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Identity Theft on Mac---PLEASE HELP

S

sportsfan1234

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 28, 2010
79
0
I recently purchased my MBP this past august. It is my first Mac and Im a newb. A big part of the reason I decided to make the switch over to mac is because of viruses/spyware etc... I was told that Macs are extremely secure computers and even if your computer were to download a virus/trjoan, your mac wouldnt be able to read/interpret it, and therefore you would be immune to it...

With that said... I just received a phone call from my bank saying that a purchase of over $300 was attempted from a foreign country. This was clearly not me, and someone obviously has stolen my card number, which they got online. I do make purchases online but almost always though paypal.....

What could have happened ?!??!? Can hackers/identity theft ppl still steal your credit card numbers even if you are using a mac ??? If so, are there any recommendations to avoid this happening again....( ex. lifelock ??)

ALL ADVICE IS GREATLY APPRECIATED
 
sportsfan1234 said:
I recently purchased my MBP this past august. It is my first Mac and Im a newb. A big part of the reason I decided to make the switch over to mac is because of viruses/spyware etc... I was told that Macs are extremely secure computers and even if your computer were to download a virus/trjoan, your mac wouldnt be able to read/interpret it, and therefore you would be immune to it...
Click to expand...
You were told wrong. Macs are not immune to malware. There has never been a virus in the wild that affects Mac OS X since it was released 10 years ago. The handful of trojans that exist can be easily avoided with some education and common sense and care in what software you install:
sportsfan1234 said:
With that said... I just received a phone call from my bank saying that a purchase of over $300 was attempted from a foreign country. This was clearly not me, and someone obviously has stolen my card number, which they got online. I do make purchases online but almost always though paypal....
Click to expand...
There are a number of ways to steal your credit card info, without accessing your Mac. Why would you assume it came from malware on your Mac?
 
rdowns said:
You wouldn't happen to own a Sony PS3, would you?
Click to expand...

it came up last night at the dinner table about them beening hacked and i saw my oldest son PS3 unplugged and setting on desk ..

When i asked about it he goes i'm no sure if i want to plug it back in and play it because of it beening hacked and he did use it to rent movies from netflix and buy games over there server i was told my son about the hack and he not a happy camper right ..

So anything you bought over there servers or some where else you have used your credit card
 
....could this have come from downloading a torrent file ? ex. music, movies, pictures ??? i do download torrents
 
sportsfan1234 said:
....could this have come from downloading a torrent file ? ex. music, movies, pictures ??? i do download torrents
Click to expand...
Again, why are you assuming it's malware or that it has anything to do with your Mac? There are many ways to get your credit card info, even if you don't own a computer.
 
This is completely disjoined from you Mac and there are millions of ways they could have gotten the info. Had a similar thing happen to me a while back and that was on a card that hadn't been used in 6 months. Most likely it was some site you paid with your card not with paypal some time ago that got hacked and had your card on file.
 
Easiest way to steal someone's cc# is by working in a restaurant where they take your credit card away to swipe it, and bring you back the card and the slips. Not only do they have access to the mag strip, they can record the security # on the back of the card that is not recorded on the mag strip.

Happens all the time.

Second easiest way to steal cc# is to steal the the database from an online retailer.

Easiest way to actually get stolen cc#s is to just buy them. There are shady on-line sites that sell cc#s that have been stolen (see above).

The most difficult way to steal someone's cc# is hack into your computer, Mac or PC. PC's might (debatably) make it easier than a Mac - but stealing someone's cc# from a computer is way more work than than anyone really wants to do.

So - could it be your Mac has been hacked? In theory, perhaps. But really really unlikely. If you believe in those odds, you might as well be buying lottery tickets as well.

Hope this helps.
 
Willing to put money down on the table and say it has nothing to do with your Mac. Sounds like you just got unlucky and your CC# was chosen by hackers/thieves/bad individuals/etc from another source. Maybe a restaurant? Maybe a site you have payment information on got hacked? Maybe someone got a peek at your actual CC while you weren't looking?
 
sportsfan1234 said:
i do own a ps3, but only play ncaa football on it. i dont really play online much....
Click to expand...

But do you use Playstation Network?
You say you don`t play online much but to play at all on PSN you need an account with a credit/debit card linked to it.
Which, if this is the case, may be compromised.

I don`t think it`s specifically Mac related.
 
Several of my co-workers just had their credit cards #'s stolen. One of the restaurants we frequent had someone steal all of their CC transactions for a week. All three of them that went that day, had anywhere from $800-3000 attempt to be charged onto them. Luckily all of the charges were being done in other states and/or countries so they didn't lose any money. Point of this story? It isn't just thru the use of computers that your CC can be stolen. In this case IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THEIR COMPUTERS.

Seriously, stealing CC by malware is actually one of the tougher ways to steal them because it requires all of your key strokes to be recorded and sent back to the original programmer and then an algorithm to go through and figure out what is a CC number and what is just other key strokes (i.e. using your calculator).
 
Im not sure what happened honestly. I work in a restaurant- but always pay in cash when i do eat there. if i go out with friends i usually pay with card. i dont use the playstation network nor do they have my cad info on file. im guessing it was probably a site i didnt use paypal that got hacked or a torrent i downloaded.
 
sportsfan1234 said:
Im not sure what happened honestly. I work in a restaurant- but always pay in cash when i do eat there. if i go out with friends i usually pay with card. i dont use the playstation network nor do they have my cad info on file. im guessing it was probably a site i didnt use paypal that got hacked or a torrent i downloaded.
Click to expand...

I doubt it was a torrent you downloaded, unless they asked for that information when opening the file and you provided it.

The most plausible is someone got hold of it from a retailer or some other business you used it at.
 
I never have given it out for torrent downloading. the only the i can think of is it was one of the rare sites i bought something online and they didnt accept paypal
 
if i go out with friends i usually pay with card
Click to expand...

Did you not read this thread?

The most popular cases of CC fraud is magnetic readers on ATMs or POS systems.

If you go out to a restaurant or bowling, you can get skimmed.
 
Ok, let's go through this step by step.

1) If your bank for some reason didn't do it already, cancel the Credit Card. Get a new number. This is a routine procedure.

2) Go through the rest of your cards/bank accounts and look for any suspicious charges. You should be doing this on a regular basis anyway. If there are any charges that you did not make, call the CC company, contest the charge, and get a replacement card.

3) Give up on trying to pinpoint exactly how your card got stolen. It probably wasn't your Mac. People above has listed several different ways that your number can be stolen, both online and offline. The only way to completely prevent credit card theft is to not have one. Besides that, your best bet is to regularly check your statements for suspicious activity.
 
There are even some clever thieves using tweaked gas pump credit card devices to steal the info.
 
I bought something online from iHome (a dock adapter for my iPhone) and within a week, my parents got a call from the credit card company. There was someone who attempted a $0.01 purchase from a foreign country. I thought our home network was compromised or something. A couple days after the attempted purchase, I got an email from iHome stating that their database was compromised. Don't be so quick to think your computer's security was compromised...
 
If I'm gonna steal your CC #, I am NOT going to take it from your PC/Mac. I'm gonna either Man-in-the-middle attack you while you're on an unsecure network or I'm gonna get it from a database where I can get thousands more along with yours.

Getting it off your PC/Mac is to difficult and offers less reward than getting into a database.

If you REALLY think it was because of malware, run a scan on your machine.
 
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