Windows Marketplace and your credit card details going missing - General Topics

has anyone ever had any issues with card fraud following a payment made to the windows mobile marketplace?
I paid for an app for the first time ever this week and since then my card details have been ripped and used to the total of £1500, I'm not massively worried about it as they generally refund this sort of thing (its happened to me before).
But has anyone ever input their card details to their live account via the phone and then had fraud on their card?
Just a note i flashed with a cooked rom from this site at the begining of the week and without accusing or anything like that, is it possible the ROM is the cause of the details leak or just that microsoft marketplace sux?
Many Thanks
Luke

It would most cetainly be possible, but I would say very improbable. That kinda crap gets the cops looking at you. Where as a true scammer would run your and 1000 other cards for $5-$10 each and 80% of the people never even know they got charged. Emptying the account will definetelly draw law enforcment and red flags. I would say it probably didn't come from your phone but you never know. I persoanlly keep an online card with like $100 in it, and a seperate account for savings at another bank.I'm sure you'll get your money back but your chances are just as good that it got stolen at mcdonalds or Citgo and sold on irc. Was it one charge or a bunch? Were there many charges offshore? I know they typically will set up pet stores in 3rd world countries and run the cards through there.

i still had the card, and its not my main account etc, but I only ever use it for paypal and occasional online purchases, the most recent one was this week to marketplace, and suddenly ive got 10 transactions to UK companies totalling £1500, cleaned the overdraft to the max
They were all seperate purchases, there was three to screwfixdirect totaling £900, some to O2 topup, some to game.co.uk etc...
Just seemed strange that the only time ive put the details into any form of online payment for months and i get robbed

