Fraudulent Online Purchase from Toys R Us

I wonder how someone can use a debit card without your A.T.M. password
and do it on-line. I might be naive so please explain so it won't
happen to me. Thank you

I had my debit card number stolen last August from some place called
Mobile Themes Central out of TN. It was for only 9.69 but it really
ticked me off. There was a phone number on my statement for this place
and of course when I called it I got a disconnected number message.

I looked up the area code and sent an email to the police there, then
looked up the name on the internet and it seems that many other people
had the same amount taken from their accounts as well from this mobile
themes place. All around the same time too.

It will always be a mystery on how my account number was found out
unless they did a random number sequence until they hit one, but I am
very happy it was for only 9.69 and not hundreds like some other poor
people.

I won't repeat what the others said, but I will add something about
your question regarding shipping address, signature, etc.

Toys R Us is not likely to provide this information directly to you.
As a matter of policy, it's reasonable for them not to simply hand
over this kind of information. Even though, of course, you were
clearly the wronged person.

While it was a pain that you had to go and fill out an affidavit, get
a new debit card, etc., this is not sufficient reason for TRU to hand
over the information you're requested.

However... your bank, since they are the ones who will be paying the
$501.11 (you've been reimbursed) can certainly file a criminal
complaint. In fact, if you want, you can do this too. At that point,
if the FBI (since this was likely a cross-state crime) can decide if
they want to pursue this to the extent of getting the shipment
address.

Don't confuse criminal charges ("prosecute"), which will yield you
absolutely nothing other than the satisfaction of seeing someone go to
jail, and a civil lawsuit, where you can sue and collect some sort of
compensation.

Sorry this happened. For what it's worth, I don't think you were
careless with your information. And, based on what others have said
(and I've experienced, as someone that has purchased from TRU.com), I
think that they do a good enough job trying to "verify" that a card
being used online is valid.

As an aside, someone would have to be pretty stupid to use a stolen
credit/debit card and have something shipped to their own address.
While this might be a stupid person, there are several ways that
criminals use to avoid getting caught this way. The most common is to
use a shipping address of someone else's house, perhaps on the other
side of the same town. If you know someone isn't going to be home to
pick up their packages and you know when something will arrive, it's
pretty easy to just drop by and pick up your package. The same can be
done by shipping to a business that's lax about checking to see if the
person picking up the package in the mail room is really an employee.

In any case, your "fear" might also be your solution: if you want to
avoid this, you just might need to not use use debit cards online. I
don't like debit cards for this reason. I stick to credit cards
(which I pay off) because they are somewhat safer. Doesn't stop the
criminals, but it makes it easier for me to contest fraudulent
charges.

One customer is ticked that they're order was cancelled because the
company TRIED to verify the order by phone and couldn't.

Now this OP is mad because they DIDN'T verify the order.

While I understand that you are, justifiably, angry, you are
completely overreacting here and lashing out at everyone involved
instead of the true culprit.

As Final said, it's not TRU's fault. They did everything they could
and at this time of year, the scumbags are running rampant.

Also, TRU should be cooperating with the local police (provided a
report was made) to provide any identifying information about the
thief, but they don't have to (nor should they) furnish that
information directly to you. I don't know if you even CAN file a
civil suit over identity theft. Just leave the criminals to the
police and focus on correcting and protecting your credit.

I decided to go online and see what kind of checkout process TRU has
for credit card security (started placing an order to that point).
Just like any other site, they do require the 3-digit code from the
back of the card to verify that it is the cardholder making the
purchase.

While I do feel you are the victim here, and this is not your fault, I
also feel that TRU is NOT the bad guy. You are a victim of identity
theft, probably due to poor security at some other online retailer, or
someone who may have gotten a hold of your card.

Make a list of every place you have used the card, and make sure you
include that in a police report. Since your bank is refunding your
money, TRU doesn't owe you any thing. They did their part by having
the necessary security features on their website, the fraud took place
before this purchase was even made. Concentrate your efforts on
finding out when your card information was stolen to begin with.

Good luck!

