Anime On-Line Statement on Credit/Debit Card Fraud

Ian Wolf

Ian Wolf

Mushi-shi
AUKN Staff
UK Anime Fans Report on rise of Credit/Debit Card Fraud

There have been increasing reports of anime fans in the UK have been suffering from a spate of attempts of credit and debit card fraud.

According to these reports, the fact that it is such a targeted group of people means that the cause is a problem with a website frequently used by UK anime fans. However, it could affect anime fans outside of the UK too.

There are unconfirmed claims that the site responsible if Anime On-Line, used by MVM Entertainment. Some say that their security has been breached. Anime On-Line has since "closed for maintenance" and MVM has that they are looking into the possibility that their Internet Service Provider has compromised them.

The site may be re-launched as early as next week with new off-site payment provider WorldPay. However, the site may re-open using only Paypal as the only payment option until the site is fully completed.

Users that are worried are advised to check of any unusual activity in their bank accounts, and possibly cancel any cards they have used on a website that could be a risk.

Source

Follow Up

Anime On-Line Statement on Credit/Debit Card Fraud

Following on from the reports that people with Anime On-Line accounts may have had credit and debit card details stolen, the website has issued the following statement.

In the interests of improved security anime-on-line will shortly re-launch using the Card Save World Pay portal in order to attain the highest level of e-commerce security, 3D secure. Additionally we will be implementing a PayPal option.

These improvements however will mean the deletion of all established customer profiles and any outstanding orders, including part completed orders. Customers are only ever billed for goods physically shipped, so any part completed order would only have been billed for items you have received.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Please take the time to re-establish your profile on the new and improved site and we hope to continue to be of service to you in the future.
 
Re: UK Anime Fans Report on rise of Credit/Debit Card Fraud

Can I just say that I've been a victim of this myself. Luckily my bank knew there was something up and stopped it before any huge sums of money were taken.
 
Re: UK Anime Fans Report on rise of Credit/Debit Card Fraud

I've only just recently been the victim of my card being cloned, so if I'm a victim of this too, I'll be pretty pissed off. My account appears fine so far, so hopefully nothing happens.

EDIT:
There's a mysterious £1.58 charge on my statement. Nothing I've bought in like, forever, has been around that much. Only things near it are Marvel comics on the digital store and they're either £1.50 or £2.50. I overlooked it at first because it was so small, but now hearing this, I'll phone the bank tomorrow (although that went on Friday, not Saturday, which is the common date it seems). My statement says nothing except "Point of Sale".
 
Re: UK Anime Fans Report on rise of Credit/Debit Card Fraud

I've transferred all non-essential money into my mums account for safe keeping, but I need to leave £18 in my account for wednesday so I'm really hoping these f****** stay away. I just hope LloydsTSB are one of those banks that are good at detecting and stopping dodgy dealings early on, instead of leaving customers to look out for themselves.
 
Re: UK Anime Fans Report on rise of Credit/Debit Card Fraud

If this is correct then I've been had a well as my account got frozen on Saturday for fraud activity which I didn't noticed until early on today when I tried to used my card, once I contacted the bank they did confirm payments of £153 (for clothes) and $3 (no clue! most likely for a cheeseburger) which I did not recognise. As a result I've spend the last several hours changing all passwords and checking every file on my computer for anything suspicious, only to read this.

I got a new card recently and had only used it on four different website so far one of which includes Anime-On-Line, lucky for me the bank sorted it out and are offering a refund and my current card is cancelled.

So I can only advise to check it out with you bank.
 
Following on from the reports that people with Anime On-Line accounts may have had credit and debit card details stolen, the website has issued the following statement.

<em>In the interests of improved security anime-on-line will shortly re-launch using the Card Save World Pay portal in order to attain the highest level of e-commerce security, 3D secure. Additionally we will be implementing a PayPal option.

These improvements however will mean the deletion of all established customer profiles and any outstanding orders, including part completed orders. Customers are only ever billed for goods physically shipped, so any part completed order would only have been billed for items you have received.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Please take the time to re-establish your profile on the new and improved site and we hope to continue to be of service to you in the future.</em>
 
Re: UK Anime Fans Report on rise of Credit/Debit Card Fraud

Joshawott said:
I've only just recently been the victim of my card being cloned, so if I'm a victim of this too, I'll be pretty pissed off. My account appears fine so far, so hopefully nothing happens.

