- Report: #264414
Complaint Review: VIP Tune Limassol Cyprus - Limassol Other
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VIP Tune Limassol Cyprus
Limassol, Cyprus Limassol, Other, Cyprus
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VIP Tune, Limassol, Cyprus $29.99 VISA Credit Card Ripoff 07/06/2007 possible diversion of information from Amazon.com Limassol Cyprus
Like MANY people my VISA card was debited in a $29.99 ripoff on 07/06/2007 by a supposed internet music MP3 download company called "VIP Tune" located in Limassol, Cyprus. I have never done business with this company nor have I ever ordered music via the internet. I located a web address, www.viptune.com and used the "contact" link to e-mail the company. I received a reply from "Julia" in customer support at [email protected] to the affect that an "affiliate" had defrauded VIP Tune by making these charges and as a result VIP Tune's accounts had been frozen and VIP Tune was therefore unable to make refunds or charge reverals but was cooperating to resolve the situation and would send updates. My internet research indicated that several other victims of this scheme had recently opened Amazon.com accounts. Apparently Amazon.com is not interested in investigating this coincidence...
From: "Amazon.com Customer Service"
Subject: Your Amazon.com Inquiry
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 13:43:48 -0700 (PDT)
Thank you for writing to us at Amazon.com.
Privacy is as important to us as it is to our customers. Under the
express terms of our Privacy Notice, we are confirming that we are
not in the business of selling customer information.
Our current privacy policy (http://www.amazon.com/privacy-policy/)
specifies that we *will not* disclose customer information.
Transactions made on our secure server at Amazon.com are safe. Our
secure server software (SSL) is the industry standard and among the best software available today for secure commerce transactions.
It encrypts all of your personal information, including credit card number, name, and address, so that it cannot be read as the information travels over the Internet.
All of our credit card information is stored on a secure, dedicated database.
We also have a method for customers to use a credit card without ever sending the card number over the Internet.
Just enter the last five digits of the card number on the order form in the space provided. Once you submit your order, you'll be instructed to call us with the complete credit card number.
We match the card number to its last five digits, then mark your order to be paid by this credit card number.
Please note, however, that the five-digits option is available only for orders you place with Amazon.com. It is not available for orders placed with Amazon Marketplace and Auctions sellers.
You may choose to delete a credit card listed in your Amazon.com account; you can do so online by clicking on "Your Account" at the top of our web site. Doing so will prevent the card from appearing as a payment option on future orders. If you would like to use the same card again, you would need to re-enter the complete card number.
However, please know that deleting the same credit card must be done on an order by order basis. If you prefer not to have your credit card data on file with us at all, you might find it easier to pay for your orders via personal check or money order.
Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com.
Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:
If yes, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-y?c=yhrqwteu3423604792
If not, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-n?c=yhrqwteu3423604792
Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail.
To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section of our web site.
Best regards,
Prabhu R.
Amazon.com Customer Service
http://www.amazon.com
>==============================
Check your order and more: http://www.amazon.com/your-account
ref_id:=wbxgeteu1276128468
Date: Tue Jul 31 20:10:38 UTC 2007
Subject: Other Questions & Comments
To: "[email protected]" int-
[email protected]
From: Leroy
---------------
07/31/07 13:10:38
Your Name: Leroy
Comments:FRAUD: I opened an account and placed an order with Amazon.com on 07/06/2007 and my credit card information supplied to Amazon.com was apparently "hacked" and immediately missued by a company in Limassol, Cyprus called "VIP Tune" in the amount of $29.99. What are you doing about this????
Leroy
Sacramento, California
U.S.A.
From: "Amazon.com Customer Service"
Subject: Your Amazon.com Inquiry
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 13:43:48 -0700 (PDT)
Thank you for writing to us at Amazon.com.
Privacy is as important to us as it is to our customers. Under the
express terms of our Privacy Notice, we are confirming that we are
not in the business of selling customer information.
Our current privacy policy (http://www.amazon.com/privacy-policy/)
specifies that we *will not* disclose customer information.
Transactions made on our secure server at Amazon.com are safe. Our
secure server software (SSL) is the industry standard and among the best software available today for secure commerce transactions.
It encrypts all of your personal information, including credit card number, name, and address, so that it cannot be read as the information travels over the Internet.
All of our credit card information is stored on a secure, dedicated database.
