Every time I have run into a situation as it relates to CJ I always post this information to help someone else. First off I must say I am Soooooo glad I subscribe to a credit monitoring service because I think I'm still in shock over what happened on Friday.



I get an email something is happening with my reports so I log in and check it out and I have a new inquiry from Wachovia Bank. I don't do business with them and I sure dont have any accounts with them which set off red flags!!! I called the number listed and explained who I was and I didn't authorize them to pull my credit. The branch manager "Who by the way is in a different state than where I live..." told me I'm sorry mam someone has gotten ahold of your personal information and was able to open up a new account with us. I think thats when my heart dropped to the floor...
You know what I mean when you have done the work to rebuild your credit back up and to have someone come along the threaten that!!!


However our fraud department caught it and closed the account. Long story short when the Fraud department called later on Friday he said "You have a Crown Jewelers account on your credit report right???" I said yes they are still reporting...He said I'm really sorry but there has been some type of security breech with them or something is not right. There have been extremely high amounts of new accounts popping up all over the country and out of the country. When we compared those victims reports they all had an account with Crown Jewelers...""

Its really scary to know that someone knows enough information about you to do whatever and I am so mad at CJ right now at their lack of response to everybody else who has been reporting this on the boards. Their website says its secured by authorize.net which if you click on that icon on the bottom of their web page says they are not one of their merchants. Carrying that symbol on your page means you trust Authorize.Net to manage transactions and help prevent fraud.

I've had to freeze my reports at all three agencies as a result, file a police report amount other things. Its one thing to go through un-authorized credit card transactions thats not yours and another to deal with imposters opening up accounts under your name.

Of course I emailed crown jewelers again and there is no response. And if I had it to do over again and if I would have known what I know after reading story after story about this mess I wouldn't have done it. Knowing what I know now about credit scoring I would have done something else to rebuild and waited for that Kay Jewelers card that I now have.

CJ pride themselves in helping people rebuild their credit but instead they are creating nightmares for alot of people...

I have also heard about over the news that some credit card places where caught throwing peoples information out without shredding it first

Attagirl, I heard this somewhere but I just cant remember. I think I am going to google this up. Was this like a couple of years ago? I know I have heard this story before. Put your thinking cap on Meya....lol.

Yes you should have your security features set higher, but you also need to remember that it is just as easy to get card numbers and information if you are giving it over the phone as well. Information is sent encrypted and it takes a special software to be able to read the encryption so certain information is not that accessible as people think.

I have also heard about over the news that some credit card places where caught throwing peoples information out without shredding it first. Which allows for people to dumpster dive for information as well. They found severals peoples social security numbers in the trash from smaller card companies. I think the internet has only made it easier and is not to blame, as people can find information on us more than not.

I just do not see any reason to have a store card. All a store card can do is ruin your FICO scores, your better off sticking to bank cards. Every store takes the bank cards so why bother?

I am sure you can finance your CROWN JEWELS on a Mastercard

OOOOOPS! Hehehehehehehhe! Here is the cold part about it, the card looks like one of those preapprovals dull fake cards they send people in the mail that says, "Your name here!" My sister and husband had one of these cards. The nearerst store is in Six Flags or Magic mountain in Texas or Florida. That is worse than the Dillard card that I have, their nearest store is like 90 miles from me. No way, I will not drive 90 miles to give someone some interest and finance charges.

do you mean to tell me they issue a credit card with the wording CROWN JEWELS on it? :

I guess if they can have a HOOTERS card a CROWN JEWELS card is not so out of line hehehehehehehehehehehe

Like I said before, this is what you get for financing your CROWN JEWELS

I feel you on the "Do not carry cash part" I keep less than $10 on me at a time and that's just incase I happen to cross the bay bridge and need the $4 for toll. Or if I wanted a soda or something. Other than that, I am afraid of getting my purse snatch, if someonse was to take it, I am going to run in the opposite direction of them fast as I dont know what. I will be too afraid that if they look in it, they are going to come back and kill me out of anger because they got nothing.

Actually I can't speak for anyone else but I have three different banks that I deal with as far as the checking & savings go. I have so much love for BOFA's keep the change program, very sweet. Especially for those of us who don't carry cash...only use the ATM if I really need cash for something. Anyway some creditors have different payment methods exp: You can pay ACH via checking or use your check debit card, its the same account. Several companies process payments that way. You know that card (credit one bank), I have a friend that has an account with them. They actually take 2-4 days to post a payment from your checking account via ACH but if you use your visa check card it post the same day :

Interesting...
The problem is making sure their website in well encrypted to protect us from the loco hackers...you know

You should NEVER finance your Crown Jewels

Again, I'm not positive CJ is the culprit, but I'm pretty sure.

Wait Ash, this is some good info and it should relate to all cards when someone is making a payment over the internet. If members here do not have their internet security setting set up, then they are in for trouble regardless. But let's not scare everyone (even though I know you are not trying to on purpose) about Crown jewels as of yet because the person who wrote this in another credit forum did not say that he or she has actual facts that this did happen to them from Crown Jewels. That person just assumed it did come from them because of a non-crypted transaction. What needs to be practiced is to look at the lock in your browser when making payment over the web, and to make sure that the company you are paying to is trusted by the BBB. We all know that Verisign is a pretty well known 128bit encryption and is registered with the BBB, but people need to watch out who they send their monies to when making payments.

This is a good posting Ash, and I will pass this on to my sister who pays Crown Jewlers with her debit card constantly. We only had one time with my husband, I just let the account close because of no use.

For anyone that has ever gone through the re-building process you may have gotten several of “Those Type…” of cards. Well if Crown Jewelers was one of your rebuilding cards and its still on your credit report better think twice when you make your monthly payment. Apparently folks have linked several incidents of identity theft back to crown jewelers. When you submit your monthly payment on their website either it is, or was not secure and the Hackers were just waiting…””

I had an incident similar to what the others were saying and could not figure out how they got this particular card#. When I looked back at my statement after I made a payment via that card# one month later fraudulent charges occurred.

Don’t pay them with any bank debit or credit cards! If you have a Pay Pal account set up use it or mail in a check.

Please
If you or know of anyone who has an account with CJ pass this on…
read…
http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=310611&st=0