Related

AT&T Fuze Warranty Replacement

Anyone here got his/her Fuze replaced under warranty (not insurance) from AT&T? I'd like to know the procedure as I bought it at AT&T online store not the local one. Can I still go to a local store and ask for repair/replacement?
It's been more than 30 days and I have tried probably most of the options available. The issue is that it freezes up frequently and it mostly happens while I am using Outlook over WiFi. Either loading a message (frequently) or doing a send/receive (sometimes).
I tried removing the SD card just to make sure that it's not the card or SD driver issue, but that didn't help much. The WiFi is also spotty at best, taking more than a minute to connect when I am just couple of feet away from the router and also disconnects frequently.
I have tried several different ROMs as well, so I guess the last option is to try a different phone. My other thread with the issues is here.
TIA.
Stores don't handle warranty claims, you have to go through the telephone support or take it to a Device Support Center. If you try to go to the store, they'll just call up the warranty line and hand you the phone, so don't waste your time with a trip to the store.
rexian said:
Anyone here got his/her Fuze replaced under warranty (not insurance) from AT&T? I'd like to know the procedure as I bought it at AT&T online store not the local one. Can I still go to a local store and ask for repair/replacement?
It's been more than 30 days and I have tried probably most of the options available. The issue is that it freezes up frequently and it mostly happens while I am using Outlook over WiFi. Either loading a message (frequently) or doing a send/receive (sometimes).
I tried removing the SD card just to make sure that it's not the card or SD driver issue, but that didn't help much. The WiFi is also spotty at best, taking more than a minute to connect when I am just couple of feet away from the router and also disconnects frequently.
I have tried several different ROMs as well, so I guess the last option is to try a different phone. My other thread with the issues is here.
TIA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just had my fuze replaced because it was freezing. go on at&t's website and call the 800 number and tell them your issue, took 3 business days to get to me.
jackschitt28 said:
just had my fuze replaced because it was freezing. go on at&t's website and call the 800 number and tell them your issue, took 3 business days to get to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What build date did you get and does it get hot when you use data like watching Cingular Video or similar?
Mine gets so hot it burned my finger and want to try to get one that doesn't have this issue(a newer build??), but not sure if they fixed it or if they all have this issue.
I work for AT&T in tech support and warrranty exchange.
After 30 days, you have to do Exchange by mail or at a device service center.
Thanks guys, I'll contact AT&T. I was hoping I don't have to send it back as I already put on an InvisibleShield screen protector. I am sure the protector will not be usable once I remove it from the device and I may have to order another one, but that's probably OK.
Another question, do I have to send it in before or I can ship it after receiving the replacement?
danbutter said:
What build date did you get and does it get hot when you use data like watching Cingular Video or similar?
Mine gets so hot it burned my finger and want to try to get one that doesn't have this issue(a newer build??), but not sure if they fixed it or if they all have this issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine gets a bit warm too when I have been browsing for few minutes (15+) or when it's downloading lot of emails. But it's never too hot to touch. Main issue is freezing while loading an email in Outlook and I am forced to reset.
I received the replacement Fuze on Friday and have been trying it for last 2 days with the stock ROM with only few apps (like CorePlayer, Resco Explorer etc) from the microSD card. It has the same problem and I had to reset it at least 6 times already.
What does it mean? I thought it'd be pretty unlikely for 2 phones exhibiting the same issues, no? Could it be the card?
Thanks.
i replaced my first fuze... just make sure to flash it back to factory rom and radio and if u have security unlocked your fuze... DO NOT and i mean DO NOT forget to PM olipro on how to security re-lock your phone. other than that it was a smooth transaction for me... i paid for next day shipping, got it the next morning.. same afternoon mailed my old phone back and that was it.
You said you tried several different roms... well that eliminates the software. And it is happening across 2 different phones...
So it could only be 2 things:
Problem with all Fuze phones
OR
Problem with something you are doing/using
I usually don't have to reset my FUZE often... nor have I heard of others having a big problem. So the problem has to be something on your end.
What programs are you installing? Remove your microSD card... maybe Email and/or Browser cache is being saved on the microSD card and causing a bottleneck = freezing.
Yes, since the new phone has everything stock and just a few apps, I'm quite sure it's not the software or else the forums would have been flooded with such complaints. Only thing common in these phones was the card. This A-Data microSD seems to be fine too when I connect it to my PC, but who knows.
I have installed a new ROM (Da_G clean ROM) on my first phone and every app (Spb Mobile Shell, CorePlayer, TorchButton, pcShutXP, Resco Explorer, Skyfire, Adv Confg) I want and running it for last couple of hours without the card. So far so good. I have opned at least 10 HTML emails in Gmail, Outlook & Hotmail without a crash. If it goes fine for a day, I guess we'll have an answer.
Only thing I am missing with this ROM is the HTC gesture in Outlook, Explorer etc. I tried the Da_G version of HTC gesture but it doesn't work. Thanks.
at&t thoughts & general warranty policy...
general policy:
w/in 30 days- store will handle returns- you get a brand new fuze.
after 30 days- tech support/warranty exchange for new or (more likely) refurbished units. I have recieved many refurbished units in the past with no problems. After 3 warranty /exchages, at&t generally offers you a different phone all together.
