Please read if you've ordered from Naartjie lately...

[AvasMama]

My CC number was stolen and while I'm not positive by any means, I suspect that it happened after I placed a Naartjie order on Tuesday (I ordered from the Glendale store). The fraudulent charges were all made in California and I hadn't used my card anywhere else recently.

So, while I'm sure this won't affect any of you, just wanted to warn you to check your CC statements carefully! Fortunately, AMEX was great about it. They cancelled my card and credited back the bad charges immediately.

Robyn & Ava

[jubilee]

Oh, how awful!! Glad amex was able to cancel it. How did you find out about the fraudulent charges so quickly??

[AvasMama]

You can see your Amex activity online, and I generally check once a week or so. I shop online a lot and am kinda paranoid about fraud -- though I guess with good reason!

Robyn & Ava

[mamahill]

Just an fyi - a couple years ago DH and I were victims of Identity Theft (included a stolen ssn and credit card numbers). All of the charges were made in So.Cal and while we live in California, we hadn't been south in months. Also, the credit card was used to buy airline tickets from NY to Puerto Rico. Anyway, I quickly learned that your credit card numbers are out there, no matter where you buy stuff, and these fraud rings can take a number from anywhere. It's possible it was from Naartjie, but not a given. What I've learned is to check your CC statement often, and order your credit report at least annually. In fact, since you've had cc fraud already, I'd make sure you check your credit reports. Call the three bureaus - it will ease your mind considerably. Good luck!

[Joshuasmommy]

I heard somewhere(here maybe?) recently that Naartjie keeps your credit cards on file in the stores. That is scary to me!

[macassi]

If you do call the bureaus, you can tell them that you want to put an identity theft alert on your account. One of them charges and one of them does not, but they all tell the others to add the alert to your account and have all 3 send you your credit reports. So, the moral of the story is to choose the reporting agency that doesn't charge since you'll get the same service for free -- a report from each agency and an alert added to your account.

[Lysabu]

Uh oh, I too ordered from the Glendale store on Tuesday using my Amex. I'll keep a close eye on my statements.

THis was my first time ordering from Naartjie and I did everything by email (which I felt really weird about). How do you folks do your ordering?

[AvasMama]

I always do everything by email, and they have my cc on file at the store. I am actually pretty educated about cc fraud and identity theft so I should have known better than to let them keep my card on file.

I do, however, always use the same card when doing any online/phone shopping. That way, there's only one cc out there, not multiple ones. And I NEVER use my debit card online!

I am by no means slamming Naartjie, by the way! I love them and will continue to order from them (though I think I will use those "one time only" cc numbers in the future) to alert others in case someone had somehow accessed their cc files.

Robyn & Ava

[dules]

I do my ordering via email but I call in the credit card (though now they do store it on file). I'm sure everyone knows this already but you should NEVER, ever, send your credit card, SSN or other private information via email.

Best,
Mary

P.S. Robyn, that stinks. We had some papers stolen (old bank account statements) and ended up with a fraud alert on our accounts for 3 years. In that time we moved cross country, bought a house, etc. etc. so it was great fun verifying our information at every turn.

Oddly, someone opened an AMEX on my credit - I've never had one, and it's listed on my credit report. The WEIRD part is that it's been paid as agreed for years, and always has a balance around $10K. I've reported it multiple times but it never goes away.

[nicoleflynn]

Why don't you use credit cards that provide a program to generate one-time use numbers? Citibank and DIscover does that. With Citicards program, you can even set amount limit to the card number generated and card expiration date is within 1-2 months. I almost always use them when shopping online.

[supercalifragilous]

I have the Discover card and I always use a single-use account # online (go through Discover Deskshop). To clarify, it's one CC# per merchant, so as the guy explained it to me, that CC# can be used at that merchant (say, Naartjie) over and over again but not used at Gymboree. So basically, someone can steal your CC# to shop more at that store but not anywhere else. Might be good if Naartjie keeps your CC# on file. I have a single-use CC# for PayPal, for instance.

Not everyone accepts Discover so I'll have to check into the Citibank offer... I didn't know they had that. Thanks for the info!