EDIT:
There's a mysterious £1.58 charge on my statement. Nothing I've bought in like, forever, has been around that much. Only things near it are Marvel comics on the digital store and they're either £1.50 or £2.50. I overlooked it at first because it was so small, but now hearing this, I'll phone the bank tomorrow (although that went on Friday, not Saturday, which is the common date it seems). My statement says nothing except "Point of Sale".
Click to expand...

My bank detected a £1.61 transaction (on sat aswell) that seemed iffy and called me after refusing it, sure enough it was a fraudulent transaction and I got my card cancelled.

I'd suggest you call your bank ASAP,they should be able to tell you exactly where that mysterious transaction came from.

-edit- So they don't say they were compromised, just that they are upgrading their security, seems pretty conclusive to me.
 
Re: UK Anime Fans Report on rise of Credit/Debit Card Fraud

Yep, I got done as well. Tried to order something last night and the transaction was declined. Tried to log into my Barclaycard account online and ACCESS DENIED. Thought I'd best charge my mobile (never use it...) to see if there was a message from Barclaycard, as this isn't the first time something like this has happened, and lo, the fraud protection people had been in touch.

Some miscreant had made three £10 transactions to O2, then attempted to spend the best part of a grand at a restaurant or something (these fraudsters have expensive taste)--at which point Barclaycard froze the account.

In a way it's kind of a relief to know where the breach happened, as I would've been left wondering otherwise. I can't really blame Anime-On-Line because they're not the biggest company whose security has been breached, but I would hope that CC details were stored as securely as possible.
 
Re: UK Anime Fans Report on rise of Credit/Debit Card Fraud

The things that happened to my account are similar to what has been talked about. Someone tried to spend £20 in transactions to O2 (my bank, NatWest, said they would pay me back that money if the transaction went ahead, which looks like they have). Then someone tried to pay over around £3,500(!) to a fashion shop, and then about $1.50 for something else, I don't remember what.
 
Re: UK Anime Fans Report on rise of Credit/Debit Card Fraud

My bank have said they can't do anything until tomorrow at 8am when they roll their tapes and they can see exactly where the charge came from (right now it only says debit card transaction).

So until then I just have to hope nothing goes wrong.
 
Re: UK Anime Fans Report on rise of Credit/Debit Card Fraud

Chalk me up as another one who got a small £2-ish charge after the big one. You'd have thought they'd take the hint after their food splurge phail.

Also, if what Andy Hanley of UK Anime says is true, then perhaps Anime-On-Line aren't blameless after all.

Click-me-do
 
Re: UK Anime Fans Report on rise of Credit/Debit Card Fraud

Joshawott said:
My bank have said they can't do anything until tomorrow at 8am when they roll their tapes and they can see exactly where the charge came from (right now it only says debit card transaction).

So until then I just have to hope nothing goes wrong.
Click to expand...
That was the case for me - 3 £10 O2 transactions on Saturday, but it's taken until today for my bank to be able to identify where and when then transactions were made. Thankfully they didn't try anything else after the O2 stuff...
 
Re: UK Anime Fans Report on rise of Credit/Debit Card Fraud

I had O2, a jewellery shop and some place in the US that I couldn't quite catch.
 
Re: UK Anime Fans Report on rise of Credit/Debit Card Fraud

I was extremely worried about this yesterday, so I went to the bank and checked, no sign of any fraud happening on my card, still I was concerned that it was going to happen to me soon.

Took me a while to figure out why I wasn't affected, then I found out I have an expired card on the Anime-On-Line site and I haven't bought from them since last year and my card was re-newed March this year.

So yeah, very sure now that nothing happen to me, very lucky.
 
Re: UK Anime Fans Report on rise of Credit/Debit Card Fraud

O2 and a clothes shop for me. The O2 charge (£11) went throught but will be refunded (I also need to sign and return a form saying it has nothing to do with me to the bank's fraud dept) while the clothes shop (around £250) was declined by the bank. I think there might also have been a small charge from the US which I said wasn't anything to do with me.
 
Re: UK Anime Fans Report on rise of Credit/Debit Card Fraud

They got me too :( Luckily my bank refused a payment of about £250, but one for £10 from O2 went through. Just called and had my card locked. No online shopping for me for 7-10 days. ;w; I'm gonna miss the Shana deal of the week now... *sobs* I hope AOL keep the PayPal option though. :/ I feel safer using that.
 
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