2 hours ago, 777200lrf said:

that a couple days after a simmarket order (I used their credit card company not Paypal this time) I receive fraudulent charges on my card.

Did you use this card anywhere else during the prior year?

well simmarket completely trusts the CC company they use - so I personally will never buy from simmarket again.

At this point you cannot definitively link simmarket to the breach unless the card was exclusively used at simmarket.  If the card was used elsewhere previously, then the card info could have been stolen from another store/vendor.

At least you did not use your debit card. I can not understand how some people have no credit card and just use a debit card. The risk is so much greater.

Happened to me after X-mas too.  I suspected their payment processor was the culprit, but I can't be sure.  Now I use Paypal for everything I purchase and never had any problems since. 

I also believe it happened to me after purchasing FSUIPC5.  I only used my card one other place and that wasn't online so I'm betting it was Simmarket.  Moreover... I think it happened once before at Simmarket.  The person who used your card wasn't by any chance purchasing text books, where they? 

Happy you brought this up, time for me to log a formal compliant, and I'm going to ask AVSIM to create a board to place these types of warnings and if they're no interested I'll do it myself as it's too important not to have this type of resource - plus it will motivate re-sellers to correct their security if needed. 

 

I too had the same issue about a year ago when I tried to purchase from SimMarket, except my bank had flagged the transaction as high-risk, with a known history of problems.  They stopped the payment going though which was lucky for me.  This is an Australian bank who uses CitiBank to mange Visa cards I believe.

 

I still get regular spam from SimMarket every single week and it doesn't stop it no matter how many times I unsubscribe.

Okay, there may some reasons to suspect reason for concern,  though we need to hear from more people.

May I ask everyone's help in ensuring we keep this thread above board and not start a witch hunt, but instead let's take an honest and faxtual look at this. I have contacts at Simmarket, their sister company, and people in the credit card security end if things.

TThe more info the better. If your card info was stolen (even if caught by your bank) then the most info you can provide the better. If you'd rather email it to me, please use [email protected]. No card info please.

 

This is an extremely common problem nowadays.  So to worry over one transaction is a little drastic.  Last year my debit card was jacked for 940 USD from someone in California.  They bought a tone of stuff from a beauty supply store.  It happened on a Saturday so I was out access to money all weekend and had to use a credit card for food.  The bank fixed the issue in a week. 

Two weeks ago my credit card was jacked for 113 dollars at a PlayStation store online.  Not me, don't even have console. 

I have always been very careful about the sites I use a card on.  After the debit card fiasco I chose to only use the credit card for online purchases.  I have used it at Amazon, Paypal, and a couple other flight sim vendors (Orbx/FSS) and that's about it, as far as online goes. 

IOW, from what I've been reading online, this is such a common problem anymore.  People with cards they haven't used for well over a year have been hijacked.  Skimmers, online hackers, insiders, and so on.  It's pervasive problem.  You'll never know, and the bank usually won't either.  It's almost as if the banks don't even care anymore.  These crooks sleep good at night.  Unlike the old days where CC and check fraud was a big deal.

43 minutes ago, Orlaam said:

So to worry over one transaction is a little drastic.

 

Actually, my card was hit for 8 transactions totally over $7000.00.

Regardless, it's important to identify any company in our community which may have a compromised system or employee who might be stealing customer information. From this perspective, it's important for us to tell one another of suspect problems with any reseller where this might be happening.

Moreover, the second step from stolen credit card information can be identify theft.

So, one transaction?  Sure, but one transaction from say 5 to 10 flight simmers shopping at the same place, especially one which has a monopoly on an important piece of software such as FSUIPC?  It needs to be tracked, identified and resolved, and communication is the starting place for that.

Best wishes.

 

 

13 minutes ago, DaveCT2003 said:

 

Actually, my card was hit for 8 transactions totally over $7000.00.

Regardless, it's important to identify any company in our community which may have a compromised system or employee who might be stealing customer information. From this perspective, it's important for us to tell one another of suspect problems with any reseller where this might be happening.

Moreover, the second step from stolen credit card information can be identify theft.

So, one transaction?  Sure, but one transaction from say 5 to 10 flight simmers shopping at the same place, especially one which has a monopoly on an important piece of software such as FSUIPC?  It needs to be tracked, identified and resolved, and communication is the starting place for that.

Best wishes.

 

 

And I get that.  But CC fraud is extremely common, so I want people to be mindful of that too.  I am aware of a place (unrelated from sim or gaming entirely) that has had this problem from online purchases, therefore site-related activity does happen. 

The most important step is to call the bank immediately and cancel the card, file a claim and dispute the charge.  Hopefully we will find out if Simmarket has a breach in the meantime.

It's also to bear in mind that a lot of transactions are rejected when they are overseas.  I tried to purchase some shoes for a girlfriend as a gift once from the UK.  The total was 450 USD and the bank wouldn't take it.  I had to call and tell them to let me do it.  I've had this problem with several overseas vendors in FS for that very reason.  Looks suspicious is all.

paypal is the way to go, sorry to hear about that.

 

David

 

1 minute ago, davjg said:

paypal is the way to go, sorry to hear about that.

 

David

 

I use PayPal for every FS transaction I can now, but they too have been compromised.  It's the world we live in. 

Remember my friends, we're note debating the method of payment here, this thread is about trying to see if others have had an issue with one vendor, so we can help protect the flight sim community IF there is a problem.

Let's try to avoid the typical diversions and any off topic, though well meaning sage wisdom.  ;)

Many thanks!

 

I've had this experience several years back on more than one occasion before switching to exclusive use of PayPal. Only had a prepaid credit card and only used that for flightsim purchases back then. Four cards got burnt over the years, allthough at least on one occasion the transaction was indeed not linked to simmarket, but another big flightsim store. A second hijack could not be directly linked to one store alone, as I made multiple purchases from seveal stores on one day - but simmarket was among them...

 

Cheers

 

Mallard