activity. Again, a sizable portion of their business that they can't really change.

I feel like you might be confusing a buisness/merchant paypal account with a personal account.