I have a bit of a mystery going on right now and it has me very much frazzled.
This morning when I was checking my e-mail with my morning coffee, something I do every day, I noticed two e-mails thanking me for my recent Walmart purchases. The only problem is I DIDN’T order anything from Walmart!
I thought it might be a scam. I didn’t click on any links in the e-mail. Instead I went to Walmart.com and logged into my account. Sure enough there were TWO charges made yesterday for XBox Live 12-month subscriptions at a tune of $49.96. They were paid for with one of my American Express gift cards.
UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I looked up the card on the American Express website and sure enough there were the charges. There was also a charge from Dominos. I DID order from Dominos, but there was a problem with the order. Something I ordered they didn’t have. The Dominos employee called me and I requested a refund and he asked for the card number that was used to issue a refund. I rarely ever give card numbers over the phone. You never know who could be listening.
It just seems odd that I verbally gave the card number to the employee and then a few weeks later these charges appear. You can’t help but feel that the Dominos employee, or someone in the store, took the card number and placed the order. It’s only human nature to think that way. That is why I want to gather up all the information I can.
I mentioned this on my blog’s Facebook page. One reader said the same thing happened to her (also with XBox Live memberships) on her Citibank card. Apparently Citibank owns AMEX (or vice versa – or they are partnered some how). Humm… My card was is an AMEX gift card, not Citibank. But that is interesting that she had the same Xbox Live charges.
Then I heard from another reader who said the same Xbox Live charges showed up on her card/account from Walmart as well. She said never shop online at Walmart. The sad thing is that I shop online at Walmart a lot.
THANKFULLY it was on a gift card (which has since been suspended – although there was only $9.00+ left on the card). But the sad thing is I’m out almost $100! That was money that was earmarked for school supplies.
To make matters worst the membership codes were e-maild to ME! What the heck am I going to do with these things when I never ordered them or even want them.
I’m curious to know if you have been a victim of this XBox Live Membership thing? If so, where was the membership purchased from? Walmart? Elsewhere?
Is the Dominos employee (or one of them) to blame? Is it a Walmart issue? Does it have to do with American Express? Ugh!!!!
If you have any information or know of anything please comment or let me know or feel free to e-mail me directly. I am sure I’ll never get my money back, but hopefully I can find out more to forewarn others so that they are not victims of this fraud either.
** UPDATE ** This appears to be happening a lot. Check out the comments on a Facebook thread I started about this – http://www.facebook.com/SheScribes#!/SheScribes/posts/10150998415376673.
Also, if you every ordered online at Walmart.com and you have an account ALL of the cards you used are on the site. I just went to “My Account” and then “Payment Method Details”. I was shocked to find card information going all the way back to 2005!
If you’ve place online orders with Walmart.com please go to your account and DELETE the cards they have on file. Hopefully this will help prevent mysterious charges showing up on your card.
I really hope that this has nothing to do with Walmart. I shop online through them and I would hate to have to stop doing so in fear of having my account and card numbers compromised.
Kimberly
About Kimberly
hey i posted on your facebook thread about it. I started a status on Walmart. I hope I don’t mind but I tagged she scribes in it to let them know you were having issues too. Doing searches online, it seems this is a bigger problem then they think
I just deleted my info- I am thinking their payment info must have been hacked somehow. Did you try to contact Wal-mart to see about cancelling the charges?
Walmart’s facebook page told me to email a complaint to fbsuprt@wal-mart.com, reference number 13175. Include your order numbers.
Anyone live in South Florida? Someone should tell “Help Me Howard”. Seriously.
Happened to me today, got the two emails, went to wal mart and immediately deleted my credit card, talked to an online CSR, she said it’s happening a lot and they don’t know who’s doing it. I talked to chase (my bank) and they said I wouldn’t be charged. Had to get my cc # changed.
Just happened to us today. Currently trying to track down info and sort it out. Also noticed my Pinterest account has been hacked and a pin is up that I didn’t do. Found your post through a Google search.
This also happend to me early Friday morning 08/24/2012. There were 2 charges one when through and the other did not. This must be an internal problem with walmart.com because when I called my bank to report the fraud the agent told me that she had just delt with a similar call. I took walmart forever to reply to my e-mails and I seemed to get the run round with the 1800 number until i finally got connected to the fraud dept. I was told to file a police report and it had to be on police letterhead and to fax it to 1-479-204-0074. They never stated that they would attempt to refund the charges but that Walmart.com will release information to law enforcement on my behalf. I’m sorry but WTF?! If I have to go down to a police station and file a report havent I already informed law enforcement?
This seems like alot of work on my part for something that I’m a victim of their lousy site security.
I deleted all my cards off the walmart.com site and my bank issued me a new card.
This is the email I was later sent but it seems like a waste of my time if my bank is gonna fix the charges!
Thank you for contacting Walmart.com regarding the unauthorized orders placed on your account. We are glad to review this matter for you.
Based on our records there are two recent orders placed on your account for the Xbox LIVE 12-Month Gold Membership Online Game Code. One has been cancelled but the second has shipped already. We encourage you to contact your card provider and dispute the charges. We would like to bring to your attention that Walmart.com will release information to law enforcement on your behalf once we are provided with the documentation below. The completed documents can be faxed to 1-479-204-0074. Once the fax is received, our billing department will work with your local authorities to provide the requested information as quickly as possible.
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A copy of a police report on police letterhead evidencing the claim of fraud by the victim of identity theft
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A declaration from the victim certifying the accuracy of the police report and authorizing Walmart.com to release information to the law enforcement department identified in that report
Leila, while we strive to deliver the best experience possible, we apologize that certain conditions sometimes prevent that from happening. If you have additional questions, please reply to this email.
Sincerely,
Walmart.com Customer Care
I just wanted to say that I got hacked today from walmart.com too. I was attempted a charge for 2 xbox live 4000 point cards 49.96 each! I panicked and called my bank and walmart. My bank cancelled my card and is sending me a new credit card with new digits. Walmart I had a live chat with 2 different people neither were helpful. They both told me to fill out an affidavit and I would receive a full run down on what happened and who hacked in to my account. I’m not going to fill out their stupid affidavit and give them ANY more personal information on me! I can’t trust walmart anymore. Thankfully both of those charges did not go through, by the way. I got a follow up email from walmart saying there was an error of some kind so I wasn’t charged. However, it’s still pending on my bank account and I have to wait 10 days for it to drop off. This sucks!! Very curious about this though because I haven’t purchased anything from walmart in YEARS up until last friday when I ordered some cute bedding on sale. My identity nor bank account has ever been compromised until now. Something’s very peculiar about this and I think Walmart needs to put out a public statement that their system has been compromised by hackers. I’m very disappointed!
This happened to me yesterday. I just happened to to check my bank activity and there it was a charge for 49.96. I called the bank to report the fradulent charge and they cancelled my card and asked me to come in at my earliest convenience to dispute the charge. It was for Walmart.com. I haven’t used Walmart.com since October, and I have never used my card on their site, only in the store. I have only had it for a few months. When I called Walmart.com, they gave me the information about what was charged and the email the code was sent to. It does not sound like any email of anyone in my family. They were not helpful. Very upset, this is the First time my account information has ever been compromised and I’m pretty upset about it.
This just happened to me today. Luckily i got another email 7 minutes later that said “Unfortunately, due to an error processing payment information, we have had to cancel the following order.” I do have a pending charge on my Chase credit card but that should go away.