Make sure you return your device to them as it was originally sent to you. I found this out after returning a Nokia N-75 (att edition) with the non-branded Nokia update.... they don't like it very much and you get charged $200+. This means, PM Olipro if you have paid for security unlocking, reflash stock ROM, and I have to admit, I would try my best to have the stock SPL on there too....
Thanks friends. Sorry, I forgot to mention that I never got it security unlocked. So, I just need put the stock SPL back but now I am wondering what's the point in returning the old one as the new one is no better. It hung once today and I didn't even use it that much. So I'll return the new one and wait for 6.5 release to see if that improves anything for me.
i ordered mine online, it was freezing and such, i took it into the store before the 30 day mark and they exchanged it.
I think I should have done that too. Instead, I was trying different ROMs and software and finally when I contacted AT&T, 30 days were over. For me even the new one wasn't any better (probably they sent a refurb), so I returned it yesterday and kept the old one.
There's not much you can do about general bugginess in the phone - this is a characteristic of pretty much all smartphones. When I had the 8525 I must have exchanged it 5-6 times until I finally learned my lesson. From what I have heard Palm OS has the same problem. Even when I did a one-month trial of an iPhone I had to soft reset a lot. It's a bit like Windows 3.1 or 95/98 - it just has to be reset every so often or else it crashes. I have heard that blackberries (at least non-Storm blackberries) are better but I have never had one.
What really sucks about AT&T warranty service is that they don't ship internationally (as I just discovered). So, the ungrateful f$#%!s have taken my $39.99 a month for the last four months without my using a single minute, but they won't ship my replacement phone to me here in Israel. So much for an "international warranty."
If you are curious, my screen died, but that's the subject of another thread
I've got a small crack across the top right hand corner of my screen. I called today to make a warranty claim and she said that was physical damanage and they dont cover it. Which didnt make sense to me as I pay the 5 dollars a month for insurance on it and they said they would cover physical damage. That's niether here nor there though.
So I explained the screen cracked and she said she would talk to a warranty guy he said Nope wont cover it so she sent me to the insurance department saying I would have to pay 50 dollars for a replacement as part of the stipulations of the insurance I have. Okay kind of making sense.. 50 dollars I can handle not a big deal. The insurance lady then tells me that I have to pay 125 dollars for the phone. WHAT!? I was just told it would cost 50 dollars AND when I signed up I was told it would be 50 dollars. This didnt make any sense to me. She said 85-90 percent of their high end phones only cost 50 dollars to replace with the insurance but the fuze costs 125 dollars cause its a VERY high end phone. Grrrr I was specifically told it would be 50 by the people at the ATT store. Now granted they may not have known any better but if an employee promises you something I think the company should suck it up and stick to that deal.
SO I now have a fine working phone with a crack on the screen. They're telling me that it comes with a a year warranty which apparently doesnt cover anything and with the extra 5 dollars a month I pay for insurance ($65.00 a year tax inc) I still have to fork out a ton of cash.
Has anyone else experienced this with ATT? Any advice? I told them to hold on with the claim as I wasnt about to have them bill me an additional 125 dollars.
Thanks
Aaron McCarthy said:
I've got a small crack across the top right hand corner of my screen. I called today to make a warranty claim and she said that was physical damanage and they dont cover it. Which didnt make sense to me as I pay the 5 dollars a month for insurance on it and they said they would cover physical damage. That's niether here nor there though.
So I explained the screen cracked and she said she would talk to a warranty guy he said Nope wont cover it so she sent me to the insurance department saying I would have to pay 50 dollars for a replacement as part of the stipulations of the insurance I have. Okay kind of making sense.. 50 dollars I can handle not a big deal. The insurance lady then tells me that I have to pay 125 dollars for the phone. WHAT!? I was just told it would cost 50 dollars AND when I signed up I was told it would be 50 dollars. This didnt make any sense to me. She said 85-90 percent of their high end phones only cost 50 dollars to replace with the insurance but the fuze costs 125 dollars cause its a VERY high end phone. Grrrr I was specifically told it would be 50 by the people at the ATT store. Now granted they may not have known any better but if an employee promises you something I think the company should suck it up and stick to that deal.
SO I now have a fine working phone with a crack on the screen. They're telling me that it comes with a a year warranty which apparently doesnt cover anything and with the extra 5 dollars a month I pay for insurance ($65.00 a year tax inc) I still have to fork out a ton of cash.
Has anyone else experienced this with ATT? Any advice? I told them to hold on with the claim as I wasnt about to have them bill me an additional 125 dollars.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Aaron,
My friend is an expert at dealing with customer support and their bull$hit. From him, I have learned that you should just keep telling them what you were promised, regardless of what the "contract" may be. Tell them that their integrity rides on the matter of it, etc and if they don't fold ask for a manager or someone else that can actually help you out and give you waht you were promised. just don't give up and be persistent with them without getting upset or angry (try not to) and just complain until they give in. If you've been with them for a while, just tell them that you've given them sooo much money and you're a loyal customer, etc. Good luck!
double post, sorry, okay to delete

