 
Aly6
@dsl.net
| I got hit too I was just hit this week by Pluto Data LTD. They charged my account 39.99. The clincher is that they used my check card. My bank notified me earlier this week and immediately cancelled my card. Thank god my bank is on the ball. Whoever got my card tried to use it twice. Once for Pluto Data and a second time at a travel agency. Luckily the travel charge was stopped before it went through my account, but who knows how much they could have tried to get. I cannot for the life of me figure out where they got my information because I use my card everywhere. I always used to joke about how noone would ever want to steal from me because I don't have anything to take, but I soon found out that that doesn't matter they will try to take the shirt off your back if they can.
This company must be stopped!!!! | |
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 | toastrack
join:2005-03-01
Sweden | Re: I got hit too Me too.
My UK credit card account got hit on 8th March. Noticed it over Easter on 24th march.
So far this does not seem to be affecting many people in the UK, restricting a search to the UK doesnt throw up anything about it at least. | |
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Sagebrush Gardener
@owt.com | Me too I just noticed the infamous "PLUTO D NICOSIA" charge on my card also, from 2/16. Found this board through Google. I called my bank (US Bank) to dispute it. They said they would investigate.
SG | |
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Grahamdubya
@attbi.com
| And... me too Like many others, I just discovered the charge from "Pluto Data, Ltc." which I googled and found this board. My charge is from 3/3, and the ATM card is one I use all the time, although I haven't in about two weeks due to some undue overdraft charges at the damn Bank of America. After calling them though, I have to wait until it is no longer 'pending' before I can start a claim. Better be soon though - I'm liable to flip out and KILL someone. It's not like I have the $29.99 to spare - my account was at exactly 0.00, so I'l probably have overdraft charges to take care of as well. *Sigh* | |
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Winsome
| Pluto Data scams Aus, too a $29.99 charge from a company named Pluto Data, has inexplicably begun showing up on credit card statements around the country. Make that "around the world". I am in Australia and got hit by the same scam last week. My bank flagged the suspicious activity & froze my account. | |
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JaniceR
@bellsouth.ne
| Pluto Had this $29.99 Pluto charge to my Citibank Credit card. Noticed immediately called the number and they reversed the charge and also immediately called Citibank to cancel account and issue a new card. They were very nice (Citibank). My thoughts might be instead of an online store how many use Blockbusters? I recently gave them my credit card number in December when I was visiting my parents. They had an old card number of mine and I never updated. Previously, right after I changed the number with Blockbusters, I had another small charge $13.95 for an internet phone service in the UK. | |
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ddeva
@206.176.x.x | Me too I've just had this charge and a bunch of charges from skype.net and handango show up on my card. I'm thinking that it might be a choice point problem too. | |
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JaniceR
@bellsouth.ne | Re: Me too Yep, that was the other charge I had Skype Net. Don't think it's related to choice point otherwise someone here would have seen a letter from them I would think. | |
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ADent_42
@verizon.net
| ...and me I was hit twice:
02/13 02/13 888-323-8955 PLUTO D Nicosia CYP 29.99
02/27 02/27 PLUTO DATA LTD. +18883238955 GBR 19.99
When I called Citi to report it there was no indication that it was an
ongoing problem. I canceled the card. I was told that so long as the
fraud department agreeded it was fraud and I signed a statement
claiming as much, the charge would be removed from my account.
The funny part was that while on the phone with Citi, the agent read a
sales pitch for a fraud prevention service. I declined. I did find
it odd, after reading how common this scam is, that Citi did not call
me themselves as they have when other suspicious charges appeared on
my account. | |
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Michael French
@aol.com
|  AOL refered "Simple Escapes"
Just Wondering??? | |
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Infanti
@dslextreme.com
| Pluto Ltd. My Wells Fargo MC was also hit for a $29.99 charge on 2/27 while I was on business on London. I used the hotel's high speed internet service and purchased a legitimate service online using the same credit card.
I'm assuming that the credit card number was intercepted during this transaction by this fraud ring. I called the number associated to the charge: (888) 323-8955, and just got an answering/fax service. I have contacted Wells Fargo, advised them of what I've found in investigating this "company". I'm disputing the charge, reported the card as lost or stolen & will be issued a new account number. | |
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LMM-R
@Dial1.Cin
| Re: Pluto Ltd. Yep, just looked at my Chase credit card statement this morning to find the wonderful $29.99 charge from who else but Pluto Data LTD. As frustrating as this is, when I called Chase to begin the disputing the charge process, they claimed no knowledge of any other reports of problems. Not sure how they can claim that when this has been going on for over a month with this fake company. More frustrating as I have now had to waste several hours on hold on the phone with them and typing a letter to formally dispute the charge. Thank you to everyone for posting on this and verifying my suspicions that I was not alone in this. I just called Chase back and had to push for them to treat my account number as stolen and to reissue a new number...looks like they would be happy to do so...
This is the credit card that I reserve for all of my on-line shopping, so not sure which merchant the number was taken from.
Anyway, thanks again for opening everyone's eyes to this scam. | |
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sjg1921
@comcast.net
| Re: Pluto Ltd. Got me on a Cap One card for $19.99.
PLUTO DATA LTD +18883238955 GBR $19.99
The CSR I'm talking to said he had just handled another claim on them too.
Card cancelled and charged disputed.
