Warning About Prepaid Credit Card

[girlx]

this might be common sense but it got me- i tried to pay by an Xrost card on that russian mp3 site and it must have been a corrupt gateway (for payments to get the prepay card). they stole my credit card info and thus far have taken $1626 from my account. the site on my statement is www.poste.it. i reported it immediately to my bank when i checked my balance and almost had a heart attack, so hopefully i will get money back in the dispute. my guess is if they are not some sort of fake gateway, then they figured a transaction with a US card in thailand is fraud, and if it was gonna be fraud, they would get in on it too. or something. hopefully they don't win. anyway i would advise not to use that russian site anymore as it is no longer secure.

[Totster]

This is exactly the reason why the links to russian MP3 sites were removed in a previous topic.

Good luck and I hope the outcome is positive for you.

totster

[Crossy]

Thanks for the heads-up, I'm only sorry you got caught out

I've used that Russian site for a while with no problems but they recently removed the PayPal option (for legal reasons I assume). I looked at the alternative, it seems so contrived that I didn't bother.

Good luck with your payment recovery.

[cathyy]

Huh. I started using that place a couple years ago, before they took PayPal, and have never had a problem. The last time I transferred money they were using a service in the UK for the credit card transactions. Of course a transfer of $25 lasts quite a while at those prices, so I haven't acually made a transfer in a long time. Thanks for the heads-up, as I was ready to do so any day now.

Could there be a phishing/page redirection situation going on?

Edited November 25, 2006 by cathyy

[girlx]

i am really bummed that there is no alternative to that site

[cdnvic]

Mastercard should cover you against the fraudulent transaction if you reported it right away. However, it must be asked... what did you expect giving a credit card to a known piracy operation?

[girlx]

i have used it many times in the past with no problem. i did not use a mastercard, i used a visa. and it's not really piracy if you are paying.

[cdnvic]

i have used it many times in the past with no problem. i did not use a mastercard, i used a visa. and it's not really piracy if you are paying.

If you are paying the owners of the music, no, but if you're paying someone who stole it (why do you think they keep needing new payment gateways?) then you shouldn't feel victimised when they decide to steal from you too.

[girlx]

yeah thanks for the admonishment. as you can see in the OP i said i knew it was common sense, but after a long while of using it with no problems i did not expect it. i realize that "it's not really piracy if you are paying" is not entirely true, but if you think that the owners of the music get their money from record labels you are kidding yourself too.

[Remo]

but if you think that the owners of the music get their money from record labels you are kidding yourself too.

Thats crazy logic! But I will follow it, I heard that hollywood actors dont get their money from studios so

I'm off to look for a Russian DVD site

[cdnvic]

but if you think that the owners of the music get their money from record labels you are kidding yourself too.

The difference is that the owners signed a deal willingly with the record company. They did not ask you to take their music for nothing. So your excuse is without merit. If your house was robbed would you accept the excuse that because you got a bad deal on the stolen items in the first place that the person stealing them was justified? I doubt it. But since it's not happening to you you think it's ok, but play the victim when the thief who's been supplying you with stolen goods rips you off.

Edited November 26, 2006 by cdnvic

[lopburi3]

That guy with all those watches attached to his vest must be honest as he is charging us for them. I would never wear something that was stolen.

[nikster]

i have used it many times in the past with no problem. i did not use a mastercard, i used a visa. and it's not really piracy if you are paying.

If you are paying the owners of the music, no, but if you're paying someone who stole it (why do you think they keep needing new payment gateways?) then you shouldn't feel victimised when they decide to steal from you too.

While it's pretty cheeky, they operate legally in Russia under Russian radio law. Obviously, the big music business wants to shut them down as quickly as possible and since they can't pressure Russia, they pressure other governments, banks etc to not do business with them.

I never used it and don't intend to, just wanted to point out that there is a little more to it. It's not really a pirate organization, it's just using a loophole in russian law. That they turned to stealing credit cards is absolute news to me and must be a recent development, they were trustworthy not so long ago.

In my experience, you won't have to pay for the damages on the card. The reason is that it's extremely simple to steal somebody's credit card details, to the point where I am wondering how it is that credit card companies are still in business. Of course the answer is 3% of all transactions, which adds up to trillions of dollars a day... fraud must be part of the calculation.

The music mafia is just a little bit better than that russian site, but really not a whole lot.

[Sunny Valentine]

i have used it many times in the past with no problem. i did not use a mastercard, i used a visa. and it's not really piracy if you are paying.

If you are paying the owners of the music, no, but if you're paying someone who stole it (why do you think they keep needing new payment gateways?) then you shouldn't feel victimised when they decide to steal from you too.