WARNING about HTCSimUnlock.com

Hi All,
Can I just share my poor experience with HTCSimUnlock.com.
Got the wife a new HTC Wildfire, which needed unlocking, so I had a scoot about a couple of threads on here and HTCSimUnlock.com seemed to be OK. So I paid my fee and waited for my code. Needless to say, it didn't go well. 20 minutes later I got an email back from them saying they couldn't find the code, but they had an *EXCLUSIVE* service for a deep search that I couldn't get any place else, but it would cost me the same money again. So started looking for the process to start this fully automatic refund they are supposed to offer. Nothing, I even tried with a second browser just in case Firefox has not showing it. So I ended up emailing them.... and again, and again. Nothing, other than spam offering insurance and backup services for the code they never sent me.
I've sent it to the credit card people as a fraud now, and it's up to them to chase these people.
I ended up going to a UK unlocker who were charging the same fee HTCSimUnlock.com tried to charge by deception, but at least they had the decency to stipulate before hand that newer handsets would cost more.
Needless to say, I would not recommend these people(person) Their claim of an automatic refund is untrue.
Interesting I went to them aswell based on the good reviews.
I also paid for my order yesterday to unlock the wildfire. But as of yet no e-mail.
It does say it can take up to 24 hours, so the INSTANT DELIVERY on their home page is a little misleading. I'll see how it goes and report back for people that are interested.
Great, I just ordered a code from them too...paid via credit card so I guess if I don't hear anything from them i'll have to call my bank about it.
sigh, i guess it was only $17AUD. or at least i hope thats all they actually charged to my credit card.
Right, I put in an order sunday morning and still nothing. it just says "**Processing**" under the status. I've e-mailed them twice since and not a single reply.
Seem like fraudsters to me. Will be opening a claim with paypal.
Also went with them based on positive feedback from before the website was sold. Scam. Scamtastic. Opened dispute with paypal and contacted SWReg about refund.
Dammit, looks like I just got taken for $14.50 myself. I didn't even get an order reference number, but they didn't feel too bad about taking my money. I'm going to PayPal right now.
addendum...it was simunlockNOW dot com that I went through, and they actually gave me my code. Had to pay another $10 for it, because the phone just came out, but otherwise the code works fine.
htcsimunlock.com wildfire AVOID
Avoid this company, they do not give a money back offer, you pay, they can't find the code and then ignore e-mails only paying after a paypal claim or credit card claim.
I used mobileunlocked.co.uk[/url] and they were great, getting the code in minutes, although a little more expensive at least I got what I paid for.
I will be contacting the server for htcsimunlock and seeing if I can get the site removed as its being used for fraudulent purposes.
AVOID HTCSIMUNLOCK.COM AT ALL COSTS
Same experience with HTCSimUnlock here.
The only difference is that i actually got the Unlock code wich doesn't work and offcourse, they are not responding on support e-mail.
frauders...
pause for breath.. before you give up…
Well I confess .. I also come here wondering why after getting caught with the best deal ever
“Order your HTC SIM Unlock Code”
ONLY $15.75! (Lowest Price Guarantee!)
then they replied
“Thank you for your recent order for the unlock code of your HTC Phone. Unfortunately, we are unable to find the unlock code for your HTC phone with our basic search.
HOWEVER, we now offer an *EXCLUSIVE* Deep Search service that can find 99% of hard-to-find unlock codes. This service is NOT AVAILABLE ANY WHERE ELSE! Due to the exclusivity of this service, it will cost a one-time upgrade fee of just $14.99.”
Then I got my Unlock code eventually for about £26 GBP only to find yes it unlocked my orange branded phone.. but I couldn’t make a call or send a text…
PAUSE for breath … I thought I’ve been shafted / scammed / stitched up / done over etc…
IT did work thou Guys….
I got a
HTC DESIRE HD (A9191) or Ace
It was locked to Orange UK
Just remember maybe you gotta go back in to your settings and change operator from orange to Vodafone in my case (lebara Sim) works off Voda network the only other thing I recall doing before it all started to work was DROP the battery out put the desired sim in side then put the battery back in..
BTW sometimes if you switch a SIM you also got to re-activate it to work with the new IMEI, in my case lebara I had to dail up 5588 as stated at their web support site.. like I said pause for breath.. before you give up…
RE- HTCSimUnlock.com
Yes they ramped the price up coz I got a newer phone and they knew that I’d take the bait.. BUT it works…. MY phone is unlocked..
And wanted to let you know…
Good luck
The smoking Tiger..
I paid top dollar ...
but with a bit of research... the unlock code worked for me
My orange branded phone now works with lebara.. make sure the sim you use is live sim not a de-activated sim.. and check your network setting.. match the sim network...
Good luck...
Ban Users posting the link to them
Forget what anyone says
This IS a Fraudulent company running a SCAM to get your money
I currently have a paypal case op to get a refund, if you've paid by credit card start a reversal.
I went with them due to recent posts on xdadev recomending them. And adverts
I think anyone that does a post recomending them should be banned
Aw crap! I read some good stuff and place my order. I am not able to get through to their member login page with my email ID -and needless to say, not a response for my email. To give them a benefit of doubt, their autoreply asks for 24 hours for a response, and am going to give them that. Will post back after ~12 hours (it already has been 12 hours since all this)...
Been a day - so much for "Instant to 30 minutes". Raised a dispute in PayPal, and placed an order unlock-now dot com - lets see how this goes.
Anyone disappointed with the ****ers at HTCSimUnlock dot com - Head to www dot unlock-now dot com - I got my unlock code over email in 9 minutes flat. I had to pay Euro 17.50 though, against the $13.95 that the HTCSimUnlock folks charge. But hey, what is the point of being cheap-and-wont-work?!!
I called the phone company to get the unlock key :S
I typed in the wrong IMEI the first time, and started a refund.
Sent in a second request, with the correct IMEI.
Both returned "unable to find" ... started the "refund" on both, to no avail. It's been a week.
I've tried contacting the company I bought the CC from (it's a Vanilla Prepaid) and they say they will take 50 DAYS to do a reversal!
I've gone from HTCSimUnlock.comm to SWREG, and if it's not resolved by Monday, I'll go to DigitalRiver. DRI doesn't want to lose good standing with Microsoft (which they could, if enough people complain.)
Avoid this company, they cheat people money for doing nothing.
I paid my money via Paypal for unlocking my HD2. 15 minutes later, they replied me that I need to pay additional money for an upgrade service. They want to charge me a total of over $30 for an HD2 unlock code, I refused of course.
I emailed to them, they never replied me. Instead, they just email me back with standard reply, and nothing about my refund. Been waiting for refund for one week without any trace. I raised a compliant to Paypal (luckily I used Paypal). I hope Paypal will help me getting back my money.
Brothers: Keep away from this cheating company. They are SCAM!!!
It took me over 3 WEEKS to get a refund, and then I had to get it through SWREG and NOT HTCUnlock.
Do not trust these robbing b*stards
I wish I had read this thread before I was fleeced by these robbing c*nts.
They sent me the usual 'deep search' at extra USD 14.99, I refused and went for a refund and they sent me an email stating that 'a refund has been provided' - of course, they haven't !
Fortunately, I paid by 'paypal' and have raised a case.
WHy are they not blacklisted by paypal?

