Has anyone ever hacked into your checking acct?

[Deleted]

We've had our credit card info stolen a bunch of times.

But never by someone who found us on message boards.

[cjeanette]

No, but I have seen it happen to more than one client.

[cjeanette]

Nov 14, 2012 12:15:13 GMT -5 swizzlestx said:

Nov 14, 2012 12:14:13 GMT -5 v said:

We've had our credit card info stolen a bunch of times.

But never by someone who found us on message boards.

No, I'm talking someone got into your checking account and withdrew money without access to a debit/credit card.

That is what I assumed when I posted. It happens. I promise.

Now from logging into a message board? Not heard of that one.

[cjeanette]

Nov 14, 2012 12:17:52 GMT -5 swizzlestx said:

Nov 14, 2012 12:16:30 GMT -5 cjeanette said:

That is what I assumed when I posted. It happens. I promise.

Now from logging into a message board? Not heard of that one.

Do they know how it happened? I assume it has to be more information than can be found on via message board.

Oh, I agree. IME it is when people are hacked by clicking something they shouldn't.

I think my concern of giving your full name and then telling the board you won the lottery would be more fear of robbery or constant PMs for money....lol.

[Deleted]

No. I've had some invalid charges, someone stealing my debit card number (which was linked to a physical store), and my bank was hacked once.

No one has ever specifically targeted my checking account and withdrawn cash though.

[rubytue]

Never been hacked. Never had my checks stollen. Never lost money from my account. *knocks wood*

[ondaflipside]

It happens regularly. One of our clients' did, about a few weeks ago. Another one about a week ago. My SIL about a year ago.

[Deleted]

If you're that paranoid, carrots, you probably shouldn't write any checks ever except to your closest friends and family. Checks include your name, address, name of your bank, and bank account and routing number. That's a ton of info. And from that it would easy to figure out where people went to school, who they associate with, etc. If you send a check to your electric company to pay your monthly bill, how do you know that the person processing it won't steal your information?

Options as far as I can tell: (a) move to bunker that you will depend 24/7 and keep money in mattress; (b) carry on as normal cautious person with money in bank and trust bank's identity theft protections and such. I vote for b for myself.

[cjeanette]

Nov 14, 2012 12:24:26 GMT -5 swizzlestx said:

Nov 14, 2012 12:22:15 GMT -5 carrotsmakemefat said:

I wouldn't say it is purely from logging into a message board. The issue is say you are friends with a bunch of people on FB, who happen to be from a message board. You don't always REALLY know who these people are.

It is not hard to figure out a lot about something just from a full name - where they live, where they work, where they went to school, who they associate with. It is just as easy to figure out what bank they have.

Trust me, if people really want to tap into your account, they will.

But again, some people are not as concerned, and that is cool too. I'm just saying that in the digital age, it's not hard anymore.

But HOW? No one is explaining to me how, other than losing a checkbook, clicking on something I shouldn't or otherwise not being safe about how I purchase things on the Internet.

If I do NO online shopping (for argument's sake) and I merely post online that I have Bank of America and I just won the lottery, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO STEAL MY MONEY?

So far, CJ is the only one making any sense in here.

I'll bet that guy on White Collar could do it.

[countthestars]

Hell, I couldn't even access my ING money for a week (set up link to account - 2 to 3 days). Transfer money to said account - 2 days. I am not too worried about someone else getting to it. And if they do, banks have protections.

[fbf2006]

Nov 14, 2012 12:30:16 GMT -5 cjeanette said:

Nov 14, 2012 12:24:26 GMT -5 swizzlestx said:

But HOW? No one is explaining to me how, other than losing a checkbook, clicking on something I shouldn't or otherwise not being safe about how I purchase things on the Internet.

If I do NO online shopping (for argument's sake) and I merely post online that I have Bank of America and I just won the lottery, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO STEAL MY MONEY?

So far, CJ is the only one making any sense in here.

I'll bet that guy on White Collar could do it.

LOL he sure could!

[countthestars]

He is hot! But sadly he is gay.

