ALERT! Some sort of credit card electronic fraud scanning in STT.

Yep I will call them right now but last time I tried to report a crime that someone broke into my car and stole $400 from a cruise ship passenger they said they were TOO BUSY TO SEND OUT A CAR. Yea. Seriously.

The most efficient way to report the credit card issue is to go down in person - if you call they'll likely set you up with an appointment to see the right investigator.

So I go to the website and first thing I see: http://www.vipd.gov.vi/Public_Interest/Press_Releases/Show_Press_Release/14-08-06/Protect_Your_Customers_Against_Fraud.aspx

Clearly they know its happening.

As I said, and based on information disseminated via the media outlets, they are aware of the problem but need people affected to file reports they can further investigate.

Yes when I called they said to come down and then I asked if they get a lot of calls and they said about 50 a day last few weeks!! :-O

I don't want to raise any alarms here, but could it be because of these Russians stealing over one billion passwords and maybe having access to install the special software required for "skimming" cards?

Russian Hackers Amass Over a Billion Internet Passwords (AUG. 5, 2014)

Hold Security would not name the victims, citing nondisclosure agreements and a reluctance to name companies whose sites remained vulnerable. At the request of The New York Times, a security expert not affiliated with Hold Security analyzed the database of stolen credentials and confirmed it was authentic. Another computer crime expert who had reviewed the data, but was not allowed to discuss it publicly, said some big companies were aware that their records were among the stolen information.

Yes when I called they said to come down and then I asked if they get a lot of calls and they said about 50 a day last few weeks!! :-O

That's good news!

Update from the Virgin Islands Daily News...

Click... http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/rampant-credit-card-fraud-in-v-i-most-likely-cybercrime-1.1732675

The perfect crime! So much for internet security. Since likely to be POS that captures your card info, it really isn't safe to use your card. They should publish a list of places that have been compromised so you know to pay by cash or check at them. I rarely use my cards to pay for things but still it would be still to know where not to use them.

Plus for those places that have had their systems compromised, what do they do to correct the problem and safeguard their systems for their customers.

Plus for those places that have had their systems compromised, what do they do to correct the problem and safeguard their systems for their customers.

From what I gather there's nothing they really can do as this is a worldwide internet scam. I'm betting that there's a really big operation behind it and it's taken a long time to implement, involving a lot of very savvy and sophisticated hackers. The only way to protect yourself until this gets sorted out is to use cash where possible or write a good old fashioned cheque.

Or ask business if they transmit data over a phone line or via internet as it seems POS that use phone line verifications haven't been targeted?

Yes, they can let us know where the cards were used that report problems, and we can not use cards at those locations. The cops might be too inept to figure it out, but the credit card companies sure do know who the businesses are.

Add me to the victims list. Was stolen last week sometime. Citibank Mastercard. They made a fake card with my numbers because the rep said it showed that the card was swiped and not entered. I was on St. John the entire time, only place on STT I used it was the airport restaurant. This card does NOT have an RFID chip. Here were the charges:
08-14-2014 *Pending CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL HAWTHORNE CA FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS $ 22.51
08-14-2014 *Pending URBAN KICKS GARDENA CA SHOE STORE $ 80.00
08-14-2014 *Pending URBAN KICKS GARDENA CA SHOE STORE $ 90.00
08-14-2014 *Pending WINGSTOP 511 GARDENA CA FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS $ 47.92

Hopefully you've reported it to the VIPD.

I wonder when they are going to start cracking down on the users of these stolen cards, ie going after video from the places the cards are used and tracking them down for fraud.

It's not being done at the POS by employees. It's being stolen electronically at the end of the night when they batch process all the cards. Whether those scammers are on island or not.... Unlikely.

I got hit too. It was caught on the first try and declined. It's a card I don't use often anyhow. Ericw…. where were the last few places you used your card on St. John? For me, it was Dolphin Market (about 12 days prior to the fraud). Then a couple of weeks before that it was Starfish Market. I went to the police station, made a report. The officers were kind, shared their personal stories of fraud happening to them, and said that all of this is likely being forwarded to the FBI where they will investigate.

I wonder when they are going to start cracking down on the users of these stolen cards, ie going after video from the places the cards are used and tracking them down for fraud.

The whole point is that this isn't a fraud confined to the USVI but is worldwide and is an obviously sophisticated cyberspace hack.

Yea..... We got that... The first three times you posted it.

The fact is that it's happened to more people that we all know here. Maybe it's because we're small islands, maybe is because our systems are easy to get into here. Maybe less biz owners use antivirus or more owners use land lines here.

I am 34 and have never had this happen before in the states. Now twice in a week. That's not a coincidence. Clearly they are targeting the VI for whatever reason. Maybe they are here, who knows. Obviously it happens in the states as well but what I do know is that everyone of my friends now have had it happen, two of my poor friends are on their FOURTH time - with Banco Popular. It's just to high a percent to be coincidence. The crappy thing about their situation is that they didn't shut down the card, they let it go through and charged over 1k.

My stateside bank is a credit union and they don't allow the transactions to go through shutting down the account and then call me. It's frustrating for sure. I wish the FBI would release some information. Maybe even that would scare them enough to stop for a while. I'm sorry but I have absolutly no faith in our VI cops at all. My experience with them has NOT been good at all.

Yea..... We got that... The first three times you posted it.

I'm sorry you find the repetition irritating but I may well repeat it again as long as some posters continue to believe it's a local issue which can be solved locally.

I wonder when they are going to start cracking down on the users of these stolen cards, ie going after video from the places the cards are used and tracking them down for fraud.

The whole point is that this isn't a fraud confined to the USVI but is worldwide and is an obviously sophisticated cyberspace hack.

Yes, I was speaking about the end-users of the stolen data, no matter where it comes from. Right now I have not heard of anyone being prosecuted in relation to any ring yet, of this type.

Edit: I mean, obviously the card info is being sold to people that have the capacity to create cards across the USA - this is a far larger scale ring than I have ever heard of.

Maybe those that have had charges made to their accounts fraudulently should create a list of where they used those cards so we know NOT to use them in those locations and pay with check or cash! Not implying wrongdoing just that their systems may be compromised.

Here's a recent posting by investigative reporter Brian Krebs, "Why So Many Card Breaches? A Q&A"

From that posting, STXBob, "1. Armed with a stack of dumps, a carder walks into a big box store and walk out with high-priced electronics or gift cards that you can easily turn into cash."

What I wonder is why they aren't going after these guys and tracking the money back to the bigger fish.

A lot of the the dumps sites are run by Russians and Ukrainians. We can't go there and arrest them, but sometimes a bad guy will travel to the west and get arrested. It's easier to arrest the US carders (those who use the cloned credit cards for in-person purchases), but that's not as effective as going after the dumps people.

Why can't law enforcement shut down these sites? They're operated from various countries, sometimes on Tor (an anonymity network within the Internet), and buyers use Bitcoins (an anonymous currency). The US sites and US people are easier to go after. One notable success was the shut down of Silk Road.

I haven't had or heard of these problems in the states. I guess we'll have to transfer some money into our on island account and bring cash for our next trip. Seems like FBI cyber-crimes should have put a stop to this by now.

I haven't had or heard of these problems in the states.

Did you hear about Target stores last December? They had data stolen for tens of millions of credit cards. There have been many other stateside retailers affected.