Android market 'hidden' costs

Not sure if this is the right area to post this or if it been posted before, but was just wondering on other opinions of googles hidden costs when buying apps off the market.
Not sure if this only happens in certain countries but I am in the uk and when I buy an app that is priced in euro's there is a 'hidden' £1.50 charge applied to my card, so a $1 app really costs about £2.30. So if I buy 10 apps, google make £15 quid off me!
I feel this is totally unfair and am wondering of the legalities of not even warning about this charge when you buy the app?
And also it does not seem fair that google are making money off the hard work of developers, I know they get a share of the price but then they also get the extra 'card charge'.....the word ripoff springs to mind here!
I live in the states and I haven't experienced this, perhaps it has something to do with the conversion rate?
rosso22 said:
Not sure if this is the right area to post this or if it been posted before, but was just wondering on other opinions of googles hidden costs when buying apps off the market.
Not sure if this only happens in certain countries but I am in the uk and when I buy an app that is priced in euro's there is a 'hidden' £1.50 charge applied to my card, so a $1 app really costs about £2.30. So if I buy 10 apps, google make £15 quid off me!
I feel this is totally unfair and am wondering of the legalities of not even warning about this charge when you buy the app?
And also it does not seem fair that google are making money off the hard work of developers, I know they get a share of the price but then they also get the extra 'card charge'.....the word ripoff springs to mind here!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it is like that. Other people will confirm, but I guess it may be some thing with your credit card or bank, as I believe this does not happen to almost anyone.
antonio1475 said:
I don't think it is like that. Other people will confirm, but I guess it may be some thing with your credit card or bank, as I believe this does not happen to almost anyone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well it happens to me whenever I buy an app that is in euros, on two different bank cards with different banks, and the money goes to google as it says it on the statement next to the charge.
what I'm getting at is even if it does only happen to a small amount of people (or even just myself), does it make it any less unfair to not warn of this?
And some may say well just buy apps that are in £'s but then I would be missing out on a hell of a lot of apps
rosso22 said:
Well it happens to me whenever I buy an app that is in euros, on two different bank cards with different banks, and the money goes to google as it says it on the statement next to the charge.
what I'm getting at is even if it does only happen to a small amount of people (or even just myself), does it make it any less unfair to not warn of this?
And some may say well just buy apps that are in £'s but then I would be missing out on a hell of a lot of apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it just fits to your problem:
http://www.techeye.net/mobile/android-apps-conceal-hidden-charges
antonio1475 said:
I think it just fits to your problem:
http://www.techeye.net/mobile/android-apps-conceal-hidden-charges
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that, explains a lot, I think google should definitely start showing the true price of apps before you buy them, and warn of any charges you may incur....Is it any wonder that people use cracked apps!
To be honest, I hadn't noticed that VAT wasn't included in the prices, I just presumed they had it set up so that your local VAT rate was included (wouldn't be hard to do).
As for the £1.50 charge, that's down to your bank to inform you of it, which I bet they did, but you (like the rest of us) just never got round to reading the small print in the bumf that came with our accounts.
dbzfanatic said:
I live in the states and I haven't experienced this, perhaps it has something to do with the conversion rate?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. Never seen such a thing. (Also in the states.)
dgalanter said:
Same here. Never seen such a thing. (Also in the states.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah probably a UK thing....they are always finding ways to sting us for more money here
It'll be your bank's handling charge for exchanging £ to €
The same as if you jumped on the ferry and bought a bottle of wine with your bank card rather than cash.
If you don't think your account should incur charges for non £ transactions (ie you're sure it says you won't be charged in your terms and conditions), then contact you bank and complain.
Demand the refund of £1.50 (was VAT added to the charge? I suspect it was so add an extra 20%) and £10 as compensation for their mistake.
xaccers said:
It'll be your bank's handling charge for exchanging £ to €
The same as if you jumped on the ferry and bought a bottle of wine with your bank card rather than cash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll just pay with with coins next time then eh?........now where's the coin slot on my phone?
And getting charges back from a UK bank......dont make me laugh
thanks for the info
rosso22 said:
I'll just pay with with coins next time then eh?........now where's the coin slot on my phone?
And getting charges back from a UK bank......dont make me laugh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Email the developer and ask if you can post them some dosh
If your terms and conditions state that there is no charge for foreign transactions, then under the banking rules you're entitiled to those charges back.
Quite often a polite phone call even when the charges are valid can result in them being refunded.
I've had overdraft charges refunded simply because I phoned up and had a bit of joke with the person in the call centre, they have a thankless job putting up with customers abusing them for mistakes the poor sods aren't responsible for, if you can make one of their's day, they can give in to resonable requests.
Like when O2 barred my phone without warning me because my bank screwed up my direct debit. 4 days after making a manual payment the bar still hadn't lifted, so I got through to a west indian woman and while she was looking into it I said "I just wanna use my phone" in a jokey way, she laughed and sorted it and credited me £15.
Maybe with Google's plan for a web based marketstore they'll be the option to add apps to your basket and pay in one go, so only 1 charge, doubt it though.
I still cannot believe they have not sorted this. The majority of UK debit cards will charge £1 - £1.50 for every transaction, meaning that I (and surely thousands of others) have completely avoided buying budget apps as it just makes them too expensive.
There has been some talk of a paypal or charge through your phone provider option, but no sign of either in the UK yet.
There are a couple of accounts and credit cards that don't charge a set fee, often credit cards have say a 2.5% charge on conversions that's perfectly acceptable for small purchases ... well a lot better than £1.50!
Another person from the states here, and i've never encountered something like this
lol, it's not a big deal. Although i did find out unexpectedly
I hope with carrier billing will come to the rest of the civilized world, until then you have to deal with your local financial laws and jump through hoops.
I have been getting similar. Frustrating and hard to get around without calling the bank to check their daily forex rate and having their list of card charges handy before calculating the actual price manually. Seems a PITB for a $2 app
Im from Mexico and I experienced something similar, I just bought one of the 10 cents Apps and I got the notification of two charges, both from Google, one for the 10 cents and one for $1 US. I know its not my bank, because I've used my card on a recent trip to the US and my bank didnt apply any extra charges, besides on the detail of the transaction it says GOOGLE GOOGLE.COM/CHCA US for the extra...
Any news from google on that?
$0.10 apps really only cost $0.10 for me in Canada

Media Markt (Germany) selling used phones as new - Warning!! SCAM alert.

