cdjapan.co.jp...BUYER BEWARE

[jdandy]

Here's an interesting PayPal account holder's story that will give you something to think about.


February 15, 2011

Before I jump into the story, let me tell you a bit of background. I only have a PayPal account as I sold some items on eBay many years ago and recently I used this method I think to buy something from eBay. As a general rule I do not log into my PayPal account, I have no funds on there and I honestly thought it was safe. Yet more background – my passwords are so hard (Uppercase, Lowercase, Numbers – no real words, longer than 12 characters in length) that I have to write them in a book which is secure. I would like to say that maybe Chrome saves my passwords but in the case of PayPal and the fact I had not logged into it for so long, it was not stored on this computer.

So what is the Hack you may ask? Well let me go through a sequence of events which all took place today and I am glad I carry a phone that shows my emails as they come in.

The flood of emails

The first email came in at 14:22, it read:


Dear Thomas,

You have initiated a PayPal Mobile payment for $1,080.00 USD to tommy1988tommy@yahoo.com. This payment will be completed once the recipient has accepted the payment.

It may take a few moments for this transaction to appear in the Recent Activity list on your Account Overview.

Currency conversion: £712.48 GBP = $1,117.02 USD

The exchange rate for this purchase is 1 GBP = 1.56779USD

Payment details

Amount: $1,080.00 USD
Transaction Date: 15 February 2011
Transaction ID: XXXXXXXXXXXXX (Not real)

Message:
I have recieved this virtual item will not charge back . Sent using the PayPal Mobile application.

As I get loads of these fake emails, I headed to my work computer to check it out, I got another email though at 14:27


Dear Thomas,

This Apple® mobile digital device was removed from your PayPal account: Owner’s iPod.

The next time you log in to PayPal on this device, it will link to your account again.

I do not own an iPod – this was swiflty followed at 14:43:


Your account has been limited until we hear from you

Dear Thomas,

We need your help resolving an issue with your account. To give us time to work together on this, we’ve temporarily limited what you can do with your account until the issue is resolved.

You can see the sequence of events taken place, somebody managed to somehow make a payment from my account via an iPod using the Mobile paying service and PayPal locked the doors quickly as they suspected something.

Checking the real PayPal

I was not sure if these emails were even real, never click on any links in an email in such a case and always just go to the site in question and log in to check it out instead – which is what I did. The first thing that annoyed me was it stated that this had gone through and would be taken from the credit card on my account. I would not be a happy bunny if $1000 left my credit card, I filed a fraud claim and I called them up. They assured me it will be dealt with and said no money will leave any account plus they will look into IP’s that logged in and so forth.

Security

When I did go to the page, it made me not only change all my details but also to confirm via phone various items and on top of this I have now switched on the SMS function that requires me having my mobile with me. On top of this I have removed any credit cards on there and my bank details.

Thoughts on this

My Password to my knowledge was secure and not easy to guess and why did PayPal lock my account down straight away after the transaction? Why do I not have access to see what IP’s address logged into my account?

I do know that once this is sorted, I am closing down my PayPal account. I have just checked with my credit card people and in fact they tried to take 3 x $1000, the 2nd two got denied and thus why my PayPal account got locked down I guess. The transaction is authorised but has not been collected from Paypal – this means while my account might show me as been £712 down, it has not physically entered into the other persons bank. If Paypal do not come up with the goods I shall have to go to the credit card side and get the money back this way.

My Advice since this happened? If you do use Paypal, make sure you remove the credit card after you have used it for the proper purpose.

** Update 16 Feb 2011 **

I got an email first thing this morning:-


We’ve finished reviewing your unauthorised activity claim and you’ll receive a refund for the transaction amount. It may take up to five working days for the funds to appear in your account.

Any portion of the payment that was funded with your credit card will be refunded directly to your credit card. You will see this in your transaction log as two entries. The first is the refund to your PayPal account and the second is the credit to your credit card. Credits to a credit card generally take two to three working days to clear, and may not

be immediately reflected in the card’s balance.

This is great news – but later tonight, I thought I better check Paypal and low and behond:

A Cancellation fee of $37.02 has been placed on my account – I reach for the phone. They said that a Fee for any transaction returned is paybale by the person of the account. My point here was that the account was used fraudulently (i.e. a crime had been committed) and yet PayPal felt the need to charge me for the fact? They explained that the money will be returned once it is all sorted and she could not put me though to anybody else as all the other departments were closed. There is no credit card assigned to that account now – will they try and take it off the card that was registered before?

I wrote another email and my plan of attack is as follows:
•Call the Credit Card company on Friday to verify that the money has gone back on.
•Get them to issue a new set of cards so no more money can be taken no matter what.
•Close the Paypal Account once this is all sorted once and for all.

*** Update 17 Feb 2011 ***

This now sort of concludes, I emailed them and they replied:


Thank you for contacting PayPal in relation to the unauthorized payment that was taken out from your account. I can sense the importance of this matter so please let me get to the bottom of this.