While it's pretty cheeky, they operate legally in Russia under Russian radio law. Obviously, the big music business wants to shut them down as quickly as possible and since they can't pressure Russia, they pressure other governments, banks etc to not do business with them.

I never used it and don't intend to, just wanted to point out that there is a little more to it. It's not really a pirate organization, it's just using a loophole in russian law. That they turned to stealing credit cards is absolute news to me and must be a recent development, they were trustworthy not so long ago.

In my experience, you won't have to pay for the damages on the card. The reason is that it's extremely simple to steal somebody's credit card details, to the point where I am wondering how it is that credit card companies are still in business. Of course the answer is 3% of all transactions, which adds up to trillions of dollars a day... fraud must be part of the calculation.

The music mafia is just a little bit better than that russian site, but really not a whole lot.

It is not even a loophole in the rusian law they are using, they use basically the same law and arrangements that are usual in each and every copyright deal when crossing borders are concerned. You make a deal with your local copyright organisation, and they sort it out with the copyright owner's organisation.

Usually there are no direct compensations, rather the moneies collected are used internally, and vice versa. The site we are seemingly not allowed to mention here pays the legal royalities to the russian PRS (or whatever it is) equivalent, and they would either compensate the western companies directly by paying them a certain percentage of this income (keeping some for their efforts and expenses), or keep the money for their own artists benefit in exchange for a similar deal the other way round. In the case mentioned here the russians offered the western companies cash payment, which tehy refused. Nuff said.

Neither the russians nor the music mafia are Angels, but in doubt I vote for the Russians, at least they give the customer what they want (Hiquality legal downloads without DRM crap)

Sunny

[cdnvic]

Well the organisations representing the artists (not the music companies) say that none of the money collected gets to the artists from these crooks, but if giving them money makes you feel better so be it.

[Sunny Valentine]

Well the organisations representing the artists (not the music companies) say that none of the money collected gets to the artists from these crooks, but if giving them money makes you feel better so be it.

And you honestly believe that a russian artist would get any direct compensation for a music download at an american site?

Dream on.

Actually the russians stated more than once they are ready to pay the legal (according to russian law) compensations to the competent International rightholders, but the latter refused. Nuff said.

Btw, I would happily buy music online for realstic prices in the west (a Dollar a Song, or somewhere around that) given that I get real music (lossless or high-Q MP3) without DRM crap. Alas .....

Sunny

[cdnvic]

Well if you want to go by what the Russian thieves say be my guest. Alot of people will do what they need to justify ripping off artists, be it record companies, Russian criminals, or their customers. Just don't go crying when they rip your credit card off because you asked for it.

[Sunny Valentine]

Well if you want to go by what the Russian thieves say be my guest. Alot of people will do what they need to justify ripping off artists, be it record companies, Russian criminals, or their customers. Just don't go crying when they rip your credit card off because you asked for it.

Never had a problem with my CC or hard somebody else what having one (first hand information) until a few month ago when the CC companies started to block them.

Thieves? Hey man, wake up! They aren't Microsoft who sell Software that violates CC licenses as seen in the Zune! They are legal, the Zune ain't!

Sunny

[cdnvic]

Thieves? Hey man, wake up! They aren't Microsoft who sell Software that violates CC licenses as seen in the Zune! They are legal, the Zune ain't!

Sunny

Yeah, the music theives are legal and Microsoft isn't

Another excuse for people who want to steal music and software.

MS isn't forcing anyone to put stuff covered under creative commons on the Zune so your claim is just bluster.

[girlx]

That they turned to stealing credit cards is absolute news to me and must be a recent development, they were trustworthy not so long ago.

i should point out it was not the russian site itself, rather the payment gateway (processor) that has stolen my CC details. the site stopped being secure after visa pulled out.

[james512]

I've bought XRost cards in the past without a problem, you may just have been redirected to a phishing site, you need to be careful when buying anything on the internet. Some real clever crooks out there.

[girlx]

you might be right, but out of curiousity, how can they redirect you to another site?

[Insight]

This will probably explain why that site recently decided to take the less secure route.

Agree with the big boys or not, use that site at your peril.

[Norrad]

I wouldn't trust that site with my details. I'm interested in what you mean by "Prepaid Credit Card", where can I get one? That would be perfect for my girlfriend...

[cwilliam]

Mastercard should cover you against the fraudulent transaction if you reported it right away. However, it must be asked... what did you expect giving a credit card to a known piracy operation?

I see Russian and I am gone Nigerian too!!