Welcome
I hope this is the right forum section for such information. My intention is to warn as many possible customers of Media Markt in Germany (Hessen) as possible.
Yesterday we bought a new phone for my sister - Sony Xperia M2
The phone looks brand new, box was sealed with "Media Markt" tapes, the case had still the protective foil on the back and the screen.
Phone technically is performing fine... but the problem is, it was sold as "New" yet turned out to be used one.
My sister initially thought it's possibly a built in Chrome/Google+ feature that it gives you a "template" account to fiddle with yet I asked around, poked around the internet... nowhere was such thing found (Eventually I did find, that she wasn't the only person who bought a used phone, marked as new with Gmail account already present and such)
The price of the phone was to be 189 Euro... on the label... at the register it was already 199 Euro... that was weird but we thought just a label error.
On next day my sister is bringing the phone to me to check it out and teach her how to use some things... and I notice that when I go to Chrome browser... it says that someone with initials "M.P." (Well it's full name there but I will just use initials here since I, as opposed to Media Markt respect other people) with even messages still not read and such, with 2 followers, the G+ account has been operational for some time already.
In that G+ account I am able to see both Gmail and Hotmail e-mails of the previous user together with phone number (which I checked already, it's a German T-Com number).
Still... having just found that account logged in Chrome... I thought... perhaps it's a glitch? But how would it be? Not just IP but also cookies would have to be there from someone else, this didn't make any sense. So I checked more, I see that Facebook on this phone also was accessed, with the same e-mail as in G+ (password wasn't kept this time though and session was logged out).
But what made me 100% that the phone was used was when I went into photo album... while most images there were all default stock images, there was also a screenshot (which ofc is stored in other folder than images, hence why I'm assuming the person responsible for this crime was sloppy enough not to delete it)
The file has a timestamp of October 21 and shows the lock screen with 82% battery, no sim coverage (or no sim at all, not sure about that icon), vibration profile, wifi connected and notifications I think from cloud app, some mail app perhaps Gmail.
All in all, this cemented my suspicion that the phone bought in Media Markt yesterday - sold for full retail price as new, even wrapped to be sold as new, was in fact a previously used phone, for around a month if not longer which is by no means worth the money they sold it for.
Tomorrow me and my sister's husband are going to Media Markt to "Go Medieval" on those bastards. We will try to make it as much of a scene as possible as to let know as many possible customers there that Media Markt is engaging in fraudulent behavior by selling used devices as new.
We will demand as much compensation for it as possible and will NOT settle for simply exchanging the phone for another. This is a crime that was committed here and regardless if they "cooperate" or not this doesn't change the fact. If situation was reversed, if anyone would just take something from Media Markt walk out... and then - when caught - simply return it and apologized... would they not notify the police? I doubt. Would they not file in for a crime? I doubt it. These days, people get arrested for feeding homeless people in a park! And yet companies like Media Markt get away with obvious criminal behavior. And no, if they (Manager or whoever up) "knew" it's used or not has nothing to do. IF YOU or ME did not what you did was a crime... would the police/court take pity on you and say - ok, lad, it's fine, you are free to go and you didn't do anything wrong. A crime is a crime. And I am totally disgusted by it
So that's why we are not going to settle for a simple exchange for a new device.
- Assuming that the person who used the phone previously wasn't in on the scam, that person's data, G+ account and Play Store has been all exposed to a random customer who bought that phone as new (Google certainly not refund anyone if my sister started to buy apps only to land in the previous user's account, not knowingly).
- We paid for a "new" device, that was the contract between the customer and retailer. They never delivered the agreed upon goods, they gave us a "used" device. That is a breach of a contract and extortion of money.
- We had to waste time, energy and possibly (if this goes to court, prior to the settlement) our money because of them.
- When we called them tonight they've already told us they don't sell used devices, which as the example shows, was another lie.
In case Media Markt would refuse to compensate us for wasting our nerves, time and openly trying to scam us - and basically stealing our money. We will sue them.
Anyone who had similar situation with Media Markt can now know - You're not alone. This is more widespread than I initially thought, the more I read the more I see situations where retailers sell used things as new, possibly hoping that the customer would be naive and ignorant enough to not realize they have gotten a used - and why if it's stolen?! - device.
You're also free to join us and we can sue them together, more the merrier.
As proof I have all the purchase documents, the screens (some of them I include in attachments) and also some other things, they can try to deny it but that's for the court to settle.
In conclusion this is a warning to check twice or better yet - avoid as much as possible such criminal companies like "Media Markt".
Any update on your story? I`d like to hear how it went.
Das ist wirklich ne zumutung... naja, nichts anderes zu erwarten von MediaMarkt...
Here's how it went.
Next day we went to that Media Markt right when it opened. IF you're interested which one was it exactly, here is the address:
Rudolf-Walther-Straße 6, 63584 Gründau-Lieblos, Germany
At the info counter we've explained that we were sold a used phone as a new one... the woman there looked as if she's offended we even suggested it was used, but my brother-in-law elaborated that we've got the proof of it and we'd like to talk with the manager of the shop - Of course, the manager is "on vacation" -_-'. We were directed to the aisle with phones.
There we've asked another staffer, loudly letting everyone who was considering a purchase there, that they better be careful, because this shop sells used devices as new. The staffer said ofc it will be dealt with, but again, not his business, we were directed to the service. ::
Already a bit frustrated by all this running around, we've explained the situation to the service staff. My brother-in-law immediately turned on voice recorder in his Galaxy phone and put it on the counter to make sure this whole thing would be on the record. Sadly, the service staffer had NO NAME TAG! None of the service staff had... how convenient?
First the service guy tried to show as much disbelief and deny that it's even possible to buy used phones from them... then when we've showed him all the proof and talked him through it he said that "Oh, it must've been a mistake! Clearly we must've had such phone delivered to us from the supplier" (doubtful since the person's profile was a person living nearby). Next we kept drilling the guy who was like he's having a lot of fun talking about it - quite annoying attitude if you ask me. He obviously had limited knowledge about phones too.
When asked about why do they sell things with previous users data? - He said it was a mistake and he's just as surprised.
