Beware: Wideners credit/debit cards hacked?

toolness1 · Mar 25, 2014

I ran into a thread on Gun boards, and apparently ar15.com and other forums are reporting this too.

Apparently Wideners customers' credit card information has been hacked. Many people who ordered from Wideners in the last month have had fraudulent charges on their accounts and have had to cancel cards and start fraud reporting/investigation on their accounts.

This includes me. I ordered from Wideners in early march. Last week I noticed a $267 charge from a fashion store in Beijing on my account. Soon after, two random luxury hotels placed pending charges on my account from different states.

I had to cancel my card, but if you have pending charges that doesn't get you immediately out of the water. You usually have to wait until the final amounts come in. Luckily this was a secondary account I have set up just for online ordering. If this happens to your main, or only account, you can end up with no debit or credit card for up to a couple weeks (depending on your bank).

Apparently Wideners is aware but chose not to warn their customers. I'm not here to argue about that, I've had good luck with them in all my transactions. However, if they knew about this and didn't warn their customers, I will think twice about using them in the future.

This could all be a coincidence, who knows. But I want anyone who has used a credit or debit card with Wideners in the last month or two to be aware and double check their accounts.

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BlackBart · Mar 25, 2014

Now this would SUCK! :mad54:

toolness1 · Mar 25, 2014

Again, I don't feel right calling out Wideners like this. Please don't take it that way. They have always been good to me

I'm only reporting my personal experience as well as that of several people on gunboards, and apparently over 15 on ar15.com.

I hope you all check your accounts and find nothing but low balances from your C&R addictions

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toolness1 · Mar 25, 2014

One guy from gunboards had 7K worth of plane tickets on his account. I'm glad I only had the hotel and fashion store charges!

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toolness1 · Mar 25, 2014

READ THIS THREAD, its crazy how many people this has happened to. I would say there's not much of a chance this is a coincidence. It may not be Wideners fault, but they should still be warning people because its pretty obvious their computer is compromised or their processing company is.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_4_64/154473_credit_card_stolen_after_purchase_at_wideners.html

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toolness1 · Mar 25, 2014

http://www.theliberalgunclub.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=26857

More people talking about this issue (found that site with a Google search BTW)

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fred333 · Mar 25, 2014

Check with your bank or credit card issuer to see if they offer an online virtual card number generator. The generator generates a one-time-use virtual credit card number, expiry date and CVV code for use in online and telephone purchases. It works just like your regular credit card in that it looks/works just like a normal credit card to the merchant. However, if the same number gets used again or is double-billed for another purchase, red flags automatically go off at the bank and the charge is either auto-rejected or the user is required to phone the bank to clear the charge (which the bank is unlikely to do).

Although this won't help for in-store/face-to-face purchases with your real card, I can't tell you how many times it's saved my cookies when an online retailer's been hacked.

toolness1 · Mar 25, 2014

That's a good idea. I'll have to check into that. I wish my actual bank had that, but I live in the boonies and they just finally got mobile banking within the last year so I doubt it...

I may just start using a credit card with a 1K limit for all my online purchases. Then immediately pay off the card after each purchase. That way I'm not risking my bank account getting hacked every time I order with a debit card. Even though I was using the PayPal debit, it was still linked to my bank account...

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Dave91 · Mar 25, 2014

It happened to me a few days ago. Luckily it was a few small charges that my bank recognized and declined.

Machodoc · Mar 25, 2014

While I have bought from Widener's in the past, I haven't gotten anything from them in the past few months. Nevertheless, my credit card got hacked about a week ago. In my case, the card company's alert system caught the "testing" charge and sent me an e-mail about it. While I was following up on the e-mail, I got a call from the card company. They stopped that card and issued me a new one within 4-5 days. So it may not just be Wideners.

toolness1 · Mar 25, 2014

True, it may not be... it just seems like an awful lot of people having it happen with Wideners purchases in common..some of them even claim no purchases had been made elsewhere in some time with the cards that got hacked..

Its probably not Wideners fault IF they were the origin of the breech. But if they know, a warning email to some customers would be nice. Just be aware if you order from them. Not all banks/cards will catch this stuff, nor are all of them so good about taking care of it and getting you a new card.

Paypal had one to me in a week. When I contacted my bank, they said it would take at least two if I senses up having to cancel that one, and it would have been the entire account; not just the debit card.

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Dave91 · Mar 25, 2014

I'm not positive it was from Wideners, but it's the only thing that makes sense at the moment. It was a few small charges then a charge for about $70. Since they took place outside of the state, my bank flagged and declined the charges and issued me a new card. I'm really disappointed in wideners for not warning everyone. An email would have sufficed. To order from them you need an account with an email address. Just a send an email to everyone you have listed. How hard is that?

Sundazes · Mar 25, 2014

Dave91 said:
I'm not positive it was from Wideners, but it's the only thing that makes sense at the moment. It was a few small charges then a charge for about $70. Since they took place outside of the state, my bank flagged and declined the charges and issued me a new card. I'm really disappointed in wideners for not warning everyone. An email would have sufficed. To order from them you need an account with an email address. Just a send an email to everyone you have listed. How hard is that?

If they do business in CA, they, by law, have to inform people or face stiff penalties. I think a lot of states have similar laws.
Like someone said, it might not be them. It could be the processing company.

Sundazes · Mar 25, 2014

toolness1 said:
That's a good idea. I'll have to check into that. I wish my actual bank had that, but I live in the boonies and they just finally got mobile banking within the last year so I doubt it...

I may just start using a credit card with a 1K limit for all my online purchases. Then immediately pay off the card after each purchase. That way I'm not risking my bank account getting hacked every time I order with a debit card.
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Never ever ever ever ever use a debit card online.

cantstop · Mar 25, 2014

I feel bad for folks that got hacked. I had to put a fraud alert on a CC about 10 years ago and that was a serious PITA when I wanted to open a new money market account.

Ragnar · Mar 25, 2014

My Visa card number got highjacked a week and a half ago. I've been wondering how they may have obtained the number. I'm sure I've ordered from Wideners in the last couple months, so maybe that's where they got it.

The crooks tried to make a number of charges, including at Ebay India, but my bank declined all but one and then called me. They reversed the fraudulent charge, cancelled my card, and sent me a new one in a few days. All in all, it was a minor inconvenience.

Alphabrew · Mar 25, 2014

I checked my CC and I'm OK, no fraudulent charges.

Seagrave1963 · Mar 25, 2014

It's not Widener's - all you guys secretly shop at Target! :lol2:

Clark W. Griswold · Mar 25, 2014

Got me for a 1350 charge from expedia.com uk. Wonder where I'm going?
Card is cancelled and charges disputed.

I've recently ordered from wideners, sog and CMP so who knows where it came from

ericahls · Mar 25, 2014

I recently ordered from them and last Sunday had $2500 of fraudulent charges on my account from merry old England. Got my money back and issued new card.

Shit happens. Widener's has been a good source so I'll let it slide.

Beware: Wideners credit/debit cards hacked?

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