[aspentosh]

Credit card - yes
Checking - no

[SJ]

Yes, one time.

The bank reimbursed everything quickly.

ETA: I realize you are asking how it happened, but I have no idea. This was years before I started posting on MM

[countthestars]

Nov 14, 2012 12:37:56 GMT -5 swizzlestx said:

Nov 14, 2012 12:36:11 GMT -5 countthestars said:

He is hot! But sadly he is gay.

Oh, I've only seen commercials, lol.

He's straight on the show, gay in real life

ETA: So yes, he could do it on the show by flirting but he is not available to me. andplusalso I am married. semantics

[arch01]

credit card-yes, several times.
federal tax return-yes, once... we still don't know how that happened. for those of you not around the nest a few years back, someone filed a federal return with DH's full name, DOB and SSN.
bank account-no.

[rubytue]

Not that I have anything to back it up, but I am far more comfortable with online transaction than handing my check or credit card to someone. Sure, plenty of hackers can break encryption, but it's still more likely to be stolen by a skimmer. And none of that related to you knowing what is in my checking account.

[Deleted]

I didn't read all the responses but it'd be pretty easy to hack into someone's account from what I gather.

If I understand things correctly, a hacker could find a person from here via their IP address and figure out loads of stuff from your computer via theirs. Which would include bank information most likely.

A lot of people here has the same SN on Twitter, so that would be another way to find someone and gather information to hack into their accounts.

Hasn't anyone seen Swordfish?

[Deleted]

Clearly, the only safe way to get through life involves a mattress full of $20 bills.

[CloudBee]

I've never been a victim of fraud.

Well, other than having a troll on the old MM at one time.

[ondaflipside]

Nov 14, 2012 12:25:50 GMT -5 swizzlestx said:

Nov 14, 2012 12:25:19 GMT -5 ondaflipside said:

It happens regularly. One of our clients' did, about a few weeks ago. Another one about a week ago. My SIL about a year ago.

How?

I'm starting to feel like a broken record here.

It's easy, really. My SIL is with Citibank. I believe they hacked on her checking account online. It was a big deal, because a bunch of Citibank clients got hit.

I work in accounting, and I get people's routing numbers and checking account numbers all the time (I deposit in our client's behalf) it's easy for anyone to get those info from anyone. I love my freedom, and won't do anything that stupid for a few bucks, but it can easily happen.

[ondaflipside]

And also, what are the likely chances that people use the same account name for every account that they own? What are the likely chances that they use similar passwords?

My husband has over two dozen accounts and passwords for FB, checking, savings, retirement, email, etc. A regular person can not keep up with these accounts and not be tempted to use the same thing over and over again.

[Deleted]

Nov 14, 2012 12:50:25 GMT -5 swizzlestx said:

Nov 14, 2012 12:40:21 GMT -5 blissanity said:

I didn't read all the responses but it'd be pretty easy to hack into someone's account from what I gather.

If I understand things correctly, a hacker could find a person from here via their IP address and figure out loads of stuff from your computer via theirs. Which would include bank information most likely.

A lot of people here has the same SN on Twitter, so that would be another way to find someone and gather information to hack into their accounts.

Hasn't anyone seen Swordfish?

An IP address merely gives you the location of the user, and not always super accurately (though sometimes it is).

Who keeps bank information on their computer? I don't save passwords, and most banks have a multi-password/id check-in.

They maybe could hack into your online account if you used an open-access WiFi connection, but that'd just be stupid (i.e. checking your account information online at like Starbuck's).

There are programs that allow you to access the computer connected with a specific IP address. For example, when IT fixes your computer and they take over the controls.

Lots of people keep their bank information on their computer or password information. Just because you personally don't doesn't mean that others follow the same path.

Also, you can add things like a key-stroke tracker so whenever you go to a specific page said hacker and can figure out your account number and password.

It's not even about being on an open-access WiFi because bank webpages are encrypted. Either way if a hacker wanted to get in there, they could.

I agree with Carrots. I know too much about cyber stuff that I'm glad my account usually has pennies in it.

