Epassporte fraud gift account?
 

Has anyone else had inquiries from epassporte or troubles regarding an apparent "fraudulent gift card" that they did not create? I just ran into this, and I know for sure I've never created any gift card not even for a family member lol.

hitting you up on ICQ now.

This is the first I have heard of it.

First I'd like to thank Keyser for his assistance. However, I'd like to also note that I've been using epassporte for almost 3 years, my record shows I've never "shared" my account with anyone, I've always kept a good standing with my account, plenty of usage/activity and this "surprise" has left me with a result of being told my account cannot be reopened nor can I open up a new account for myself. This reminds me of Paypal freezing people's accounts for some BS reason and leaving the person hanging in the wind. Hopefully I'll get a positive response from the "accounts verification" team after they realize I'm of NO danger to them nor have I ever been and it's very much so apparent someone used my account without my knowledge and/or permission. I really hope epassporte can straighten this out as I've always thought highly of them.

Regretfully,

JM

I've seen some similar posts regarding this type of situation, did anyone come to any resolution? Just found some similar cases. I'm sure this isn't isolated, maybe a mass-hack or some such?

you mean someone hacked your account or other people who had access to your computer did it?

Oz,

Not sure WHAT happened but in March, SOMEONE created a "gift account" through my account and was NOT me. Then they apparently used it for fraudulent reasons, and I was caught by "guilt by association" basically. However, my track record as they can see is CLEAN as a whistle and active for almost 3 straight years now. Yet after I send in documentation I'm told it's closed and I can't open another one? That's rather scary/sketchy. I just hope that once "accounts verification" is in tomorrow they will realize that I'm a valid/legit businessman and it should NOT be closed.

dosent sound good for you... :(

lush,

You're telling me but I can't believe I'm getting penalized for something I did not do. They could check back the IP as I'm sure it's some hacked proxy, server, or foreign address as they know my location. On top of that, I'm sure if they look at WHERE or WHO it was set up to/for, they will see I've probably never had an assocation with that party, but I can't say who they are for sure because they won't even tell me who is using my own damned account or who used it.

-JM

Checking now, dang!

that sucks...

Damn, that sucks bro. I hope that never happens to my epass account.

Yeah it sucks. Waiting to hear back from the accounts verification team now.

fuck epassporte...

So basically here's the story/update:

1. I'm told my account is frozen due to reaching 5k and I must send required info in (as many of us have had to do). No problem, photo ID, etc. sent.
2. I'm told by a supervisor it's due to one gift account created back in March linked to my account which participated in fraudulent activity.
3. Another rep tells me not ONE but FOUR "gift accounts" were created and used in fraudulent activities.
4. I'm emailed the following:

Dear XXXX,

Pursuant to ePassporte Risk Management policy, we regret to inform you that we can no longer accept your business. Therefore, your account and the gift accounts you have created will be terminated immediately. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Sincerely,

ePassporte Account Verification Department
[email protected]
REF: AM

5. I call up epassporte again. They then inform me that "accounts verification" consists of a total of 4 or 5 people and that they basically handle anything and everything related to epassporte minus customer support. I am suggested to e-mail them at the given address stating my denial of their claims and so forth. So I e-mail them and get no response. I call back they tell me "they're not ignoring you, they're just 4 or 5 people handling everything so they might not have gotten a chance to get back to you".

Now, I can understand it's only been about a day or so that I sent that follow-up e-mail, but they SURE as HELL weren't too busy or backed up to e-mail me twice stating my account was taken and I could never obtain an epassporte account again.

Keyser was nice enough to hit me up on ICQ to find out the story and look into it. He told me corporate said the account was terminated and not able to be re-opened nor could I open myself up another account.

Now I ask you this, to please think about the following:

For 3 years using Epassporte, I've never once had a single violation or have done something to violate their terms of service. I have never had a negative balance, any questionable purchases, anything illegal AT ALL linked to my account. Now with this knowledge that the epassporte corporate office can surely look up, and possibly compare with the most recent questionable activities, including but not limited to verifying the IP address, date, time, and possible cluster-hack (where this has happened to several others with a similar situation and end-result), why would they consider my case to be so "open and shut" that they would react in the manner in which they did?

One other thing comes to mind which plays a big part in my question of their authenticity, trust, and truth, is why would they initially tell me it was due to the 5k reach and request my photo ID, back and front of my credit card, and a copy of my BANK STATEMENT, then tell me ONE "gift account" was created (one story), and then FOUR were created (yet another story)?

So why would I even send them my personal information, ID, bank statement, if I was trying to pull a fast one? Wouldn't I just run away and forget the situation was even present? Forget about epassporte or open up another account to continue commiting such questionable acts?

The answer is: No. I would certainly not, IF I WERE ILLEGITIMATE.

Epassporte, I've switched the 100+ sponsors I work with's payment method over to check. While I might not have been the biggest client of yours, I hope this post assists new and current webmasters when they are considering a choice of online payment solutions. This is more distasteful than Paypal and that is not saying much.

I'm done. Sorry for the long post folks, just thought the facts needed to all be outlined and out in the open so that hardworking webmasters like myself would not be in danger of such things. This can't happen to you? I thought so too after almost 3 years of no issues whatsoever. Proves me wrong, doesn't it now?

Kindest regards,

JM

:( I'm seeing too many of these stories lately. We've never had problems but I'm getting worried.

well, i guess this answers the question i posed earlier:

FACT: if you use epass, and if keyser can't help, you're fucked.

you got treated like shit. what exactly does keyzer do anyway, sit on his ass.

Time to withdraw and go back to checks I guess. I wonder why Visa put up with this kind of incompetent crap... It's actually sad because it could be a great service. :2 cents:

jerzeemedia please forward the email to me and I will get you a response.


4 gift accounts were created from your account over a 4 month period all of them have been involved in fraud.

When a gift account is created it costs $5 + the funds loaded into the account.
The creation of a gift account will show on your statement and you have not contacted us saying these transactions were not made by you.
Further more when a gift account is created you are sent an email to your ePassporte email that the gift account has been created.

When Risk Management saw this they terminated your account to prevent further fraudulent gift accounts being created from your account.

:disgust :disgust :disgust :disgust

hmm seems pretty obvious this guy had his account hacked , im suprised you guys dont investigate these rings and have him contact his local police dept. If indeed his account was hacked and someone stole money from him its a clear case of theft , just like if someone stole some of your checks..

andyways it would REALLY REALLY help if we could have a complete transaction history month by month ( like stats ) , if a gift account cost $5 and they load it with like $5 thats oinly $10 , i dont log in all the time i might not notice $10 missing.. :thumbsup

especially with $5k sitting in there

first time im hearing about this...

Keyser,

Thanks. However, I never once received an e-mail regarding any sort of gift account. Hell, I didn't even know they existed until this happened. As far as funds, that sucks for me because I didn't keep that close of an eye out on $5. Risk management/accounts verification still hasn't responded to me, day 2 just fyi. I'll forward those e-mails I sent to them over to you now though.

Regards,

JM

isn't around March when all their database got screwed ?

dark,

Not sure, but it sounds like that's about the time *I* got screwed lol.

The first gift account were created earlier than the database issue.
Furthermore no information were compromised when that happened.