When asked how can we be sure, that now, when we give the phone away, they won't sell it (with my sister's leftover data) to another customer? - He said it's gonna be cleared up and returned, thinking we'd take his word for it.
When we asked him why was the price 199 when we purchased, yet on the shelf the price even now is still shown as 189? - Oh must've been the previous week price tag, someone forgot to take it off.
In the meantime of the discussion we have called my sister to confirm the color and if she's going to sue them or not. She, being a very peaceful person decided she'll settle for their "compensation".
The compensation was a miniscule one to say the least. This is what we've achieved after my sister decided not to sue them:
- Without any apology they agreed to replace the phone (we spent 30 minutes waiting for them to find another like it)
- There were no more phones of that color, so they could give us only purple one (my sister was happy, my brother in law said it looks like crap)
- Because of the lack of color, they have "generously" agreed to give us a crappy black xPeria M2 phone case for 1 cent
- They have returned us the 10 Euro they've asked more vs the shelf price tag
- Not trusting them to do the job I have wiped everything from that bogus phone before I gave it back to them
I disagree with my sister's decision but it was her to make so I can't force her. We are waiting till we get more free time so we can contact the previous owner, she also deserves to know what happened with her data and previously owned phone.
We have decided not to buy stuff from MediaMarkt again after this. My sister said that she's pretty worried now, she had no idea - being just a casual user - that such things happen and now she "understands" why there was so many malfunctions in the past when she was buying laptops from there and things tended to break inside like wifi card and sound card etc.
Here is additional read I found after we came home, turns out this is more widespread than I thought
(given that I've got a fresh account have to put the link in txt file attached to this reply)
I suggest you direct this towards the Metro Holding Group. http://www.metrogroup.de
It's the company that owns the entire Media Markt chain. This seems like a complaint to take a bit higher up if the manager won't speak to you.
I do have to mention, in all the times I've been to Media Markt, the boxes with the Media Markt tape on it were the ones that were previously returned.
New ones had factory seals on it. (And usually a 'If seal is broken, do not buy/sell device" over the rim.) Were those still present on the box when you bought it?
I've always bought about half of devices and electronics at MediaMarkt (The other half at Saturn or Conrad. I remember when Conrad was still just a small store in Boekelo!), in Nordhorn, and Dorsten. I've never experienced what you're describing, as those devices have always had a sticker on it marking them as used.
But I'm not doubting that it happened. Media Markt Netherlands has a tendency to do this as well. And they charge us 100-300 euro more for the same devices, too!
ShadowLea said:
I suggest you direct this towards the Metro Holding Group. http://www.metrogroup.de
It's the company that owns the entire Media Markt chain. This seems like a complaint to take a bit higher up if the manager won't speak to you.
I do have to mention, in all the times I've been to Media Markt, the boxes with the Media Markt tape on it were the ones that were previously returned.
New ones had factory seals on it. (And usually a 'If seal is broken, do not buy/sell device" over the rim.) Were those still present on the box when you bought it?
I've always bought about half of devices and electronics at MediaMarkt (The other half at Saturn or Conrad. I remember when Conrad was still just a small store in Boekelo!), in Nordhorn, and Dorsten. I've never experienced what you're describing, as those devices have always had a sticker on it marking them as used.
But I'm not doubting that it happened. Media Markt Netherlands has a tendency to do this as well. And they charge us 100-300 euro more for the same devices, too!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestion, but like I said, we've decided to give it a rest and just avoid the shop altogether, it's not like there's no competition that can do better. Hell even on eBay/Amazon I can get a brand new for same price and used? Would never go for the MediaMarkt price which makes it not useful to us anymore.
As for the packaging, it wasn't market as used, it was together with other boxes (some with MediaMarkt stripes over them, some not, it was as if up to the customer to pick up with no indication of devices being used) and all of them had given same price 189 and the one my bro-in-law bought turned out to be counted for 199 which doesn't seem like it was all supposed to be "sold as used" unless it's MediaMarkt's policy to sell used at higher price than brand new not to mention they've denied and looked all surprised, not a moment they said "We sell used goods this way".
The broken seal thing. I disagree that it's an indication that I shouldn't be buying it - First of all it was my brother-in-law, who just got back from work, asked for a NEW device and was willing to pay all the money needed to buy it for his wife, he wasn't "hunting for a bargain" and he was not notified and had the benefit of not even caring about any policy the shop has, he was buying a new device, hell he even asked for black one and then the woman servicing him there told him they don't have them so he can only take the white one, which could be taken as he was railroaded into buying crap by the employee of the shop, is that how it should be? I don't think so.
Other than that, there are plenty of shops that OPEN the packages when they get them delivered from suppliers to "test" if the goods are working and then reseal it after verifying things work. So why is it all of a sudden the customer's duty to make sure which shop does what? You go to a shop, wanting to buy new device, you should get one. Also, I never seen a "returned, second hands merchandise" corner in MediaMarkt, they don't seem very up front about it at all.
Furthermore, to entertain the "MediaMarkt seal" notion. Are you honestly suggesting that MediaMarkt is totally not culpable for selling used goods with previous user's private data, passwords, e-mail account, G+, Apple store, Google Play, MS Store and so on? Is simply "putting a MediaMarkt wrap" on it means that those goods can be sold with such blatant breach of privacy of previous customer?
As for you being happy with MediaMarkt that's irrelevant, as analogy I also never had problems with racism it doesn't mean that racism isn't a thing. I've used their franchise across 3 different countries and had small issues now and then, but this is unacceptable.
To contrast this say, with "Expert Klein" which I had wonderful experience with. Here's the Expert Klein story to show how different that one is from MediaMarkt:
I went to buy a computer monitor (LG) and they had the last one on display, but I really wanted to get that last one, it was already on discount (by 20 Euro from org price) and when talking with the staffer who was very helpful and spoke good English (In MediaMarkt we had to do everything in German) he said he can get the price lower (he seemed genuinely sympathetic that I got unlucky to find myself buying last one of that model), called the manager, while I checked the monitor if it's in good condition (was almost perfect 'cept a bit of dust on it which the employee cleaned before packing it for me). In the end I got over 70 Euro discount for a computer screen worth a bit more than 150 Euro. That's almost half the price lower.
Now back to MediaMarkt... there he was sold a used device 10Euro dearer than a brand new. It's unacceptable.

