[czharry]

Well, what a coincidence. I'm glad I found this thread. Bought a case of x54r from Widener's on 3/7. It was shipped and my card was charged on 3/14.
On 3/21 I happened to check my account and there it was. Someone charged 5 tickets on Quatar Airlines on that day,.... Almost $7000.

I called, then went to my bank to report it. Had to wait until the charges went through (they were 'pending') which they did today, 3/24. I cancelled my card. What a PITA, now I have to wait for a new card.
I've been doing business with Widener's for many years. I emailed them last Friday about what happened, but I guess they don't want to reply to me.
Man oh man, Widener's needs to step up and address this to their customer base.

 

[czharry]

I got the same "eblast" sale ad.
I also found similar Widener's stories on ar15.com/ ak47, and their GD forum.
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_4_64/154473_credit_card_stolen_after_purchase_at_wideners.html
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1605693_credit_card_stolen_after_purchase_at_wideners.html

No need to actually read them, but it's echoing what's been said here, that soon after a purchase at Widener's, their cards were used for fraudulent purchases.
Some banks, quite a few actually, catch the fraud, some don't. Mine is one that doesn't monitor for fraud.

The problem, as I see it, is if people don't have an AK or SKS, they wouldn't have looked here to get a 'heads up' before buying from Widener's. Pretty sure they'll clean their own house, or whoever processes their cards, but until then, many hundreds of people are still getting screwed.

The few that have gotten thru on the phone to them have been told, "Well, there's no problem here."
Accept responsibility for your actions and fix the problem.

 

[czharry]

OK guys, let's not go off on a tangent about CC vs DC. Nowadays debit cards from major institutions enjoy the exact same protections as credit cards. It's been this way for a few years now. You can check with your bank or card issuer to check their policies.
Case in point; My Mastercard CC/DC can be used as either a credit card or debit card, and it's protected. The main difference is that you don't make small monthly payments. The whole purchase comes out of your account in one lump.

This thread, mainly, is to document users whose cards were compromised after making an on-line purchase from this vendor.

 

[czharry]

On 3/21, the day I noticed the fraudulent charges, I sent Widener's an email about it. At that time, I didn't know about all the other customers that had their cards compromised. I'm pretty sure they have been getting a lot of complaints, as is only right. After all, this is costing them money in lost sales, now and in the future, until they can show they have a very secure system.
Today, 3/26, I received a reply from Widener.

"Thank you for your email regarding your credit card.
Our internet provider is currently investigating possible
unauthorized access to Widener's payment card data.

We keep credit card numbers on file only for a short period
so any breach is extremely limited; however, we are taking this
very seriously and have already reviewed and strengthened our security procedures.

This is a great shock to us and believe me, we are working very hard to
understand how this happened and to make sure it can't happen in the future.

It takes time to fully investigate what happened, but we are continuously
working on it. The extra security features we have just installed will protect against future unauthorized activity.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience, and we will assist you in resolving this problem.

Sincerely,

Stan Widener, President
Widener's Reloading & Shooting Supply, Inc."
.

 

[czharry]

harry,

How long ago was your last purchase from them?

This is very recent. I initially made my purchase on 3/7. They charged my account on 3/11 or 3/14, I don't have the details handy. On Fri., 3/21 the fraudulent charges were made, which I reported to my bank on the same day.

I have seen posts on other boards where purchases were a week or so before mine, and a week or so after, and they got hacked as well.

 

[czharry]

Ok, thanks for the info. I think i should be fine; my last purchase from them was last june.

I've never had a problem with all the purchases, mostly ammo, all the years I've been dealing with them, until now.
I did run across an obscure thread about this happening in 2012. One guy ALSO was charged with Quatar Airlines tickets, same as me. Pretty weird. I don't want to profile any one, but I have my ideas.

 

[czharry]

Here's what it says on the website. We know there were more than "only a few customers that were affected", so if your card was hacked and you haven't sent them an email about it, please do so.
Like he said, if you had a problem, let them know.

To all our customers.

Data breaches are all too common in these times, and unfortunately, we have become a victim of one. We have been hard at work determining what happened and doing everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Here’s a summary of what we have discovered and what we have done about it:

Just prior to February 16th, there was a brute force attack on the site that we now believe allowed access to some customer credit card information. Fortunately, we keep very few customer records in our on-line database. Since there is very little information on the site, exposure is minimized just in case something like this ever happens. We were alerted to this potential breach by a few customers, and we are fortunate that it was so small.

When our internet provider later discovered the attack, we immediately took action to prevent unauthorized access. Since that time, we have further tightened security. We have also performed internal audits to insure all our in-house systems are free of problems.

At this point, we believe we have identified only a few customers who were affected by the incident, and we have done everything possible to prevent recurrence of this activity. If you suspect you have had a problem due to doing business with us, please let us know immediately. We sincerely apologize for any difficulty this has caused.

Sincerely,
Stan Widener
President, Widener’s Reloading & Shooting Supply, Inc.