I am sharing this awful situation from my comments section, and I urge anyone who has been the victim of credit card fraud to also file a police/FBI report.
My reply:
Hi Skye, It is certainly not the first time they have been accused of this, and it seems the more illegal activities they get away with, the more crimes they commit. If you, ( like me ), never buy products over the internet and have only used Paypal once – which was for TSR, who are known hackers/fraudsters, I agree it is highly likely, if not certain, they were involved -( not forgetting you made a ‘complaint’ to them and complainers of TSR have a nasty habit of getting hacked. )
Something was very odd with this situation from the onset, your subscription should have been activated immediately if you paid via PayPal. The site did have some subscription problems due to a power outage on the 29th June, but this only affected credit card payments made on that one night and it did not affect any Paypal payments. I am confused why Anoeska dealt with it in this way.
I am also not sure of Swedish law, but a lot of European countries have a statutory cancellation period ranging from 3-7 days depending on the country. The USA also has a 3 day ‘cooling-off period’ under which you may be covered. You should have had the right to cancel, although I am sure the $13 is the least of your worries at the moment. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/products/pro03.shtm
Good on you for filing a police report! They can be traced, no matter what proxy they used and you really need to keep chasing up on that report. There is also an FBI page you may find useful, it has tips about internet credit card fraud and to the right of the page it has links of how to report these crimes to the FBI.
Yes, you should absolutely report this to PayPal, and anyone else you can think of. They should not get away with doing this to you.
I am so sorry this has happened to you, and I hope you do get your money back as soon as possible, this is a dreadful thing to happen to anyone, people like this are truly the scum of the earth, I hope they get caught soon – and when they do, make sure you sue their ass. -Coconut
***** REMEMBER: TSR subscriber items are always FREE on SunSet sims. Direct links to TSR files: All Sims 3 downloads and Sims 2 hairs *****
You should definitely report it to Paypal! I had my Paypal hacked (not through TSR) and they accessed my debit card too. Paypal was way better about getting my money back than my bank. My bank had me jumping through hoops. Paypal had it all back in my account within 5 days. And they got my bank to waive the bounced check fees. Then they sent me a special card that makes it almost impossible to hack my account again, as I have to enter a randomly generated code from this card with every purchase.
Contact them about the hack no matter what.
Comment by Mandapotpie — July 20, 2012 @ 02:26
Someone really should get on 4chan and convince the computer super spies there to go all out against TSR and those running it. They have been known to bring down and cause misery on those much less vile than TSR – and, after pointing out all of the vileness coming out of that company, I am sure someone would make it a worthwhile mission.
Because this stuff is getting worse and worse.
Comment by D. Boon's Ghost — July 21, 2012 @ 00:09
Like they said report to anyone you can, especially paypal since they take these things very seriously, and hopefully they will get nailed for fraud.
Comment by Kaiya_sky — July 22, 2012 @ 06:29
What do you think 4chan will do with the hundreds of thousands of logins and personal info they’ll get their hands on if they successfully hack TSR? Just sit on their hands and do nothing?
We do not want to have the same shitty mentality as TSR, do we? Also, we don’t have to make a shit-ton of victims to get what we want.
Reply: ..Or What would TSR do with the hundreds of thousands of logins and personal info and then blame it on 4Chan? – Coconut
Comment by Lol — July 23, 2012 @ 16:48
Obviously the 4chan idea was one made in jest – and probably bad taste. But the point remains: if the hackings and the porn crap is true – and if those responsible are TSR employees, it amazes me that they have gotten away with it so many times.
There is a good story here; one that, if properly done, could truly raise the heat for TSR and EA. It is just too bad that any interest in such a story would be shrugged off as, ‘It’s Just a Game’.
Hell, I don’t even play the game – and haven’t since the first. But I do follow this, as it is such a brilliant example of the perversion of the cracking ideals that made the original scene. It went from ‘Everything Must Be Shared’ to ‘Pay Me, Suckers’ far too quickly.
Comment by D. Boon's Ghost — July 27, 2012 @ 04:15
What they’ve been doing for years, being criminal assholes. But I think calling for 4chan to hack TSR will expose these people/customers to even more problems they never asked for.
If TSR pulls something like blaming 4chan, that’s when they lose bigtime… what do they think the reaction to a direct accusation will be? Ofcourse they’re going to get what they’ve been claiming happened… if they’re really ready to let their cashcow go up in flames permanently, and have problems offline as well, they should pull this shit. 4chan is known to go very, very far just to prove a point. Would they be this stupid?
Reply: Anything is possible, and TSR do believe that they are indestructible. – Coconut
Comment by Lol — July 27, 2012 @ 16:10
D.Boon’s Ghost, I totally agree that it would make great copy, especially with Steve “Prison Guard” Bonham revealing EA’s complicity. It seems like something Private Eye would love to sink their teeth into – if only it wasn’t about a game. If only Steve was a part-time politician instead…
Coconut, you mentioned in the other post about going to the media with your info. Any updates on that? I’m sure any number of computing/gaming mags would at least give your info a look. PC Format especially
Oh and the reason TSR thinks it’s indestructible is because, so far, they have been
Reply: To be honest, I have been rushed off my feet IRL, so I have not had time to compile the evidence. I want to get this right, so I am waiting until I have the time to do it properly. EA are currently attracting media attention with a law suit over copy write infringements of their Sims FB game, these interested media outlets may be a good place to start. I am also considering contacting the other party with the evidence that EA do not act on all blatant acts of piracy ( as in selling EA content for profit ) when it suits them – in fact they encourage it by blocking the complaints and informing the pirates ( TSR ) of the complaint/complainant. – Coconut
Comment by Silver Arrows — July 30, 2012 @ 00:21
I have an idea about addresses mentioned (thomas[bllabla].se and connections to ea. I would like to contact you on PM but don’t know how. I think those connections should be checked, but I can’t be sure, until I talk to you. On private – just so I would not make false suspections at start. How can I contact you on PM? Maybe I’m dumb, but, when I click “contact me”it sends me to wordpress login, and I can’t even make an account…
REPLY: Hi, The best way to contact me in private is via PM at PMBD. The ‘Contact me’ link was an error, Thank you for letting me know, I have fixed it
– Coconut
Comment by witchwq — August 24, 2012 @ 12:11
Well, I also was victim to TSR. I was member when my PC crashed in March 2012( not TSR related) and cancelled my recurring payment. 24 hours later i recieved 5 texts informing me that TSR charged my paypal account . I immediately contacted PayPal and 17 days later was refunded the money… Here’s the best part: TSR never appealed! I got 10 months free!!!! I have 44 days left and have been donating anonomously everywhere!!! Screw TSR!!!!
Reply: Good for you! It is always good news to hear about someone getting a raw deal from TSR only to turn it around, it does not happen often, but when it does it is wonderful to hear. As a bonus you are sharing your good fortune, and I am sure I speak for everyone when I give you a HUGE thank you. XXX – Coconut
Comment by dallas5966 — November 11, 2012 @ 12:07