Unauthorized NetellerInstacash deposits >$5000!!

[indicka]

Be careful everyone! Dont be an victim like me.

Last night, I received a series of confirmation emails from Neteller that shook me up a bit.

You have made a successful instaCASH deposit for $2,912.00.

'When did I do that,' I thought to myself.

The next four emails confirmed successful credit card deposits totallng over $2000.

'WTF is going on here?' I said to my cat.

The last 5 emails reported unsuccessful credit card deposits...deposits were declined.

All this happened within an hour span as I was eating dinner. After every successful deposit into my Neteller account, these thieves immediately transfered the funds to another Neteller merchant in Euros. Im in California, USA. Up until last night my account didnt even know what a Euro was.

I called my bank and Neteller and reported this to them immediately. The Neteller agent informed me that according to what he can see, those transactions were made from my computer!
Neteller closed my account and told me to email their investigations department and to wait for their response.

Not taking any more chances for now. This morning I closed my bank account.

My point, which cant be said enough, is monitor your account activity regularly and carefully!...I put my guards down for a little and was knocked with this crap!

[winbig]

I would scan for spyware/malware/trojans ASAP.

If you find anything, KEEP THE LOGS, and even take screenshots, if possible. That way you can prove to Neteller and your Bank that your computer was definitely not under your control when those deposits were made/attempted.

Afterwards, I would even suggest backing up everything you need, formatting and reinstalling everything just to make sure.


*Disclaimer* Only do it if you're comfortable with doing so

...why everyone doesn't have a firewall installed is beyond me....

[indicka]

I would scan for spyware/malware/trojans ASAP.

If you find anything, KEEP THE LOGS, and even take screenshots, if possible. That way you can prove to Neteller and your Bank that your computer was definitely not under your control when those deposits were made/attempted.

....

Yes I try to keep keep logs of all activity to the best of my abilities.

I believe Neteller knows what is going on here. If anything, Neteller should prove to me I made those deposits! This just another case of guilty until proven less gulity.

[winbig]

Yes I try to keep keep logs of all activity to the best of my abilities.

I believe Neteller knows what is going on here. If anything, Neteller should prove to me I made those deposits! This just another case of guilty until proven less gulity.

Yea...I think keeping a 'paper trail' would benefit you more with your bank than Neteller, if anything.

[vinylweatherman]

If no trojans are spotted, it is just possible that Phishing attempts may have succeeded in the past. Once the thieves have the 6 digit number and password, this crime is easy to carry out, and it can be done really quickly!
The fact that it was so easy for the thieves to both steal the money, and "launder" it to another account will not help those poor Neteller founders recently arrested. While they can't be blamed for allowing the funding, surely they should have some sort of hold before a transfer can be made to another Neteller Member rather than a player's own casino account, where the money is at least safe unless the thieves gamble it away.
If the amount of these transactions is totally beyond the norm, their systems should have kicked in straight away, and if the money is still in the Neteller system they should be able to lock the receiving account and recover the money back to the original credit cards.

[winbig]

If no trojans are spotted, it is just possible that Phishing attempts may have succeeded in the past. Once the thieves have the 6 digit number and password, this crime is easy to carry out, and it can be done really quickly!

That would be possible, but Neteller did say it came from their computer...

As far as the money still being in their system, it's not. It was transferred to another merchant...

[indicka]

If no trojans are spotted, it is just possible that Phishing attempts may have succeeded in the past. Once the thieves have the 6 digit number and password, this crime is easy to carry out, and it can be done really quickly!
The fact that it was so easy for the thieves to both steal the money, and "launder" it to another account will not help those poor Neteller founders recently arrested. While they can't be blamed for allowing the funding, surely they should have some sort of hold before a transfer can be made to another Neteller Member rather than a player's own casino account, where the money is at least safe unless the thieves gamble it away.
If the amount of these transactions is totally beyond the norm, their systems should have kicked in straight away, and if the money is still in the Neteller system they should be able to lock the receiving account and recover the money back to the original credit cards.

This occured less than 18 hours ago. I was able to close my bank account before money was taken out of my account..(instacash is not really immediately like they say)

Yes, these transactions are totoally out of norm. I've made hundreds of InstaCash deposits...and never have I made any deposits over $75...not once...and my deposits have always been whole dollars. These unauthorized transactions were all USD with change, but when transfered to another merchant, they all turn out to be whole numbers in Euros..hmm?

I'm surprised Neteller even allowed for them to attempt 5 unsuccessful credit card deposits, one minute after another.

[vinylweatherman]

That would be possible, but Neteller did say it came from their computer...

As far as the money still being in their system, it's not. It was transferred to another merchant...

It will be in the other merchant's NETELLER account, and it isn't that easy to get money out of Neteller as fast as it can be put in. If Neteller were alerted early, which seems the case, they should have locked ALL accounts in this chain, including the merchant. The fact that a merchant is involved says nothing for the vetting procedures employed by Neteller when deciding if a company is really a proper business or a scam. The FBI will have a field day when they hear about the speed with which the thieves were able to remove the money from the entire system, and for a very substantial amount that could fund some serious criminal activity.

If Neteller say this was done from the user's computer, two questions? 1) was it actually switched on at the time this took place? 2) Was it connected to the internet during this time. If both these are true, this points to a trojan application executing commands from a remote computer through a port. There are some defined ports through which Windows will accept input as though coming from the user's keyboard. A trojan module has to be in place to open the port and feed the comands through, while at the same time ensuring nothing looks out of place to anyone using the PC. They could have got the initial account data from Phishing, including the MAC of the PC as well as the IP address, or they could have inserted a keylogger or screen logger through a malware application. Download any GFED casinos recently?

A complete reinstallation is a good move, however inconvenient, and do not allow the PC near the internet till this has been done in case further information is compromised.
I would really like to see more openness from Neteller in telling us how these thieves got away with this, enough at least for us to know the vulnerabilities that we ourselves may have left open for them, and how we should close them.

[tennis_balls]

I would scan for spyware/malware/trojans ASAP.

yeah.....and if you use a wireless router, the culprit could be a neighbor or someone hanging out in a car outside your house (check for a skinny short dude with a painted-on mustache!)

[Slotster!]

'WTF is going on here?' I said to my cat.

Classic

I too would like to know if you were actually sat at your computer at the time (in fact you must've been to see the confirmation emails) - and on what basis have Neteller decided they were made "from your computer"?

Like others have said, sounds more like the info obtained elsewhere - logged in and away they go. I don't really understand how they can ever profit from this though without being instantly traced in terms of how the money eventually 'leaves' Neteller...

I hope the thieves aren't looking to go anywhere anytime soon mind... It took them seven days to accept a few hundred quid deposit off me!