Geeks.com Customer Data Stolen

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If you’ve shopped at Geeks.com in the last year or so you might want to read this. The company says customer information, including credit card information, has been compromised. Thanks to [H] Forum member matrix563 for the heads up.

The purpose of this letter is to notify you that Genica dba Geeks.com ("Genica") recently discovered on December 5, 2007 that customer information, including Visa credit card information, may have been compromised. In particular, it is possible that an unauthorized person may be in possession of your name, address, telephone number, email address, credit card number, expiration date, and card verification number.
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Holy cow. I'm not a big proponent of government intervention in business, but this has got to be stopped. My anger would burn with the fury of a thousand suns if this happened to me. They really need to come up with some serious regulations for sensitive data handling, and heavy punishments for failure to properly protect it.
 
Ouch....

Will keep an extra eye on my credit acct since I have bought from Geeks.com.

Thanks for the heads up.
 
Sigh. When are these fools going to learn to protect customer data and not to have such data accessable.
 
It starts with an E and ends with a N why cant' these companies figure it out? Companies should not be allowed to save all of our CC info if they can't figure out how to protect it.
 
Good thing I don't shop there, and now I never will. Nor will I let my friends and colleagues shop there either. The only way this will stop is if we talk with our checkbooks/cash. Just don't buy anything else from there.
 
XamediX said:
Good thing I don't shop there, and now I never will. Nor will I let my friends and colleagues shop there either. The only way this will stop is if we talk with our checkbooks/cash. Just don't buy anything else from there.
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Word, I'm done there too.
 
I've been caught up in two of these things now, one via my old college. It's crazy.

It's easier to just assume that all your personal info is always available, all the time. Businesses simply don't give a shit about securing your info because in the end few of them ever suffer any real penalties. It's cheaper for them to do nothing. :mad:
 
For those that are not aware, there are some "virtual" credit cards that can be used. Both BoA and Citi offer this. I use it all the time.

In BoA terms it's called "Shop Safe". This is what it was called at MBNA but they've kept the name after the buy-out.

You logon to the Bank of America site, then generate a fake credit card. You select the amount it is good for and a duration (2 months minimum). It then gives you back a new credit card number and all the other details. You then use this when shopping on-line.

I usually create one just before I shop. I create it for an amount just over what I am spending.

Once the amount is used up or the expiration date hits, that credit card (fake) is no longer any good.

At least with this setup you can worry a bit less about having your account info stolen from somebody else's database.
 
rbanzai said:
I've been caught up in two of these things now, one via my old college. It's crazy.

It's easier to just assume that all your personal info is always available, all the time. Businesses simply don't give a shit about securing your info because in the end few of them ever suffer any real penalties. It's cheaper for them to do nothing. :mad:
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You would think that, but they are covering a lot of the losses right now. The trade off is that we pay higher rates than we need to. Down the road, if this figure balloons, things will get ugly.

Right now the losses are considered an acceptable risk (the part the banks pay out). It does not make me feel comfortable knowing that slowly, bit by bit, my personal info is being released and probably aggregated someplace on the net.

What you really need to do is to use a secured PC/computer (maybe one you boot with Knoppix, assuming your copy is not infected with bots right from the source) and check your accounts periodically. Also check your credit report. You can check it 3 times for free if you pull a report from each of the 3 major credit report places (equifax, trans something, and another one I forget...there goes my credibility).

As much as it sucks, I get more mad thinking some thief will get freebies on me, even if I don't directly have to pay. Stay on top of you stuff if you can.
 
jandar said:
Ouch....

Will keep an extra eye on my credit acct since I have bought from Geeks.com.

Thanks for the heads up.
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Crap. :(
SnapperDragon said:
For those that are not aware, there are some "virtual" credit cards that can be used. Both BoA and Citi offer this. I use it all the time.

In BoA terms it's called "Shop Safe". This is what it was called at MBNA but they've kept the name after the buy-out.

You logon to the Bank of America site, then generate a fake credit card. You select the amount it is good for and a duration (2 months minimum). It then gives you back a new credit card number and all the other details. You then use this when shopping on-line.

I usually create one just before I shop. I create it for an amount just over what I am spending.

Once the amount is used up or the expiration date hits, that credit card (fake) is no longer any good.

At least with this setup you can worry a bit less about having your account info stolen from somebody else's database.
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PayPal also tried this, but then pulled the plug.
 
jmackay said:
It starts with an E and ends with a N why cant' these companies figure it out? Companies should not be allowed to save all of our CC info if they can't figure out how to protect it.
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Unfortunately, a good system always has bad implementations. Not to sympathize with places that get breached, but I am willing to say that any system will get breached as it's nearly impossible to lock it down completely. Software is too complex these days. Problems can occur with any component, and a lot of sites rely on other components to do part of the processing.

I always assume that anyplace I register or submit info will ultimately be exposed to people I don't trust. Therefore, I never use my real name or real credit card info. Shopping on-line will not go away because of the convenience. Avoid these problems to a certain extent by using the virtual credit card numbers I mentioned above. Citi Cards and Bank of America issued credit cards have this ability, not sure about others. Call and ask your cc companies.
 
mavalpha said:
Crap. :(

PayPal also tried this, but then pulled the plug.
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Not sure what the issue there is, but I've been doing this since 2004. Works well.

Also, once in awhile, I'll call my credit card company and ask for a new card to be issued due to possible fraud. I'll say that I registered it on-line and that I don't feel comfortable with the info being out there. They send me a new card with a new number on it. Probably do this once or twice a year.