[belovedbride07]

Did this come up in another thread? I'm lost...

[Deleted]

Nov 14, 2012 12:56:41 GMT -5 ondaflipside said:

And also, what are the likely chances that people use the same account name for every account that they own? What are the likely chances that they use similar passwords?

My husband has over two dozen accounts and passwords for FB, checking, savings, retirement, email, etc. A regular person can not keep up with these accounts and not be tempted to use the same thing over and over again.

That's a good point. A lot of people use the same passwords, or different variations of the same passwords.

[SJ]

I just don't worry about this stuff.

[Deleted]

Nov 14, 2012 13:01:25 GMT -5 swizzlestx said:

Nov 14, 2012 12:59:28 GMT -5 blissanity said:

That's a good point. A lot of people use the same passwords, or different variations of the same passwords.

But you're risking your security by doing that. I have 5+ passwords and different username variations that I rotate between.

Again, it seems that the majority of instances of this happening are due to some error on the user/consumer and not just bad luck.

Very true. But who wants to remember 5+ passwords for ALL the different things you log into. On a given day, I check my bank account, FB, Twitter, gmail, Instagram, asana, seo tool, and not to mention the 5 programs I log into at work. That's a lot of passwords to remember.

Again, regardless of how many passwords/usernames you have if a hacker wants something from you they will get it. It's not that difficult to get information.

[Deleted]

Nov 14, 2012 12:57:41 GMT -5 blissanity said:

There are programs that allow you to access the computer connected with a specific IP address. For example, when IT fixes your computer and they take over the controls.

Isn't IT usually only able to do that because there are programs installed on both ends that say "hi! we are two computers that are sometimes allowed to connect"? I have something called DameWare Mini Remote Control installed on my work desktop for that reason. I do not have anything like that installed at home.

Also, even if it were possible to do this with a program only on the hacker's end, I'd think that instead of taking the effort to figure out who I am, track down my IP address etc., a hacker would do better by just entering random IP addresses until he happens upon something juicy. Stalking internet boards for this info just seems stupid.

(Note: I do not have $75,000 in my checking account, so don't worry about me, random hacking stalkers!)

[Deleted]

Nov 14, 2012 13:11:22 GMT -5 v said:

Nov 14, 2012 12:57:41 GMT -5 blissanity said:

There are programs that allow you to access the computer connected with a specific IP address. For example, when IT fixes your computer and they take over the controls.

Isn't IT usually only able to do that because there are programs installed on both ends that say "hi! we are two computers that are sometimes allowed to connect"? I have something called DameWare Mini Remote Control installed on my work desktop for that reason. I do not have anything like that installed at home.

Also, even if it were possible to do this with a program only on the hacker's end, I'd think that instead of taking the effort to figure out who I am, track down my IP address etc., a hacker would do better by just entering random IP addresses until he happens upon something juicy. Stalking internet boards for this info just seems stupid.

(Note: I do not have $75,000 in my checking account, so don't worry about me, random hacking stalkers!)

It doesn't have to be on your computer. A hacker can gain remote access with the right program.

FTR, I don't think hackers are trolling message boards hoping to find something juicy.

However, you never know what someone does in their free time. For all you know, I could be a hacker. The point isn't that hackers are trolling on message boards, it's that it's possible to have your account hacked.

[totallyloco]

I usually lurk here but yeah, this happened to me about 6 years ago. I had most of my liquid savings in a money market account with an online bank. I was on vacation, and when I got back and checked my balance on the account, it was zero. It turns out the money was withdrawn and transferred to another account while I was on the airplane flying out, which I don't think was a coincidence (since I also booked my flight online and was checking flight status). It was really creepy to know that I was being monitored online like that. It was a hassle and I had to do a police report and such, but after a few weeks the bank credited the money back to my account. I now have much better anti-virus software since I was lax about that before, plus the bank provided me one of those changing number keyfob thingies to access that account. I still feel my stomach clench up everytime I log into that account though. Nothing like having your life savings stolen.