How did j2 get my number?

How did j2 get my number?

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Subject Author Date
How did j2 get my number? djin 09-29-2005
Posted by djin on September 29, 2005, 10:59 pm
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I found a questionable charge on my credit card statement - from a "J2
Efax Plus Service" that I'd never heard of before. I called up the credit
card company and they said they didn't know what it was and to call J2
using the phone number on the credit card (long distance of course) next
to the listing for J2. After calling J2 it became obvious that it was not
some place like Kagi or Paypal that might be charging me for a purchase
I'd made from another company. Instead it was some sort of email faxing
service - something I have no use for and would never have ordered. I
cancelled the credit card, thinking it had been compromised and being
advised by both J2 and the credit card company to get a new card. The only
other possibly fraudulent charge was one the credit card company said was
from a bookstore and had been made today, when I hadn't used my credit
card today. But it later occurred to me that it might have been something
I'd ordered from Amazon, which had been delayed until today. (Amazon said
it was too late to change the payment method for that order, which means...).

So the only charge I know is bad is from J2. If my credit card number was
stolen, why would the thief buy only a $25.90 efax service instead of a
big screen TV or something? I'm left wondering if J2 itself is the thief,
whether they might be partnering with another company and have access to
the other company's customer accounts and sales records. Any ideas on this?


Posted by Jbob on September 29, 2005, 7:48 pm
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>I found a questionable charge on my credit card statement - from a "J2
> Efax Plus Service" that I'd never heard of before. I called up the credit
> card company and they said they didn't know what it was and to call J2
> using the phone number on the credit card (long distance of course) next
> to the listing for J2. After calling J2 it became obvious that it was not
> some place like Kagi or Paypal that might be charging me for a purchase
> I'd made from another company. Instead it was some sort of email faxing
> service - something I have no use for and would never have ordered. I
> cancelled the credit card, thinking it had been compromised and being
> advised by both J2 and the credit card company to get a new card. The only
> other possibly fraudulent charge was one the credit card company said was
> from a bookstore and had been made today, when I hadn't used my credit
> card today. But it later occurred to me that it might have been something
> I'd ordered from Amazon, which had been delayed until today. (Amazon said
> it was too late to change the payment method for that order, which
> means...).
>
> So the only charge I know is bad is from J2. If my credit card number was
> stolen, why would the thief buy only a $25.90 efax service instead of a
> big screen TV or something? I'm left wondering if J2 itself is the thief,
> whether they might be partnering with another company and have access to
> the other company's customer accounts and sales records. Any ideas on
> this?

FWIW, this is a legit company.

http://www.efax.com/en/efax/twa/page/productOverview

J2 and eFax merged a few years ago. I have a J2 free fax number. What this
company does is for free you can get a Fax number, might not be local, and
have people send you faxes to that number. The service then receives the
Fax, scans/converts it to an email and sends it to the email of your choice.
This is nice for people who do not have a Fax machine handy. The paid
service "Plus" allows you to send Fax's from your computer, without a Fax
machine. They are electronically sent to either a Fax machine or another's
email.

As to how your credit card was charged is the question. The enclosed web
site has a 1-800 number. I have read recently that there are some credit
card scams going on that charge smaller amounts in hopes that credit card
users will miss the charges. Some of the charges are going to reputable
sounding names. I found a link to several web sites a few weeks ago but
have since misplaced it. You can try calling eFax to check on a possible
account or as you have already done, canceled your card.




Posted by djin on September 30, 2005, 1:33 am
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On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 19:48:26 -0500, Jbob wrote:

>
> FWIW, this is a legit company.
>
> http://www.efax.com/en/efax/twa/page/productOverview
>
> J2 and eFax merged a few years ago. I have a J2 free fax number. What
> this company does is for free you can get a Fax number, might not be
> local, and have people send you faxes to that number. The service then
> receives the Fax, scans/converts it to an email and sends it to the email
> of your choice. This is nice for people who do not have a Fax machine
> handy. The paid service "Plus" allows you to send Fax's from your
> computer, without a Fax machine. They are electronically sent to either a
> Fax machine or another's email.

It may be a legitimate company, but I've never used any of their services.
I wasn't terribly impressed by the customer service representative's
foreign accent, which made me wonder if the number I had was actually for
the company. But he did tell me right away that since I hadn't ordered the
service that someone must have my credit card number. He also asked my
name and address, though I didn't really understand why - something about
them wanting to mail me something about the incident. I wonder if this
particular company has had this happen before.

> As to how your credit card was charged is the question. The enclosed
> web site has a 1-800 number. I have read recently that there are some
> credit card scams going on that charge smaller amounts in hopes that
> credit card users will miss the charges. Some of the charges are going
> to reputable sounding names. I found a link to several web sites a few
> weeks ago but have since misplaced it. You can try calling eFax to
> check on a possible account or as you have already done, canceled your
> card.

Someone else told me that it isn't uncommon for a thief to only make one
small charge on the card the first month - to "test the waters" to see if
you notice. Then the next month is when they really start buying stuff.
That didn't make a lot of sense to me though. Why give a warning?

I assume that some company I ordered from online has had their records
stolen or their ordering system compromised. I don't know how else it
would happen. But I have no clue as to which company it might have been.


Posted by teh Mephisto on September 30, 2005, 4:41 am
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djin wrote:
> It may be a legitimate company, but I've never used any of their services.
> I wasn't terribly impressed by the customer service representative's
> foreign accent, which made me wonder if the number I had was actually for
> the company.

Almost all customer service and technical support for online (and many
offline) companies are based out of India and other foreign countries.
You will be hard pressed to find a major internet company whos customer
service is in the US or whatever your native country is (unless your
from India or another one of those countries)

--
Meph


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