At least this way if my account gets swiped I don't have to worry about keeping up on which sites have gotten compromised.
 
hrmm... I bought 3 hdds from them in September with my Visa card and they never sent me anything about this...
 
SnapperDragon said:
Therefore, I never use my real name or real credit card info
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I don't know how you manage to get this right, but most companies do card verification. I can see having a different credit card number generated, but falsifying your name and credit info, that would be new to me.

Any more info?
 
dracos said:
hrmm... I bought 3 hdds from them in September with my Visa card and they never sent me anything about this...
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We bought some stuff from them at my work in the past year and never got anything from them either. Guess we will need to watch our CC statements and make sure nothing pops up.
 
So if they remain quiet and don't inform anyone maybe it will all just go away??????

Is there nothing to make them notify you if your info was stolen?

WTF is the gov doing nothing to help the consumer....OH YEA F the consumer we only worry about the business.
CC co's could care less....more money for them...hey honey did we just buy a car and plane tickets yesterday?
 
Paypal didn't pull the plug on virtual card numbers. They actually improved it just a few months ago even. Now you can do multiuse, single vendor credit card numbers that can be used over and over but only at the one place. (good for say your amazon account or similar sites) Look for the paypal plug-in on the paypal site for more about it. (it puts a button in your browser that you hit, fill in password, and then it autofills the website form for you with a generated number)
 
Glad I haven't bought anything from them in the last year............I have before that though. Hope I'm all set.
 
i checked what i bought, i payed with paypal. i should be ok? my sis did too.
 
mavalpha said:
Crap. :(

PayPal also tried this, but then pulled the plug.
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No they didnt, its just renamed the Paypal Plug-In now. Works great still for places that do not accept PP. Only thing I worry about is there is no where you can cancel transactions when you pay with the Virtual PP card...

matrix563 said:
i checked what i bought, i payed with paypal. i should be ok? my sis did too.
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Most likely. Geeks does not get to save your PP password (in fact they never even see it). Only thing a theif/geeks gets to see is your PP email addy and a payment received in their account.



I bought from geeks awhile back, but it was more than a year ago and I think I used PP anyways. Still I feel bad for those that have purchased from them.

In reality I think this happens more often then we know, most business throw around our info like pocket change.
 
there needs to be audits for computer security like there is food safety. ive been involved at a plant when there is an upcoming inspection, its a BIG DEAL.
 
Sumabitch I just bought a cheap azz case from them.. Man, that would suck to have my identity stolen for a f'in $13 sale FFS!!!

Hopefully, some feedback from a geek.com rep would be nice!
 
Indignity said:
Sumabitch I just bought a cheap azz case from them.. Man, that would suck to have my identity stolen for a f'in $13 sale FFS!!!

Hopefully, some feedback from a geek.com rep would be nice!
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Edit: In thinking about this more, as much as we hate PayPal, I think online vendors should be "forced" into using them or a similar pay service. The better case scenario would be the Credit Card companies taking the bull by the horn & actually compete with PayPal and when transactions are performed, not exposing our numbers to the vendors....
 
Dang, this sucks. Makes me feel good knowing I subscribe to pre-paid legal with the identity theft protection plan, as well as credit monitoring and fraud alert through Equifax.
 
The proper punishment would have straightened things out, but the "people I cant mention or Ill get banned" chose to not take any meaningful action in thier regulatory function.

That action would have been to have TJX Corp, the first big breacher, provide 2 years of identity watch protection for every recordholder they lost the data on.

$70 per year x 2 x 60+ MILLION consumers = Bankruptcy and a stock price of $.01 and the end of the corporation.

That would have sent the message to all the others loud and clear...

SECURE OR DIE!! :eek::p:D
 
xX_Jack_Carver_Xx said:
The proper punishment would have straightened things out, but the "people I cant mention or Ill get banned" chose to not take any meaningful action in thier regulatory function.

That action would have been to have TJX Corp, the first big breacher, provide 2 years of identity watch protection for every recordholder they lost the data on.

$70 per year x 2 x 60+ MILLION consumers = Bankruptcy and a stock price of $.01 and the end of the corporation.

That would have sent the message to all the others loud and clear...

SECURE OR DIE!! :eek::p:D
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I agree with this partially. The root cause of the problem is twofold, imo: crappy software that companies have no choice but to use, and motivated thieves that will work to no end until success breaching said software is claimed.
 
That didn't take long. Somebody tried using our company card this morning to subscribe to WoW at 6:00am. Wonder if that means we were one of the lucky customers have to have our data given out. Time to swich CC numbers. :(
 
Thanks for the heads up. That's the last time I ever shop there.
 
Well, I bought a case from them on Dec 27th which was after the Dec 5th discovery, so I'm probably safe -- at least I hope they would have fixed their e-commerce site by then. Be pretty incompetent not to. Fortunately Wamu is really good about tracking fraud. They have actually put a hold on a few transactions of mine in the past and waited until I called to confirm just because the purchases were not typical of the ones I make.

As for identity theft, unless someone gets a hold of your SSI number, it's pretty hard to pull off. The best anyone can do with a CC number and address is make a few fraudulent purchases. To be safe, request a new CC from your issuer and close the old account. Then any info thieves may have is rendered useless. Also, if identity thieves obtained your telephone number/email but not your SS number, watch out for phone calls/emails purporting to be from your CC issuer and asking for your SS number for "security purposes." Get a name, tell them you'll call them back, then call your CC issuer's security department through the phone number off the back of the card. If it's legit, you'll be able to talk to the person who called you.
 
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