Worried

[allyb]

Just a word of warning for anyone who donated to Canary and a Coal Mine...payment was through amazon and I got an email saying mine had been denied today....but then I got one with the same amazon logo asking me to fax me a credit card bill to verify my identity. As brain fogged and ill as I was I rang the Bank who said it was fraudulent........Amazon said the same. I still haven't managed to get the payment to go through as my head is mashed with it all. Its so bloody scary.........who would know that I had just tried to make a payment by Amazon......it was all too synchronized to be opportunist. Also my computer then shut down and the email disappeared......luckily I had sent Amazon a copy so I have a duplicate in my sent box that is still there...............am gutted and feel so ill..............but desperately wanted to warn anyone else in the community and I also wanted to make that donation and support the charity

allyb

 

[beaker]

I'm so sorry this happened to you . Scary. I'm not very tech savvy, it sounds like your account has been hacked into some way or another. Hopefully more tech knowledgeable members can explain what most likely happened.
Your brain was working well enough that you called the bank. Good for you !!

 

[minkeygirl]

I had no problem. I got an email from Amazon telling me the payment was made. I agree with beaker. It sounds like you got hacked.

And inspire of your brain issues, you were on it enough to know something was off. Good for you.

 

[Esther12]

It does sound like it would be worth checking your PC for troubles. Best of luck with it all, and well done not falling for it.

 

[Bob]

Hi Ally, it's possible that you might have a virus on your computer. I suggest running a virus scan, and then (after the virus scan) change your Amazon account password, and your email account password. This usually fixes computer hacks.

(Emails are often the most likely target for hackers, esp if you have a Yahoo, Gmail or Hotmail account. If it's an email hack, it's a very common thing to happen, so don't worry about it. It just means that you had a virus attached to an incoming email. A virus scan, and a change of password will always fix it, in my experience.)

There are reliable free virus scanners to be found online. If you don't have one, and need some direction, then let me know, and I'll post a link.

Actually, here is the Microsoft one...

This is a one-time (one-off) virus scan, which can be run along-side other anti-virus software:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-gb/default.aspx

And this is a full virus scanner, that you can run on your PC permanently as your sole virus scanner:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security/pc-security/mse.aspx

 

[alex3619]

Sorry allyb. We have to be so vigilant today. I regularly get email claiming to be from Paypal, Amazon, various banks etc. and most of these I have never dealt with.

These professional cyber cons have fake websites that look exactly like the ones you are supposed to be going to. They have viruses that can infect your computer and alter http addresses, called redirect viruses. I had one a few months back that forced me to wipe my hard drive and start again.

Do run your virus checker. If you have one of these it might not be able to remove it though. These viruses are from serious cyber criminals.

 

[Bob]

...who would know that I had just tried to make a payment by Amazon......it was all too synchronized to be opportunist. Also my computer then shut down and the email disappeared...

What happens is that a virus will scan your incoming emails for information.
It registered that you'd received an email from Amazon, and then automatically spammed out an Amazon look-alike email to you.
It probably won't have registered your Amazon log-in details, but it might have recorded your email password.
That's why you need to change your email password after a virus scan, and change your Amazon password to be safe.
That's my best guess about what happened, based on past experience.
Like I said earlier, this really does happen a lot, and is usually fixed very quickly.

 

[taniaaust1]

sorry to hear that happened to you.

I dont trust personal computers enough to be doing anything like that on them, too many hackers out there and I know Im not always smart with things. I tend to use my local libraries computer when Im dealing with money throu computer as I figure the gov system would be less likely to be being hacked into or less likely to let a virus in.

I doubt if it would be the place you were donating too which was the issue..,but rather as the others said, you've got hacked into.

 

[user9876]

..who would know that I had just tried to make a payment by Amazon......it was all too synchronized to be opportunist. Also my computer then shut down and the email disappeared......luckily I had sent Amazon a copy so I have a duplicate in my sent box that is still there...............am gutted and feel so ill..............but desperately wanted to warn anyone else in the community and I also wanted to make that donation and support the charity

allyb

They don't need to know you had a payment through amazon. They tend to send out mass mailings so that those people who have had a payment will notice the email but others will just ignore it.

With spam emails there is a danger in opening any attachments or going to any web sites they point to as this can cause your computer to become infected. As Bob says run a virus scan on the computer. Assuming you are using a windows computer Microsoft do a virus scanner which is pretty good.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/security-essentials-download
Also changing passwords is a good idea.

The most important thing to do for security is make sure your software is up to date. Its a good idea to have microsoft updates enabled and also accept updates from Adobe and Java updates. I would also disable Java on all browsers.