ALERT! -- Incipio had a data breach - looks like I was hit!

***Please post if you were also hit after buying an Incipio case***
Just received a form letter dated 2-23-16 from Incipio's CEO (which can be viewed online here) about a data breach potentially affecting online orders made through their website (not sure about Amazon orders) between 9-26-15 and 1-29-16. I ordered my Octane case on 9-27-15 and about two weeks ago there were several false charges made to the debit card I used, which is now cancelled, replaced, and all amounts credited back since I reported it immediately. I think most folks with MXPEs who got Incipio cases would likely fall within this time span, so please be aware if you did and didn't receive or read the letter, which came in an unmarked envelope not saying Incipio or giving any other indication on the outside that it was about this matter.
Because the letter states "...we are unaware of any instance of fraud or identity theft arising from this incident", I called Incipio to report that there does seem to be at least one possible instance, and asked to speak with someone in management to do so, but customer service would only refer me to the 3rd-party security monitoring firm mentioned in the letter who they've hired, but that isn't really one of their functions. I still left my contact info and a firm request to be called back, though something tells me I won't be, but if I do I'll post the response.
This breach went undetected for THREE MONTHS [!!!] and from the letter it sounds like it was only discovered accidentally, and though it's fixed now I'd be very hesitant to do more business with them directly after that poor a level of self-monitoring.
What kind of random charges were made to your account?
I purchased one around that time frame, would like to look for certain charges on my account.
cangri87 said:
What kind of random charges were made to your account?
I purchased one around that time frame, would like to look for certain charges on my account.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just stuff I knew I didn't put on the card -- one was from AT&T, another was 1-800-FLOWERS, like common names you would recognize, and most were over $100 so you likely wouldn't miss them. Are you sure you bought within that time frame, because you should get the letter, but like I said it could be easy to chuck out as spam mail. Mine came on Monday so it seems folks are just getting them around now.
I also think the breachers probably didn't use any data until after 2/2/16 when it was discovered, so they could keep exploiting it as long as possible. Once discovered and closed they know right away, then rush to use the stolen data before people can be notified to cancel their cards. That's the usual pattern and explains why it took so long to get hit after my purchase date (~4 months).
Dahenjo said:
Just stuff I knew I didn't put on the card -- one was from AT&T, another was 1-800-FLOWERS, like common names you would recognize, and most were over $100 so you likely wouldn't miss them. Are you sure you bought within that time frame, because you should get the letter, but like I said it could be easy to chuck out as spam mail. Mine came on Monday so it seems folks are just getting them around now.
I also think the breachers probably didn't use any data until after 2/2/16 when it was discovered, so they could keep exploiting it as long as possible. Once discovered and closed they know right away, then rush to use the stolen data before people can be notified to cancel their cards. That's the usual pattern and explains why it took so long to get hit after my purchase date (~4 months).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just checked my bank statement and nothing suspicious on my account.
I bought my phone on Jan 1st, and got a case a week later. So around 01/07/16, i guess not everyone was compromised.
cangri87 said:
Just checked my bank statement and nothing suspicious on my account.
I bought my phone on Jan 1st, and got a case a week later. So around 01/07/16, i guess not everyone was compromised.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They probably got your data since yours falls within the exposed time frame, even if they didn't use it yet. You didn't get the letter yet, I take it? If not, you should soon. I suggest at least calling your bank and tell them about this to see if they recommend replacing your card. And keep checking your account in the meantime because you need to report fraudulent charges right away or may not get reimbursed.
Dahenjo said:
They probably got your data since yours falls within the exposed time frame, even if they didn't use it yet. You didn't get the letter yet, I take it? If not, you should soon. I suggest at least calling your bank and tell them about this to see if they recommend replacing your card. And keep checking your account in the meantime because you need to report fraudulent charges right away or may not get reimbursed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope no email yet, i checked spam folder and nothing is there.
I'll just leave it as is and live life on the edge
I'll just monitor my bank activity.
the fraudulent charges on your account, were they local charges? Diff state? or just online purchases?
cangri87 said:
Nope no email yet, i checked spam folder and nothing is there.
I'll just leave it as is and live life on the edge
I'll just monitor my bank activity.
the fraudulent charges on your account, were they local charges? Diff state? or just online purchases?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was a snail-mail letter, not an email, I guess sent out to the affected customers' billing addresses, so that's what to check for. The link in the first post is a copy of what I received, apparently filed with (and made public by) the CA State Attorney General's office, which I just happened to find while searching for more info about the breach. The charges were all out-of-state but I don't know how they were made.
I'm sure Incipio sold scads more cases during that period than the relative few for our phones, and likely the majority were for iPhones, so I'd expect posts like this may be showing up on other forums here and in the Apple world.

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