Playstation Network compromised credit card

[JBazz]

I had a bunch of fraudulent charges pop up on my credit card today. Yesterday I sat at the Apple store and added $150 to my PSN account and downloaded 3 games.

Any guesses if this was the transaction that caused my credit card to be compromised? Thankfully I was using my prepaid card, but unfortunately it had about $5000 on it because I have been shopping for a sofa.

The only other thing giving me pause is I did purchase a used Macbook from craigslist. I am really hoping that it is not the source of my compromised card.

 

[wywern209]

i would do whatever it is you should do if a card gets compromised. Being prepaid certainly complicates it though. i am unsure of what protections if any prepaid cards are sold with.

 

[mobilehaathi]

I might be misunderstanding something, but did you conduct financial business from a display computer? If so, not a good move.

Did you wipe and reinstall OSX on your used MacBook?

 

[jav6454]

1. Not a smart move to add $$ to your PSN account from a display computer. Cookies, history and all are still there.

2. Probably your credit card was just targeted from the numbers they stole. After all, it was a 1M list they stole.

3. Why post here instead of calling your bank/credit institution and have them block/reverse the charges and get a new card + number.

 

[JBazz]

1. Not a smart move to add $$ to your PSN account from a display computer. Cookies, history and all are still there.

2. Probably your credit card was just targeted from the numbers they stole. After all, it was a 1M list they stole.

3. Why post here instead of calling your bank/credit institution and have them block/reverse the charges and get a new card + number.

1. I did not use a display computer. I used the Apple store wifi on my Vita.

2. My Vita account was only 6 months old, so I would not have been affected. Now my old PSP account may have.

3. I did call/block, etc. I was wondering exactly how unsafe using the wifi at an Apple store was. I read stories about public wifi spots, but this was my first incident. But again, I did not use the Apple display computer. I used my Vita. I sat at the Apple store because it is by far the fastest wifi connection available to me and I was downloading 3 games.

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I might be misunderstanding something, but did you conduct financial business from a display computer? If so, not a good move.

Did you wipe and reinstall OSX on your used MacBook?

I did not do a wipe. I did an upgrade to 10.8 from 10.7. There were no disks and I do not know how to do a wipe and fresh install without OSX DVDs.

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i would do whatever it is you should do if a card gets compromised. Being prepaid certainly complicates it though. i am unsure of what protections if any prepaid cards are sold with.

Actually, being prepaid uncomplicates things. Which is why I use it for internet transactions. It keeps my high limit cards off the internet.

Thanks for the reply though. I did call the bank, call the merchants who got defrauded, etc. I wasnt looking for advice on how to handle that, but wondering about public wifi security and buying a used macbook.

 

[itickings]

Actually, being prepaid uncomplicates things. Which is why I use it for internet transactions. It keeps my high limit cards off the internet.

That depends on your definition of complicated. In general credit cards provide better protection, using debit cards is more like losing a wallet filled with cash in comparison (which is quite uncomplicated).

Thanks for the reply though. I did call the bank, call the merchants who got defrauded, etc. I wasnt looking for advice on how to handle that, but wondering about public wifi security and buying a used macbook.

If you use your own device on a public wifi, keep it secured and only use encrypted sites coupled with common sense, it shouldn't be a problem.

Buying and using a used computer without completely wiping it first is way more risky. Really not a good idea.

 

[JBazz]

That depends on your definition of complicated. In general credit cards provide better protection, using debit cards is more like losing a wallet filled with cash in comparison (which is quite uncomplicated).

If you use your own device on a public wifi, keep it secured and only use encrypted sites coupled with common sense, it shouldn't be a problem.

Buying and using a used computer without completely wiping it first is way more risky. Really not a good idea.

Thanks for the advice on used computers, but I am still going to completely disagree with your assessment of my prepaid card. Love it, wouldn't give it up for anything. I knew my card had been compromised immediately because I receive instant text messages on the card. I called the credit card company, had it closed, they shipped a new card and refunded the charges all in the 10 minute call. Nothing at all like loosing a wallet (or purse in my case).

My highest limit card regular card is from Capitol One. They have no text message service for each purchase, I have to log on to see pending charges, and even then the pending do not show the full details until they go hard.