Mr. Hill, having reviewed your account it shows that indeed the transaction was proven to be fraudulent thus refunding you the amount that was taken from your card.

When a transaction was initiated PayPal will charge a corresponding fee and this will be paid by either the seller or the buyer which in this case was charged on your account. Since the transaction was cancelled, the payment fee of $37.02 USD has been cancelled as well. So therefore, PayPal did not take any charge on the said transaction and refunded you the full amount of £712.48 that was the amount originally taken from your card.

I hope I was able to address your concern today and should you need further assistance please don’t hesitate to contact us again.

I understand that you have been patient and understanding about this matter and it is very much appreciated.

I did call them up to ask why was my account comprised – they searched the records and could not come up with any answers. They suggested all of the following (Shifting the blame to me):
•I Clicked a link in a false email from Paypal and my account was stolen.
•There is a virus on my computer which stole the password.
•My Password was in fact very simple to guess.
•A Friend may have used my account (which of course I gave the password to).
•They plain just guessed the password.

Needless to say – I do not feel at all safe using paypal period and I will tell my story to all that will listen, I was lucky and got my money back quickly, you may not be so lucky.

[Jerome W]

I'm with you on this Dan.
I had a problem with an american company at the beginning of the year.
I bought an audio accessory in september 2010 and at thr beginning of 2011, I still did not receive it. The seller sent it 2 times to me, but the french shipping company in charge of the package here told me that the first time, the customs refused the package ( probably because not enough information were mentioned ) and the second time, my address was not good !
When I wanted to make a complaint to Paypal in february 2011, Paypal told me that the date for a complaint was over : you have only 30 days from the date of purchase. This shows how bad they are : 30 days could be enough for US transactions, but not international ones !
Paypal takes their fees which are pretty high, and offer no protection whatsoever.
I only got my money back from this seller when Massimo ( BTW, I hope he's doing well, I haven't seen him here in a while....) was about to buy the same product and contacted me. He gave me the right to contact the seller to tell him : " my friend Massimo also wants to buy your product. Be sure tha he won't do it if I don't get my refund. Moreover, all this will be public on AA". The guy sent the money the day after ! In march or april 2011 I don't remember !
I have an account because many web sites and services get paid via PayPal, and for people outside the US, it is easier. I use Paypal for my AA subscription. I could not send a check. I would have to make a wire transfer: it would take more time for me.

So I consider them badly, but I see no real other option at this moment

[Jerome W]

Gavin,

I'm sorry to hear your problem with cdjapan.
It could be a computer problem too.
I woild send them again a mail with all the details of the transaction and ask them for a refund. I believe that you should get your money back from them. They don't have a bad reputation at all.

[TommyC]

Sorry to hear this.
I have purchased from cdjapan several times without any problem. I hope yours is an isolated incident.

hmv.co.jp also has a lot of SHM-SACD. I have purchased from them many times as well, without problem. On their website, it says the Royal Scam will be out in late August.
royal scamSearch Results

[es347]

Dan..

the funds were withdrawn from my checking account. Regarding sending them the details of the transaction, that has been done repeatedly...dates, amounts, paypal transaction ID #....no response, nada. They are ignoring me now. I have posted this same warning on 4 audio sites so far and intend to do more. I hope they enjoy getting my unearned payment and I hope my postings cost them a lot more than the $67.45.

[jdandy]

Gavin.......I with you on making all the waves you can. Something is not right for sure. If cdjapan is such a great company, why are they treating you like this?

[es347]

By the way, I posted this same thread on the Audio Circle and as a result have been banned. Is this a great country or what?

[jdandy]

Gavin.......That seems unusual, unless bitching about any of their sponsers is against their published rules. You might try contacting the admin to see if the situation can be resolved.

[es347]

Already did Dan and our circle moderator said it's a decision of some "admin team" and his hands are tied. I have posted well over 1000 times there and have been the most active poster on the VSA circle. It's bullshit and I pretty much told them so. Oh well, more time to do more important things...waxing the dog, plucking my eyebrows, reading Jon Valin reviews.

[Amfibius]

Originally Posted by es347

By the way, I posted this same thread on the Audio Circle and as a result have been banned. Is this a great country or what?

The publisher of Audio Circle lives in Sydney, Australia. The servers are based in the USA though.

Every couple of months I spend about $1000 in CDJapan. On ONE occasion I had a problem - their first attempt to debit the card did not work, so they tried three times. The next day, I could not pay for groceries because they took nearly $3000 from my card!! I rang my bank and blocked the transaction. The matter was resolved when I sent them an email and a certain "Ms Yukari" remedied my situation promptly, with all the charm and politeness one comes to expect from the Japanese.

To the OP: I am sorry to hear of your situation, but my experience with them has been overwhelmingly positive. Good luck and I hope you find a satisfactory resolution soon.