ltrain

Hi guys,

I recently signed up for the Google checkout deal to save $10 off of $30 at buy.com and used my credit card to register. Normally I'm not one to be paranoid about using my CC online, but tonight I noticed a strange charge on my online statement from some place called "CWI CALLWAVE" or something like that. The charge was for $11.95.

I called my credit card company and inquired about the charge. They gave me a toll free telephone number to contact this CALLWAVE company to find out what the deal was. The guy I spoke with explained that it was some type of online caller ID or something. Needless to say I was like

Having no idea what this place was and pretty confident that I hadn't gotten drunk and signed up for this service, I called my CC company back and told them that I wanted to contest the charges. They were very helpful and explained that they would have to close my account, because there probably had been some kind of security breach or something.

Anyway, the only "out of the ordinary" transactions that I used this card for lately were the Google checkout buy.com thing and Family Video (FV had some sweet deals with their $5 off coupon.) These trandactions were both within the last couple of weeks.

So to make a long story short, has anyone else had any issues with their CC's after making legit DVD purchases at either of these establishments? I'm not here to stir up any trouble or blame any particular company for what might have happened, I just want to know if I'm not the only one it may have happened to.


P.S. - I remember chuckling to myself after reading some posts about other members only using those one-time-only "gift" credit cards for online purchases and thinking they were being overly cautious. I guess the joke is on me.

IDrinkMolson

Callwave is an internet answering machine. I used to use it when I was on dial-up. It requires you to notify your phone carrier to redirect your phone calls to their servers when callers get a busy signal .

http://www.callwave.com/landing/webRegOffer_cia.asp

ltrain

Yeah, I googled it and figured out what it was, but I definitely didn't sign up for it. (I don't have dial-up either.) Thanks though. I'm just curious how they got my CC info.

amd555

i dont think it was a google checkoit roblem, they just got access to your account somehow. I would cancel the card and get a new account #

ltrain

Yeah, I'm supposed to receive a new card and account number in the mail in the next week or so. I suppose that it could be just a coincidence that it happened soon after using the card with google checkout and buy.com but I just found it to be a strange coincidence.

dvdtalkr

Hey whoever.
I also had the CWI*CALLWAVE on my credit card statement statement for 3.95 a month, anyway I had signed up for a phone number for my wife through gizmoproject and forgotten about it. anyway that's what I was being charged for.
if you call your CC company they should be able to give you a phone number that's associated with the charge.

the number for callwave the lady at the CC gave me was:

1.888.777.2807


hope this helps someone.
bye
that jon jackson

it's that christian t-shirt company.
www.crossoverts.com

what can u do?
www.desigu.com

Jah-Wren Ryel

If your card# was stolen, do not assume that it was due to a recent transaction. Numbers sit around in databases for years, all it takes for one disgruntled employee to make a copy of their customer database and the card you haven't used for a year is now on the black market.

PS - while there are "gift certificates" that work like credit cards (or more like debit cards), normal one-time use numbers are not related to gifts at all. If you have a BoA or a Citibank card, then you can do one-time numbers right now, just log in to your account on their website and poke around - the BoA one was inherited from MBNA where it was called ShopSafe. You simply enter the limit and the expiration date and it generates the number for you right there, takes about 30 seconds, including the step of logging in. I use them for every single online transaction I make - compared to the amount of time I spend actually researching and shopping, the extra 30 seconds at the end is nothing.

kitten*fish

i JUST had this happen to me last wednesday as well! i signed up for google checkout and the next day i got a call from the fraud dept of my cc (wells fargo) saying that there was a charge of $1 from google and a charge from allhotels.com for $598!!!!! i was like "WHAT?????" luckily they caught it. i've been ordering online for about ten years and have never had a problem. i figured it somehow stemmed from google.com as well. i'm sorry to hear this is not an isolated incident!

anybody else?

ESG927

I've only had one fradulent credit charge, which was quite a few years ago. I never found out where it might have originated, but it was cleared up quickly by my cc company at the time. Now, I more closely monitor my credit cards, which is easy to do online. I even have them set to notify me via email whenever a transaction is posted. Now I'm sure to catch anything quickly.

My recent buy.com purchase through google checkout went through just fine.