Credit Card Fraud?

I’m curious whether anyone else has had any credit card issues after placing an order with WeatherFlow recently? I’m not implying that WeatherFlow was involved in any way, but yesterday I ordered the new solar panel from WeatherFlow on a card I rarely use. Later that day, someone in Syracuse, New York, had a field day with my credit card, ordering hundreds of dollars worth of Domino’s pizza, Chipotle, and joy riding in Lyft (sounds like quite a party). I thought I’d see if anyone else had any issues. Again, I don’t mean to imply WF had anything to do with the situation, just seeing if there’s any correlation at all or complete coincidence.

There is a good chance there is a virus on the computer or phone you used to place the order.

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Zero problems with my card, I agree with Gary, Check your security on you devices.

I’ll look into this tomorrow. I made my purchase on my work computer, which is behind all kinds of firewalls and security measures, so that would surprise me. Plus I’m on on a Mac, which has a reduced incidence of such shenanigans. But I suppose anything is possible.

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The Mac is just as likely to get a virus as any other. Apple is just as vulnerable as others but Apple just doesn’t want to talk about its exploits.

And there may be reason to suspect the issue is at your office or through a vendor. No one is above suspicion.

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or even one of the components from the so called security at your office is just an open book (the more they call it secured, the more I’m suspicious). There are several very nasty hacks out there that infect routers, firewall devices etc and turn them into … hacker gates … and try to convince your IT fellow to check the devices :face_with_hand_over_mouth: (he’ll for sure tell you that is not possible since he pays loads for that … knowing a basic linux box could be doing better for about 1/10 of the price if well maintained)

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Hello @rjfox Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Obviously this is something we take very seriously. We can assure you that WeatherFlow did not “sponsor” a party in Syracuse NY yesterday. :partying_face: If there is anything we can do to assist in your situation please let us know as we are committed to helping resolve anything within our control.

Here’s some background information regarding our ecommerce, perhaps it can be of some help: shop.weatherflow.com is built on the Shopify Ecommerce platform. We use Shopify Payments which is a PCI-compliant online payment system built into the Shopify platform and used by hundreds of thousands of merchants worldwide. WeatherFlow never has access to any credit card numbers or customer payment details. All payments are handled securely by Shopify Payments using the latest encryption safeguards.

As the other community members have noted above, there can be many points of exploitation in any system. We’re sorry your credit card was somehow compromised. Please let us know if you have reason to believe the exploitation originated from our website and we’ll address immediately.

Cheers & thanks for being a WF customer!

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100% guaranteed that YOU have a virus.

I was an engineer for Apple for seven years. EVERY corporate computer ran Symantec End Point Protection.

Apple and “not/less likely” to get viruses is a massive con job that was eaten up by Apple consumers hook, line, and sinker.

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I wouldn’t say that for sure. It could be a number of things. It could be a recent purchase from a retailer or other website was hacked, a weakness in the network used, etc. and really hard to pinpoint exactly what happened.

Years ago I had a credit card of mine hacked. The only places I had shopped were a few retailers and gas stations and at that point had never shopped online with that card. It could have been a credit card skimmer or one of the retailers getting hacked… but whatever it was I haven’t had any issues since.

Hopefully the OP can get things resolved quickly with no further issues!

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And it could have been stolen weeks or months ago and just now used.

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I’ve learned the hard way Apple is more about their overpriced junk, substandard customer support, poor hiring practices & most of all ignorant Genius Bar people. All they (Apple) want is your credit card. You can be sure you got a virus… no one is protected. Only thing they’re good at is marketing. Just my 2 cents.

I’m not an Apple fan on any scale but I think it’s unfair to call the hardware, junk. It is my opinion that their hardware is grossly overpriced but it’s what the market brings. Apple as a consumer company is pretty much the same as Samsung, Hitachi, IBM, Toshiba.

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When you spend $1500 on a laptop and within 9 months the camera dies, the HD crashes then the battery stops charging I think it qualifies as junk. On top of that my daughter just gave me a $50 skin for the top cover & instead of transferring it to the new top they took the cover as it was warranty.

Apple does not manufacture the components. Apple buys them as does all other companies. WeatherFlow has had its share of component failures. Are you going to call the Smart Weather Station junk?

Disagree. Yes, a strong case can be made for pricing that doesn’t justify its cost, but ‘junk’? Hardly.

I always used PCs until about 4 years ago. I decided to try an iMac due to a considerable amount of video editing I was doing. Since then, I’m hooked on my iMac. I still have a PC, but its rarely turned on at this point.

You’d also have a hard time convincing me their customer service is ‘substandard’. No way, no how. Yes, you can get a considerable variation in the competence of those at the ‘genius’ bar (as you do with most any service arm of any company), but in general they’re very helpful.

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I’ve spent the last few days exploring this issue, running both Sophos and Traps antivirus software on my Mac. No issues were detected. I also spoke with our IT crew (six very sharp professionals serving a network with hundreds of users), who assured me the issue doesn’t lie within our local servers.

When I reported the issue here, it wasn’t to point a finger at WeatherFlow, but to inquire whether anyone else had a similar experience. The fact that a credit card I break out maybe three times a year was fraudulently used hours after my WeatherFlow purchase certainly suggested a correlation. But who knows where in the digital chain the thieves gain access? I certainly don’t. I’m satisfied with WeatherFlow’s response to my inquiry and trust that they’re in no way at fault. And I’ve done the due diligence to assure that the issue is not on my end. The bank reversed the charges, so no harm, no foul. I’ll chalk it up as a reminder to be extra vigilant and move on.

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As for the age-old Mac vs. PC question, I’ll agree that Apple products are vastly overpriced. But, in my humble opinion, no one does the user interface as well as Apple, from their computers to their smart phones to their digital devices like the Apple TV. I’m willing to pony up the extra money because my devices just plain work and are usually a joy to use. (I’m still using a five-year-old iPhone 5s because, aside from a quickly-draining battery, it still performs beautifully.)

It’s funny that the last time I participated in the Mac vs. PC debate, a staunch PC user was ridiculing my purchase of Apple stock, which I bought at $27 a share. Today, after numerous stock splits, those shares are worth something like 12 to 16 times what I paid for them. All in all, Apple been berry berry good to me. :slight_smile:

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Gary,

My WF worked out of the box day one. I’ve had zero failures… only an app question. I’m aware companies don’t make their own hardware, neither did Sony where I spent 25 years but that means nothing… Apple or Sony, whoever is selling is responsible. I’ve had my MAC issues where I’ve called their support & they always want to get paid if not under warranty. When I did speak with their people they’ve never resolved my issue unlike WF does. You guyz do right!!!

Wow that’s some bad luck right there. I’ve had apple stuff for years and rarely ever had an issue. The one time I did have one they replaced it in store for a brand new one. My desktop is a 2011 iMac and other than putting a SSD in it everything is still original and still works great. I also buy my Apple stuff used and look for good deals. Got my wife a MacBook for $600 off the sticker price and it was gently used. Bought a friend a 2011 MacBook Pro and upgraded the ram and HD to SSD and it’s still chugging along great. Every company has lemons and some people don’t like Apple stuff and that’s fine, it’s good to have options :slight_smile:

Back to the OP’s post, glad to hear you won’t have to pay those fraudulent charges. Who knows where the source of the breech was but in this day you never know because there is so much stuff out there on the web and in the cloud.

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