MONOPRICE Warning

Their site is posting this message today. May want to check your CC if you've made a purchase from them.

A few of our customers recently reported to us that information from credit cards they used on the Monoprice website had been misused. We promptly began an investigation with the help of expert computer forensic investigators to determine if any card data had been stolen from our computers.

To date, the investigators have found no evidence that card information has been stolen from Monoprice’s computer network. As a precaution to ensure that our customers’ information is not at risk, we have taken our website offline temporarily while we and our investigators complete the audit of our computer network.

We want to ensure that there is no security vulnerability in any part of our computer network system. We notified local and federal law enforcement agencies, our credit card processing business partners, and all credit card companies that some of our customers reported concerns regarding their card information to us.

We also advised these entities that we are working with outside security specialists to determine if there was breach of our computer system. We will post additional information when it is available. We regret any inconvenience that our investigation and the temporary suspension of the Monoprice website may have caused you. Thank you so much for your great support. Thank you for your understanding and shopping at MonoPrice.com.

My Chase got compromised 2-3 days ago - they tried to use it for a $600 purchase in Luxembourg, unfortunately I'm in Midwest right now (~1 week after buying something from Monoprice), guess I just found the explanation, thanks!

It seems like they are being very proactive at least.

Another reason to never use Debit Cards. Just imagine if they were actually taking funds out of your checking and you had to wait until the bank feels like returning them.

I ordered from mono on March 2nd. Went ahead and proactively canceled, and had citi reissue me a new card.

NEVER use a debit card. This just reinforced what i already knew, but occasionally used..not anymore. Even better, i should have generated a random 'virtual' number before I bought, I'll be doing this from now on as well.

ZenNUTS said: Technologist said: 1 of the few times I am thankful I used paypal.... Ya, as much as I hate Paypal, they are very useful for buying stuff from sites such as DealExtreme, monoprice, etc... it's like a firewall. Of course, you have to ste up paypoo properly as well to protect yourself, such as using a low balance firewall checking account with paypoo.

as much as I despise PP in general, they are a good way to limit the risk of this type of thing happening as the info isn't spread around to as many vendors

I travel a lot for work and I have had two credit cards replaced in the last year and was told by the card issuer, not the vendor that f'd up - MonoPrice is being proactive, something others rarely do publicly until they have to.

Note to those that don't already have a separate checking account for Paypal - just do it, also limit your exposure by only linking necessary card(s)

Oh, and use a very complex PP password that you use nowhere else...

interesting as I got a fraudulent charge from Verizon Wireless about 6 weeks ago. Used it to buy stuff from them late last year.

So that's why AMEX called me yesterday about a suspicious $9 charge from Itunes. I was shocked they would catch something that small.

Szymon

brettdoyle said: Another reason to never use Debit Cards. Just imagine if they were actually taking funds out of your checking and you had to wait until the bank feels like returning them.

They are required to provide provisional credit within ten calendar days of you contacting the bank. Still a long time, but we generally try to give PR CR the same day they file the claim. We are people and live on the other side of the coin, too. Another reason to use a Community Bank.

chulojw said: i just bought from monoprice and used paypal! i use paypal where i can.

congrats - it looks like those of us that went that route saved a headache and some phone calls

I use paypal because I don't want to re-enter CC#'s and for the "protection" against things like this

When I can't use paypal I try to use discover's online account number generator - it is a one time use thing so if this happened it isn't your "real" info anyway

skotty4 said: Even better, i should have generated a random 'virtual' number before I bought, I'll be doing this from now on as well.

A virtual number is no sure thing. There have been instances reported in FWF about virtual numbers being reused. For example, you pay for a subscription with a virtual number and forget to uncheck the auto-pay option. Next year, they charge to the same number and it has been approved by the CC.

hopya said: Is it advisable to sign up for credit monitoring service? When I called Chase to send me a new card they offered me to sign up for their credit monitoring service.

how much did they want to charge you? there are annual fee cards with credit monitoring included - I find that a better way to go since there are other benefits to that card and it costs about the same as the credit monitoring "stand-alone"

Thanks for the heads-up. I bought some stuff from monoprice last month. Nothing suspicious on my CC, though.

I am keeping a close watch on my Chase card.

I recently purchased something from monoprice. I checked my statement online and nothing odd so far. I have every intention of buying from them again in the future.

One of my CCs may have been compromised during the TJMaxx mess. I still shop there. That's what credit cards are for.

I may try and get a new number for my card though. I do use it a lot.

szymon said: So that's why AMEX called me yesterday about a suspicious $9 charge from Itunes. I was shocked they would catch something that small.

SzymonWe usually get a charge of $1 for itunes reported to us by AMEX. They cancel card and often send new one overnight.

Nothing unusual on my AMEX (ordered from Monoprice back at end of January).

They take Google Checkout, no need to give them a credit card number.

I HOPE I didn't get my card stolen. I like having to not carry receipts around at Target and Home Depot and a card # change would really mess me up

makingmovies said: A virtual number is no sure thing. There have been instances reported in FWF about virtual numbers being reused. For example, you pay for a subscription with a virtual number and forget to uncheck the auto-pay option. Next year, they charge to the same number and it has been approved by the CC.

Virtual numbers can be reused by the same merchant, typically. It would be impossible to reuse under a different merchant name with the credit cards I have.

I have an Aldi very close to where I live. I don't use their debit card terminal though. I guess you need to closely inspect the terminal before you swipe your card?