Online Fraud

[denslexusgx470]

Been having a little bad luck streak lately. Within 2 months, someone stole my debit card number, checking account number, and got my password for my ebay account. I got a new debit card, new checking acct number, and new passwords but I realized that ebay sent me an email of when my information got changed by the spammer and the email has the IP address of where it was done. I was wondering if there's a site or a number to call where I can report the IP address to? Just curious. Thanks

[RX in NC]

Unfortunately, if you choose to pursue this as a crime you start by reporting it to your local police or sheriff. They'll send out an officer to take your claim, or they may just take it over the phone. Usually, that's about as far as it goes....

My wife does a lot of online shopping and a little more than a year ago, one of her credit card numbers was stolen and of course we had no idea. The thief attempted to make fraudulent online purchases within a day after stealing her card number but our card company's security system recognized these attempts as fraud and called me immediately to notify us. We canceled the account number on the spot, and new cards were sent to me within three days. So we didn't lose a penny, but the thief continued to try to make fraudulent purchases using the old card number for about 10 days until he finally gave up and moved on.

I talked with our credit card company on how to report this crime because I wanted very much to nail this guy. I was told that I would have to start with our local authorities even though this was an online crime. So I did, and our case was assigned to a detective within about two weeks after I reported it. He did some investigation, found out that the thief was using an IP address in Houston, Texas, and told me that he would be contacting Texas authorities in an effort to get them to make a visit to the physical address tied to this IP address. To get my case this far took me 3 or 4 months, and I had to push this local detective to keep moving with it. He never called me with updated information - I always had to call him. He always remembered me, he was professional and courteous, and I think his intentions were good. But his priorities always involved dealing with shootings and killings and more traditional major theft rings that steal valuables the old-fashioned way, by breaking into houses and businesses and taking them. He admitted to me several times that his department is not very experienced on dealing with cyber crime, but when I asked who else I could get involved to help pursue my case, he didn't have any answers for me. I even asked him multiple times for the physical address in Houston, but privacy laws prevent him from giving it to me. It's a shame when the criminal is protected more by the system than the victim is....

So finally around Thanksgiving last year, I decided that I was unfortunately wasting my time trying to pursue this case any further. We were fortunate that our credit card company's security system stopped this guy and shut down our card number before he could make even one purchase on our card, so I was certainly thankful that we didn't lose any money. But I still wanted this guy caught and prosecuted. Unfortunately, it's not going to happen because there is so much crime out there that does indeed result in innocent people getting badly burned and there are simply not enough law enforcement personnel who specialize in handling these types of cases to go around....

I encourage you to report your situation to your local police or sheriff. Just realize that even with an IP address, you may not get anywhere. Persistence on your part certainly helps, but it is no guarantee....

[1990LS400]

You might want to try one of the IP address lookups services -- do a google search -- to see where the guy is located and which company is his service provider. If he's outside the U.S. there is little point in pursuing the issue. If he is inside the U.S. you could try filing a report with the service provider. Be advised, however, that everybody doesn't have a static IP address. Some people can do a release/renew and get a new IP address anytime they want.

[jerzynuts]

How did they change your ebay password, im very curious because i use ebay pretty often and always thought it was pretty secure site. I didnt know something like that can happen. Sucks what your going through man hope you catch the guy.

[SW03ES]

You can always use the IP address lookup tool you have access to here as a moderator too, it can resolve IP addresses and tell you the location and ISP and it provides emails for abuse and fraud.

[eatingupblacktop]

Denslex, as 1990 suggests, try contacting the isp. Here are some resources that can report on the address you have:

http://psacake.com/web/eg.asp

http://www.internic.net/whois.html

http://www.db.ripe.net/whois?form_type=sim...o_search=Search

http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/whoi...Q5QOKCWMEAQCFEY

[SKperformance]

FBI has a form to fill out online as well.

[denslexusgx470]

Thanks guys for the links to look it up. So far I've found out that it's some digital phone service, ACN in Canada. How do I contact the ISP? I don't know what the ISP is, or is that the provider (ACN)??

SK I haven't tried the FBI form online yet.

[denslexusgx470]

Unfortunately, if you choose to pursue this as a crime you start by reporting it to your local police or sheriff. They'll send out an officer to take your claim, or they may just take it over the phone. Usually, that's about as far as it goes....

My wife does a lot of online shopping and a little more than a year ago, one of her credit card numbers was stolen and of course we had no idea. The thief attempted to make fraudulent online purchases within a day after stealing her card number but our card company's security system recognized these attempts as fraud and called me immediately to notify us. We canceled the account number on the spot, and new cards were sent to me within three days. So we didn't lose a penny, but the thief continued to try to make fraudulent purchases using the old card number for about 10 days until he finally gave up and moved on.

I talked with our credit card company on how to report this crime because I wanted very much to nail this guy. I was told that I would have to start with our local authorities even though this was an online crime. So I did, and our case was assigned to a detective within about two weeks after I reported it. He did some investigation, found out that the thief was using an IP address in Houston, Texas, and told me that he would be contacting Texas authorities in an effort to get them to make a visit to the physical address tied to this IP address. To get my case this far took me 3 or 4 months, and I had to push this local detective to keep moving with it. He never called me with updated information - I always had to call him. He always remembered me, he was professional and courteous, and I think his intentions were good. But his priorities always involved dealing with shootings and killings and more traditional major theft rings that steal valuables the old-fashioned way, by breaking into houses and businesses and taking them. He admitted to me several times that his department is not very experienced on dealing with cyber crime, but when I asked who else I could get involved to help pursue my case, he didn't have any answers for me. I even asked him multiple times for the physical address in Houston, but privacy laws prevent him from giving it to me. It's a shame when the criminal is protected more by the system than the victim is....

So finally around Thanksgiving last year, I decided that I was unfortunately wasting my time trying to pursue this case any further. We were fortunate that our credit card company's security system stopped this guy and shut down our card number before he could make even one purchase on our card, so I was certainly thankful that we didn't lose any money. But I still wanted this guy caught and prosecuted. Unfortunately, it's not going to happen because there is so much crime out there that does indeed result in innocent people getting badly burned and there are simply not enough law enforcement personnel who specialize in handling these types of cases to go around....

I encourage you to report your situation to your local police or sheriff. Just realize that even with an IP address, you may not get anywhere. Persistence on your part certainly helps, but it is no guarantee....

When someone stole my debit card number, they tried charging me $1,080 to my debit card and the bank froze my card because my daily withdrawal limit on my debit card was only $700. Then someone got into my Paypal (i guess my password got hacked) and bought some spammer computer program that fishes out email addresses for them to send spam or advertisement to.

I know I wont be able to prosecute the guy who hacked into my ebay account but I was just curious about where it came from and if there's a registry that I can register the IP address of spammers.