Any online shopping I"ve done in the past year requires me to put in
that "secret" 3-digit code that's on the back of my debit card. If
TRU doesn't require this at check-out, they should. And if they
don't, they should be held responsible for allowing fraud to occur.

If they do require this info, how did someone get your info? It could
be a store clerk, or it could be someone close to you (relative,
friend, neighbor).

It also could be the result of electronic theft like what happened
with TJMaxx and Marshall's recently -- their whole database was at
risk and the companies had laxer security than most people's lousy PCs
at home.

Good luck getting your $500 back! AND SOON!

Normally I would say that there probably isn't much TRU can do to
verify identity online. However, this past weekend I ordered something
online from Sears.com. They had a verification process which I elected
to participate in. It was creepy - I swear they knew about me than I
did myself.

The only problem was that this verification process was optional, so
if an identity thief didn't want to participate in it, they didn't
have to. I was just thinking that it would be cool if other online
retailers could be systems like this in place, only make them
non-optional.

Other than that, I don't know how else TRU can verify information.
Generally, online retailers do NOT call your bank to verify
information, and quite frankly, if they did, I can't imagine the bank
would even talk to them. I certainly wouldn't want my bank giving out
private information to retailers.

In the end, it isn't necessarily your fault your identity was stolen,
but it isn't TRU's either. It sounds like your bank will restore the
stolen money, so be thankful you caught it early and could take steps
to correct it before it was too late.

While I don't think this is your fault (as others have said), I don't
think it's ToysR Us's either. Obviously the person who placed the
order had the necessary security information.

If the bank gave you back the money, why should Toys R Us as well? I
think at this point it's between TRU and the bank. You need to give
this some time so they can resolve it.

Is this your first attempt at contacting them? If so, I think you
need to be more proactive and contact them via phone. You don't know
how many hands this letter might go through at TRU.

I do not agree in the least that this issue is the OP's fault. Let's
put the blame on the ONLY guilty party, the person who stole the CC #.
It would be nice if TRU is able to provide the police with a shipping
address. That should help in tracking the guilty party. However,
that does not necessarily mean that the shipping address belongs to
the guilty party. The sad truth of it is that there are actually
people out there gullible enough to purchase items on the internet and
then reroute them for a fee. Many of these people don't understand
they are using stolen CC #'s. Some do.

I agree with those that posted regarding a refund. My SIL just had
her CC # stolen through Paypal and did receive her money back, it just
took a while. A few weeks if I remember correctly. As much as you
would like to blame TRU for this inconvenience, it wasn't their fault
either. The person that stole your CC# also stole the information
needed to "verify" your information.

Toys R Us will not pay you back a refund if your bank already agreed
to do so. However, I do not agree that this is your fault in any way.
Sometimes, unfortunately, these things happen in the electronic world
we live in.

I totally agree with this first comment. And just an addendum could it
be someone you know maybe a relative, friend, etc who got hold of your
card and did this?
Finding out where this order was sent would be helpful but you already
made a report with your bank to restore the money to your account so
why are you asking Toys-R-Us to reimburse you again?
You cannot come out better than you were before this began, you can
only be made whole.

However if they do find out who did this you can have them prosecuted
for fraud and theft.

And as Sue wrote make sure you have your system scanned for any
viruses/programs that caused this.

You said the bank is giving you your money bank so you aren't entitled
to a dime from ToysRUs. They do verify identity. I just ordered my
neice and nephew's gifts from them. They ask for the 3 digit security
code on the card and participate in the MasterCard SecureCode program
as well as the Visa equivilent.

I understand you are angry but this is your fault. You were either
careless with your personal info or you have malware on your computer
that stole it. I would stop using the internet until you run a full
virus scan on your system if I were you.

Websites do the best they can to prevent fraud, which is why they ask
for the three digit code on your card, make sure the address and phone
number you give matches your card, etc. Expecting them or any company
to personally call your bank is ridiculous.

Since this is an urgent matter why are you wasting time writing
letters? I'd have called ToysRUs right away, and you should too. Their
customer service phone number is right on their site. Good luck.