 

[Ecoclimber]

Just a word of warning for anyone who donated to Canary and a Coal Mine...payment was through amazon and I got an email saying mine had been denied today....but then I got one with the same amazon logo asking me to fax me a credit card bill to verify my identity. As brain fogged and ill as I was I rang the Bank who said it was fraudulent........Amazon said the same. I still haven't managed to get the payment to go through as my head is mashed with it all. Its so bloody scary.........who would know that I had just tried to make a payment by Amazon......it was all too synchronized to be opportunist. Also my computer then shut down and the email disappeared......luckily I had sent Amazon a copy so I have a duplicate in my sent box that is still there...............am gutted and feel so ill..............but desperately wanted to warn anyone else in the community and I also wanted to make that donation and support the charity

allyb

Go to this site to make sure that you did not download any malware, trogan, spyware, keyloggers or phishing site.
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=35 on to your computer. They will check it for you for free, You will have to register and do some prescan logs of your system prior to posting. If is a significant amount, I would contact the police, since you live outside the U.S. it can't be reported to FBI ICCC.but the UK may have a similar setup.

Make sure that you have an up to date browser that connects with https secure. You should have an antivirus progam on your computer as well malewarebyte that will protect in real time,

 

[allyb]

Thank you so much all for your advice…….I have changed my passwords and I’m working through the rest……. (my security in Webroot Complete.) And I will update you kindly folk, when I get a second wind….

Please could I run the rest of the farcical, energy stealing situation by you……………

My Bank said that Amazon have taken 61p=$1 out of my account on the 22nd then again 25th (yesterday) then again at 10am today; basically each time that I have tried to make a transaction ………Then I get an email from Kickstart saying…….”Your pledge to Canary in a Coalmine is being processed we will contact you by email when it’s complete…..BUT……then the email arrives saying……………

* The Maximum authorized amount is the total amount you authorized to be charged to your payment method over the valid payment period. The total amount for all transactions cannot be greater than the maximum amount you authorized.
To view or cancel existing payment authorizations:
1. Log into your Amazon Payments account by visiting https://payments.amazon.com/ .
2. Click on the "Edit Your Account Settings" link.
3. Select "Change my payment authorizations".
4. Click to select the authorization that you want to view or cancel.

If you need to change the payment method used for a payment authorization, please return to Kickstarter, Inc.'s web site. You should find a link to change your payment method there.

Thank you for using Amazon Payments.

For further information about Amazon Payments please visit our Help pages:

And it goes round in the same eternal loop…………I have now spoken with my bank 3 times….They say everything is in order with them and the fault lays with Amazon……who they say haven’t even attempted/requested to withdraw anymore than 61p/$1 from my account.

I have spoken with Amazon twice yesterday…… the Amazon representative wasn’t even aware that Amazon operated this charity debit facility??? I spoke to them again today…….Agggggg it’s a nightmare.....they are clueless!!!!!the Kickstart page doesn’t offer any help as I can see………it just sends you around in this same eternal loop. If it’s not sorted by 28th I can’t donate
………… I’m shattered the appealing ”one click” has turned into a logistical challenge akin to me turning out for a triathlon in the Olympics. I know for a fact all those involved in Canary in a Coalmine would be appalled and I don’t know where to go with it.

Many thanks kindly folk
allyxx

 

[Bob]

Hi ally, you need to change your passwords after you run a virus scan. Good luck.

 

[allyb]

Thanks @Bob

And just to update you kindly folks.................in desperation I cut n pasted that last message to Canary in a Coal Mine..............and Jen bless her email me back and said she'll sort it
ally

 

[Sushi]

sorry to hear that happened to you.

I dont trust personal computers enough to be doing anything like that on them, too many hackers out there and I know Im not always smart with things. I tend to use my local libraries computer when Im dealing with money throu computer as I figure the gov system would be less likely to be being hacked into or less likely to let a virus in.

I doubt if it would be the place you were donating too which was the issue..,but rather as the others said, you've got hacked into.

Hi Tania,

I'm not sure about trusting computers at libraries for financial transactions. That is something we have been warned against. Maybe some more tech knowledgeable person can comment on this.

Sushi

 

[Bob]

I'm not sure about trusting computers at libraries for financial transactions. That is something we have been warned against. Maybe some more tech knowledgeable person can comment on this.

Like you say, it's not advised to use public computers for making sensitive private transactions.
But perhaps a library computer is just as safe as a private computer, if you don't trust your own technical abilities and think you might have viruses on your own computer.
Ninety nine times out of a hundred, using a public computer is probably perfectly safe. (I've never had any problems with public computers so far.)

A public computer would usually have to have some dodgy software (spyware/virus) installed on it for it to be a security issue, and as it's a public computer many people have access to it, so there is a possibility of it being hacked.

But the same goes for private computers, which easily get infected with viruses via websites and emails.
It's essential to use anti-virus software on a personal computer.

(I'm not a security expert though!)