AOL...the hacker's safe haven?

I recently became aware that roughly $160.00 was removed from my bank account with a check number of a check that I cashed.

3 IOPAY.com debits were on my statement for $39.95 among other debits

I contacted IOPAY.com and they stated that the person enrolled in a membership with sickoteen.com under my name (I can't wait to start reciving teen pornography in the mail..that will be choice!)

Here is what I know:

1. The account was accessed via a bank routing # (Off my check, not Credit Card)
2. The IP Address of the user that made the transaction is 205.188.209.16
3. From what I know, this is an AOL user (don't have their screen name though, wish I did)
4. The e-mail address that was used for the account was [email protected] (doesn't resolve, I tried)
5. The billing service used was Iopay.com
6. There are more transactions using another billing service, Intertrans.com (I'm assuming more "adult entertainment", although I dont know for sure)
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Long story short, I was able to track the IP address to:

cache-dk11.proxy.aol.com somewhere in Virgina (thanks AntiOnline for your awesome IP Locator)

Of course, this is a proxy server, so good luck trying to find the actual user.

I was going to file a police report, so I called AOL's Frad and Abuse line and lets just say that the dumb old hag didnt even know what an IP address was!
Her exact words were: "This is way beyond anything we can do."
They wanted an AOL screen name.
I was like: "Lady if I had that, do you think I would be on the phone with you!?"

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So there you are folks. If you want to steal money and not get caught, sign up with AOL!! They will hide your identity for you...you dont have to worry about a thing.

I have been hacked by an AOL user......I bury my face in my hands.....ashamed to show myself to the rest of my peers.

Your bank can fight it for you.

Go to your nearest branch, Cancel your debit cards and withdraw all of your money except for what you owe on outstanding checks. Open a new account and have them close your other one when our outstanding checks have cleared.

Your bank will reinburse you the $160 and charge back that to the service that authorized the sale.

If you didn't authorize it, you don't have to pay it. Plain and simple.

If your bank can't recover the $, they take the loss.

I've had this happen before and I had no problem recovering the $ from the bank.

well if its revenge you want, can't help you, sorry...

but if you just want your money back, call your bank man! Thats why they have insurance, for people that get money stolen! So, go get your money back and dont take no for an answer.

:D *******s on line for you :D

Well I did close my bank account. And my bank is going to refund the money.
You guys are definately right.. They gave me no hassle with that..

I just would love to catch this guy!! :3pow:

Man it just kills me that gAYOL could care less about what their users do.

I guess all this time I've always been afraid of doing anything illegal on the Internet.

There is this overall feeling that somehow we will get caught...

The general consensus is that SOMEONE is paying attention to what you're doing...tracking it, monitoring it...

Turns out....noone could give a ratt's

This is my first post on AO, so don't beat me up, but I'd like to reply to Your bank can fight it for you.

Go to your nearest branch, Cancel your debit cards and withdraw all of your money except for what you owe on outstanding checks. Open a new account and have them close your other one when our outstanding checks have cleared.

Your bank will reinburse you the $160 and charge back that to the service that authorized the sale.

If you didn't authorize it, you don't have to pay it. Plain and simple.

If your bank can't recover the $, they take the loss.

I've had this happen before and I had no problem recovering the $ from the bank.

I work for a bank and am their network and technology administrator. Most banks have a liability limit for which each customer is liable. Generally, according to state and federal regualtions called REG E, there is a liability limit if the customer contacts the bank within 48 hours of the date of the actual fraud, and another liability limit for customers that wait longer than 48 hours to report the fraud and no liability after 60 days. If reported within 48 hours, the bank has the right to make the customer pay for the first 50.00(notice that I say that they have the right to, but they can also "eat" the money depending on how they feel about the customer)...and after 48 hours, the limit for our bank jumps up way higher. This would be laid out for them in the detail of the account that they are required to provide to you upon request and upon opening the account. After 60 days of fraudlent activity has been committed, the bank does not have any responsiblity to do anything except deny your request. Most banks will still investigate the matter for you and if they can recover the money, you will still get it back.

Hope that helps...and like I said, I've been watching AO for a long time and love reading the posts, but this is my first post.

Also, please keep in mind that I forgot to mention about the above post...this liability limit only comes into play if the bank itself cannot recover the money within what the bank regulates as a "reasonable" amount of time. Again, this is spelled out in Federal Regulation E.

I'd also like to say, that, coming from the bank's perspective, it looks as if you have a ton of evidence to prove that this was indeed fraud, the only problem is, the bank is still going to have just as much problem recovering the money as are you....

One good thing is, the bank can contact those folks with whom allowed the payment and use certain evidence that you can provide for them (like the fact that you've never been to the state at which the purchase was made) and put up a good fight from the bank's end using the evidence you will be able to provide them with.....

I'm not trying to be all negative. I'm just trying to point out, its not always as easy as just telling the bank you didn't authorize the transaction. If this were the case, every guy that bought porn online and got in trouble when his wife found out would be saying, this was fraud, i didn't pay for that, and would be getting their bank to give them their money back.....

elrey103: WELCOME TO AO! I also work in a bank ;) Good job security, huh? I don't have the fancy title that you do, but I'm working on it. I'm just a network administrator... but I do practically everyting that has to do with technology. Except for our security... I'm not experieced enough for that yet.

Quote:

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I'd also like to say, that, coming from the bank's perspective, it looks as if you have a ton of evidence to prove that this was indeed fraud, the only problem is, the bank is still going to have just as much problem recovering the money as are you....

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You are correct with this. My mother works in the security/complience department of a bank and you'd be surprised how much more "pull" someone from a bank has, rather than just the person who was the victim.

Like you said there are rules and regulations for different circumstances. For $160, probably any bank would give it back to them. Now, if they are just careless with their account and leave their info all over the place, loose their debit/credit card and the are a victim multiple times... that could be a different story.

If you were a victum of credit fraud... then you can skip your bank, and go right to the credit card company. Hey, they're charging you all that interest... you might as well make em work for it. ;)

Good info. I didn't want to get into all the regulations, but very good post.

again... WELCOME TO AO!