Hacker Steals My Credit Card
It was a Wednesday morning, nothing unusual until I started receiving several emails from Ebay stating a new account was opened using my credit/debit card. At first I passed it off as just some kind of phishing email scam, however then I got 7 more emails just like it in a row.
“Could this be some kind of Ebay error?” I said to myself.
Well I contacted Ebay, and no surprise, I had to wait 24 to 48 hours for any kind of reply. So I figured I would wait and see what ebay had to say. (As of this writing it’s been 36 hours and still no reply.)
Later that day I logged into my bank account. To my shock I had 7 one-dollar charges in my account, apparently someone had been using my information to set up bogus ebay accounts and ebay was charging my account a dollar to verify my bank account was active.
Immediately I called my bank, they canceled the card and strongly recommended I set up a new account. Not being one to take unnecessary risks, especially when it comes to online fraud, I closed the account.
Now I have the pleasant task of ordering and paying for new checks, stamps, deposit slips, notifying ClickBank, Adwords, Adsense, Yahoo! Publisher Network, Aweber, Commission Junction, Paypal, Ebay, my Web Host, and a few dozen other places that automatically bill me or send me direct deposits.
So to Mr. or Mrs. Thief whole stole my information, if by some crazy chance you’re reading this, I forgive you, it must be hard to make a legitimate living online if you don’t know how to be an Internet marketer. 
Sorry to hear about your troubles, Miles. Something similar happened to me the year before last.
By any chance, was the stolen credit card just renewed? It turns out, the person who stole my credit card info probably got it from my renewal card that was mailed out to me.
In any event, I’m glad to hear no serious damage was done (i.e. large purchases or fraud with the opened eBay accounts) and that you were able to get yourself set up with a new card. Am sorry you have to go through the hassle, though.
~ Teli
My card wasn’t set to expire for some time, I think it was taken from an online transaction sometime over the past few years, although it could of been an offline transaction at a place like Office Depot or something. Although since 90% of my transactions were online and the fraud was done online, my best guess is someone who I bought something from or one of their employees got a hold of it.
Your lucky they only opened a few eBay accounts, why would somebody steel your credit card information just to open 6 eBay account? I hope they don’t think their going to make any money from EBay!
I’m sure so they could rip people off promoting items they do not have or other various scams.
This very thing happened to me this morning. The thieve(s) only set up 3 ebay accounts and purchased a wallet ($30.00). I wasn’t charged the $1 per account by ebay, though. I do find it interesting that it may be related to a renewed card as ebay required me to update my renewed card info about 2 weeks ago. (I did this securely (hmmm) logged into my very own ebay account, of course!) I am a computer specialist and am highly trained in computer security. Every finger points at ebay, as my new card has not been used anywhere else online, and ebay is the only place that I have given my new information to. Inside job???? Maybe!!!