We also have a method for customers to use a credit card without ever sending the card number over the Internet.
Just enter the last five digits of the card number on the order form in the space provided. Once you submit your order, you'll be instructed to call us with the complete credit card number.
We match the card number to its last five digits, then mark your order to be paid by this credit card number.
Please note, however, that the five-digits option is available only for orders you place with Amazon.com. It is not available for orders placed with Amazon Marketplace and Auctions sellers.
You may choose to delete a credit card listed in your Amazon.com account; you can do so online by clicking on "Your Account" at the top of our web site. Doing so will prevent the card from appearing as a payment option on future orders. If you would like to use the same card again, you would need to re-enter the complete card number.
However, please know that deleting the same credit card must be done on an order by order basis. If you prefer not to have your credit card data on file with us at all, you might find it easier to pay for your orders via personal check or money order.
Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com.
Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:
If yes, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-y?c=yhrqwteu3423604792
If not, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-n?c=yhrqwteu3423604792
Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail.
To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section of our web site.
Best regards,
Prabhu R.
Amazon.com Customer Service
http://www.amazon.com
>==============================
Check your order and more: http://www.amazon.com/your-account
ref_id:=wbxgeteu1276128468
Date: Tue Jul 31 20:10:38 UTC 2007
Subject: Other Questions & Comments
To: "[email protected]" int-
[email protected]
From: Leroy
---------------
07/31/07 13:10:38
Your Name: Leroy
Comments:FRAUD: I opened an account and placed an order with Amazon.com on 07/06/2007 and my credit card information supplied to Amazon.com was apparently "hacked" and immediately missued by a company in Limassol, Cyprus called "VIP Tune" in the amount of $29.99. What are you doing about this????
Leroy
Sacramento, California
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Aktnadmin
Grand Forks,North Dakota,
U.S.A.
Secure Server
#2UPDATE Employee
Wed, July 09, 2008
Amazon's Secure server has actually NEVER been compromised. Your theory is incorrect as well. Employees have NO access to ANY credit card information. Even when using the most sophisticated tools when updating the website, or dealing with associates accounts... Credit Card numbers are still blocked. Not one single person who deals with Amazon.com actually has access to full credit card numbers. The last person who ever sees the complete CC number is the person entering it in on the order, after that it is completely incripted even before you hit the place order button. It's disgusting that you bad mouth Amazon. What you are probably experiencing is what is called a one-click order. You most likely didn't even realize that you had done it. My THEORY: You were surfing the web and clicking on everything and ended up downloading a key logger which in turn recorded every single key stroke you made and then sold your info to the highest bidder. How do you like that conspiracy theory?
Leroy
Sacramento,California,
U.S.A.
VIP Tune, Limassol, Cyprus ripoff update
#3Author of original report
Fri, August 03, 2007
THEORY: This scheme appears to involve a diversion of consumer credit card and bank debit card information by the employees of legitimate on-line internet merchandisers and the employees of other businesses who receive consumer credit card and debit card information. VIP Tune is an on-line internet MP3 download company located in Limassol, Cyprus. VIP Tune offered (and still does) a very lame mechanism over the internet to recruit affiliates who would then create internet links and sign up customers for VIP Tune. For each new free trial subscription the affiliate linked to VIP Tune, the affiliate was promised a $1.00 payment from VIP Tune and for each new paid download music subscription, the affiliate was promised an additional 10% rebate of the subscription sale. So, apparently consumer credit card and debit card information went south via employees from on-line merchandisers to VIP Tune affiliates (who may have been the employees themselves), who then misused the stolen/embezzled credit and debit card information to sign up the cardholders for bogus VIP Tune download subscriptions and earn the promised commissions from VIP Tune (at about $4 each). Maybe no sophisticated hacking technology was required to pull this off. What is amazing here, is the apparent lack of concern from the legitimate on-line merchandisers, who failed to secure their customers creit information, and the failure of these companies to make a quick response to this scheme. Unlike a lot of multi-layered internet fraud schemes, it wouldnt take very much diligent investigation to discover the identities of the people involved in this scheme at the various levels. Maybe real problem here is outsourcing? The legitimate on-line merchandisers have sent their customers credit identity information out of the country to cheaper labor overseas, and it is from there that it went south. Just try and reach the security unit for one of these heavily outsourced companies. s/Leroy
