Credit Card Fraud At SnF

Geico266 · #1 04-26-2009, 06:47 AM

Just a heads up about using a credit card at airshows.

I had my CC denied when I tried to use it on my way home to get fuel. Seems when I used my card at the show some low life was picking up the WiFi signal as the vendor ran the card for authorization. (We assume this is how they got it.) The charges were caught immediately by the credit card company and they closed the account. One was for aviation fuel so the thief was possibly a pilot. I feel bad for the FBO, but I didn't buy fuel on Thursday.

I'm sure this can happen anywhere WiFI is used so be sure to check your CC statements closely and challenge any suspicious charges.

akschu · #2 04-26-2009, 10:53 AM

You should contact each vendor you used your credit card with and let them know so that they can double check their security. If it was sniffed over wifi then the vendor wasn't using SSL encryption to process your card. WiFi is safe within reason if it's done correctly, otherwise it's very dangerous.

schu

rocketbob · #3 04-26-2009, 12:42 PM

Not to steal the thread but there was a guy trying to sell a BUNCH of stolen items in the flymart, including one of my best friends' Garmin stack, which was recovered. If you got something at the flymart from account 119 it was likely stolen. The guys running the flymart flat-out DON'T CARE if an item there is stolen, and that poor attitude earned them the attention of the sheriff's dept. and the Lakeland police so expect big changes next year.

David-aviator · #4 04-26-2009, 12:43 PM

Credit cards sure are convenient but can a royal pain in the butt.

Several years ago at OSH I charged the registration fees for being there, something like $239, and by the time I returned home there was a hairy letter from the card company demanding the immediate payment of $23,900 billed at OSH. I called the cc company and asked how this could be since the card limit had been exceeded by a huge amount. They said it was bounced twice but the third time the OSH bank sent it through with a special code and it was paid.

It took weeks to get the matter straightened out. OSH never admitted the screw up and performed some kind of internal audit to get to the bottom of it. Eventually it was resolved with a credit to my account including the various charges the transaction triggered. Evidently a clerk placed the decimal point in the wrong place.

Life goes on, right, one experience after another.

Jamie · #5 04-26-2009, 12:53 PM

Wifi isn't the problem, per se. The terminals should be encrypting the data themselves and not depending upon Wifi to do it.

Larry, why not tell us which vendors you patronized with that card so that we can be watching out too?

Geico266 · #6 04-26-2009, 02:38 PM

Maybe it was at one of the resturants I went to. All I know is someone was buying $3K of stereo equipment on my CC.

AlexPeterson · #7 04-26-2009, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geico266

SNIP

One was for aviation fuel so the thief was possibly a pilot. I feel bad for the FBO, but I didn't buy fuel on Thursday.

SNIP

How would one buy aviation fuel with just a CC number? I'd think you would need the physical card, to either give to the line guy or put into a self serve machine.

Lionclaw · #8 04-26-2009, 03:31 PM

The equipment to read and write the magnetic strips on cards is easily obtained. A quick search online can find you readers, writers, and blank magnetic cards. I CERTAINLY DO NOT approve of the nefarious activities people use this stuff for, but I think it's important to know it's out there. You can't protect yourself from the unknown.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card_fraud

http://consumerist.com/5200818/reade...er-on-bank-atm

I hope this isn't too far OT, but as pilots we travel more, and I believe we may be more likely to run into these sorts of things.

cyberpilot10 · #9 04-28-2009, 08:05 PM

Last year my Wife got her info stolen at JFK New York. She used an ATM at the airport. Jet Blue security said that the person responsible had a device that fit over the face of the card reader on the ATM and he was near by recieving the info to his lap top. They caught the guy. thanks to the security camera's .... We got our $3,784.00 back.

Thank Goodness

Rich

Sam Buchanan · #10 04-28-2009, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geico266

Just a heads up about using a credit card at airshows.

I had my CC denied when I tried to use it on my way home to get fuel. Seems when I used my card at the show some low life was picking up the WiFi signal as the vendor ran the card for authorization. (We assume this is how they got it.) The charges were caught immediately by the credit card company and they closed the account. One was for aviation fuel so the thief was possibly a pilot. I feel bad for the FBO, but I didn't buy fuel on Thursday.

I'm sure this can happen anywhere WiFI is used so be sure to check your CC statements closely and challenge any suspicious charges.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geico266

Maybe it was at one of the resturants I went to. All I know is someone was buying $3K of stereo equipment on my CC.

Wonder if the title of this thread should be changed?