I just had a client come back to me (we sold our company) and tell me that Instabill had charged twice on his credit card. He emailed Instabill and told them that it was a mistake and to take it off. The Instabill Staff emailed him back and said they were sorry, and that they would refund him that money, if he sent his order number and credit card number. Now, the client did what they asked and emailed both numbers back to Instabill. Instabill emailed him and told everything was cleared up, and that he had nothing to worry about.

Two weeks later, the customer got a call from American Express. They said multiple credit card charges were made from unknown people, and credit card signatures from the receipts did not match the customers signature. Now, American Express was able to trace the charges all the way back to the Instabill company. Apparently, someone, somehow, received the email the client sent with the credit card number on it. The person was someone in Instabill.

I suggest that you be careful when emailing people your credit card number. Now, everytime I deal with a Instabill member and I need a refund, I send them only the Order number.

My trust has been shaken with Instabill.

Jim

something sounded very fishy when I read that story. I'm moving to revecom soon!

I can appreciate a good tip when I read one.

Thank you!! :D

Terrible. You do realize they are owned by the same company right? I wouldn't doubt if workers worked for both.

I also have found out CC fraud goes unpunished 95% of the time. Meaning... CC companies don't press charges.

Jim,

That is indeed a scary story. It has become painfully obvious over the last year that credit card fraud is now a HUGE problem, and not just in the web hosting arena.

The thing I can't get my arms around is Why.

Why set up bogus web hosting accounts?

You will be found out and deleted/prosecuted if possible.

That is the part I don't get.

I guess my hacker genes are fading with age...

I guess it is just a Game....but chargebacks cost us all big bucks every year... Just to play the Game

UGH i emailed my credit card number with my addy on it to someone that owns a NOC........ Since its Pwebtech.. I can trust them right?

I think you'll be fine... did you PGP encode it?

Don't send your credit card info over plain email. It is totally unsecure. If you HAVE to send it over email encrypt it first with PGP or the link.

Its really too bad that the internet is so unsecure. Even within a company, crooks can pop up everywhere. Its gotten to the point where sending a seemingly secure email can be intercepted and all the data can be stolen.

Its really too bad.

Jim

Hi,

I use instabill.com for credit card processing

Recently, I have had customer complaints of unauthorized credit card charges, and their only internet transaction made was via instabill.

Here are the 2 charges:

1) WP-Intercard Finan Mail Order GB for US$9.95
2) WP-Global Shop RIGA GB for US$9.95

The interesting thing is, I myself have these 2 exact fraudulent charges on my own card! I did submit my card info to instabill to test the payment process.

Are there any instabill users who have had the same problem? I wonder if their security had been comprised, given the frequent downtimes lately?

Thanks

My customer has those exact charges, as well as others that were made by instabill.

This is getting more interesting....

Jim

http://www.ifccfbi.gov

I just sent the former customer the IFCC's website and phone number. He said he did a chargeback to instabill, and is getting mad. Luckly, we didnt use re-occuring billing, so he shouldnt have to worry about being billed again. But you never know.

Jim

The problem now is that InstaBill.com already has your credit card number(s).

Citibank reissued all my cards with new numbers... they do it automatically for you in Malaysia if you report a unauthorised transaction and it is over the Internet.

Hey I have been charged with WP-Intercard Finan Mail Order GB for US$9.95 too, And guess, the same month I made a purchase with an instabill merchant :angry:

Instabill is a big BIG FRAUD :angry:

I sent an email to instabill regarding this, and this is their reply:


This is the first time we have come across this. There has been no breach of security and our servers are safe and secure.

Safe and secure my @$$, either someone had hacked into their server, which shouldn't be the case since credit card info shouldn't be stored on a server connected to the internet, or it's an inside job by some employee with access to all the credit card info.

Either way, this spells trouble for all my existing clients, and my website's reputation. How should a situation like this be handled? I still have quite a bit of money held back with them :bawling:

Its sounding more and more like an inside job. Someone in instabill could be charging up credit cards and the rest of the company doesnt notice it.

Also, they may be hiding something. It seems that all the downtime and such may have not been due to server errors. It could very well have been because of a hacker attack, in which they should have notified the public.

This could end up being something that turns into a huge internet fraud example.

Something needs to be done.

Jim

Originally posted by thereismore
Why set up bogus web hosting accounts?

You will be found out and deleted/prosecuted if possible.No, you will be found out and the account will be deleted. But the odds of being prosecuted are very, very slim. And if the account was established, for example, to send out a bunch of spam or to pull off some marketing scam, it will have already served its purpose by the time the fraud is detected.

ahk! I need to really find a solution for this instabill problem.

What other non-credit card related alternatives are there? The other transactions are too expensive and will really kill a hosting company with their exhorbitant fees!

As for revecom.com, they are owned by the exact same company that owns instabill.


... I've already posted so many complaints in this forum about instabill and it has been going on for MONTHS! :angry:

I love paypal, they are awsome with their support and services. Great alternative to instabill.

Jim

Originally posted by jimb
I love paypal, they are awsome with their support and services. Great alternative to instabill.

Jim

Seeing that PayPal has reoccuring billing now! YES!

Just got a email last week. I am going to start taking orders with them.

FYI - Contrary to some peoples beliefs RevEcom and Instabill ARE NOT OWNED BY THE SAME COMPANY!

I was told this too, and believed it for quite some time, and then asked RevEcom and they were VERY CLEAR that they are NOT owned by the same company. I'd probably be very clear to.... Instabill sucks, if you're using them now, GET OUT while you can. I had them charge one of my clients cards 20x in one month... Visa contacted the client, and I told the client to contact Instabill about it since they are the "authorized billing agent." I was then told by an Instabill employee that they would not tolerate rude clients and that if I continued to send such customers to them for billing they would cancel my account... I could hardly believe it and I switched to RevEcom!

how strange..
i recently had an instance with Instabill & my hosting company.. something went wrong with the signup form & i had to submit twice for it to go through..
Instabill charged me twice, but had no record of the first one.
they asked for my order confirmation # ..but not my credit card #
& even though they had no record they still refunded me.
I've had to e-mail them a couple of times over refunds and they never asked me for a credit card number. only order ID.

Fed up with 3rd party billing companies, etc, I took the plunge and I am working at getting my own merchant account. I have grown to the point that I need one. Also it is a lot better for business.

I am going through http://www.electronictransfer.com

Their rates are pretty good. 2.30% internet and phone, .30 cents transaction fee, only $29.95 per month lease. For AVS (Address verification system) its only $15.00 extra and .10 cents per trans.

$69.95 gets you started.

I am not selling for them, I am just stating who I am using and what deal I got. Anyone else here have their own merchant account, did I get a good rate?