Someone give me a baseball bat and access to some knee caps!!!!  | |
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rocketspark
@oklahoma.net
| hit me too i just saw a charge last night on my credit union's visa debit card. it was posted on 3.11. i've since had that card cancelled and gotten a new card and called equifax and all that jazz. but my recent purchases were: ebay, sonic (drive-in food), itunes, at&t, star fuels, and peta. they were all online minus the sonic and star fuels. | |
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ttdtteng
@verizon.net | Re: hit me too I just saw the PLUTO DATA LTD +18883238955 on my Visa statement. It was posted 02/13. | |
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gffilm
@24.12.x.x | Re: hit me too Got me too!
19.99 from Pluto Data LTD.
I called my credit card company (Bank One) and they told me to tear up my card, they changed my account number, suspended the online account and are doing a full investigation into. | |
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nemo999
@comcast.net
| Re: hit me too Me too. I had a PLUTO D NICOSIA CYP for $39.99 on 2/15 and one from PLUTO DATA LTD. +18883238955 GBR for $29.99 on 2/27. Calling the GBR number yielded only an answering machine without identification.
Citibank quickly gave me a conditional credit and will send me letters to sign, but they are not inclined to terminate my account number and issue a new one unless a third charge appears. I'm surprised with the buzz about this that they are not being more pro-active.
I wonder if this is truly a malicious attempt or a software bug that automatically charged a bunch of people. I guess fraud is more likely. This stinks.  | |
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| | | | Karibbean
join:2004-04-07
Raleigh, NC
| Re: hit me too I also got hit. I was checking my statement online and saw that I was charge on 16 Mar 2005 Pocket Check Debit - 888-323-8955 PLUTO D 29.99. I called RBC Centura and was they told me that the charge was made on March 11th but it posted on March 16th. I went to the branch and had them cancel my card since it will expire next month anyway. When I call the number it just ask if you want to leave a message or send a fax. The sad thing is even though my bank will credit me, Pluto was already paid the money. I hope they catch these *^$%&*@#^&%#@#$!?#&. | |
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Mamacitapurt
join:2005-03-20
El Paso, TX
| Me too I just discovered a $29.99 charge from Pluto Data Ltd from Feb. 21 on my bank statement. I have not used my Visa check card for about 9 months so I don't know where they would have gotten it. It had to be from someone who has had my number on file for a long time. It was on file at Amazon.com. I have called the bank and they will issue a new card and refund my money. I have removed my creidt card info from Amazon.com. I am keeping a close watch on my other credit cards.
I am handicapped and do a LOT of buying on line because I cannot get out! This is scary for me and the second time this has happened to me.
When I called the 800 number listed with the charge I just got a manchine telling me to leave a message. | |
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hazza
@202.67.x.x
| pluto data I just got my bank statement today - I'm in Australia and had a 39.99 us charge (52.40 aus) from Pluto Data - not happy
I used 2 American websites over the last few months to purchase goods (one was simple plan) and got the goods ok but am now wondering if it was from one of these sites that my credit card was scammed | |
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hazza
@202.67.x.x | Re: pluto data the 2 sites i purchased goods from were www.mindconnection.com and www.merchdirect.com - has anyone else used these sites and been scammed? | |
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FredP5
join:2002-01-25
Grapevine, TX
| Pluto Data Scam - Hit Twice then they stole card Got a call from Wells Fargo Credit Card Securities Dept.(whatever) three days ago to ask if I bought $93.00 of gas at 2:00 AM the night before in a town 100 miles from here, along with a couple of resteraunt charges both here and there.
Today I get my statement and it has a charge from Pluto D. Nicosia and another from Pluto Data.
So, are the charges then the fraud a coincidence? I don't think so. Just wanted you all to know so if you get hit with a Pluto Data charge you can be on the look out for something worse to happen. Good Luck. | |
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Erlanger51
@aol.com
| $39.99 Charge on Debit Card................ On 3/08/05, during a random review of my checking/debit card statement, I found a $39.99 charge from Pluto Data Ltd.
I phoned my bank, they cancelled my card and issued me a new one. The bank also mailed me an affidavit to fill out and return to their Credit Card Fraud Investigations. I do not have a clue as to how Pluto Data Ltd. posted this charge to my account. Standard Federal Bank did tell me that this fraud seems to have originated in Great Britain.
Makes me wonder if any of the gas purchases I made with the card (i.e. BP - British Petroleum) is linked to this scam
via some hackers accessing their data bank of transactions. | |
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megarock
join:2001-06-28
Saint Louis, MO
 ·Charter Pipeline
| Good Freaking Gawd... After reading this thread it's quite funny to see how many morons keep saying "it's the persons fault if they get scammed and they deserve it and blah, blah, blah'. You people need to seriously grow up and get a real education and stop posting in public areas until you do.
This incident has involved people who never use their cards online and in a few cases locally NEVER use their cards outside of the bank's ATM machines. You can't get much safer than NEVER using the card yet these charges appeared on their cards as well.
What needs to happen is companies who are able to charge anything onto ones bank account or credit card statements must pass very tight security requirements. You have to realize that no matter how secure you are with your card each time you use it that data is transferring over the internet. If you use an ATM, go to a retail store, restaurant, etc., it all goes over the internet and therefore ANY use of your card can be intercepted. Therefore the only safe way to use a card is to never use it - and that's simply not going to happen.
However, when a fradulant company in a country well known for running frauds can just pop out of nowhere and start applying charges to thousands of peoples credit cards without the banks even raising an eyebrow who's fault is it? IT'S THE BANKS FAULT because you simply can't just allow anyone anywhere to bill someones credit card. Security needs to be tightened.
Here's a good example. If I go to a gas station and 'pay at the pump' if I feed the card into the slot and select 'debit' I have to enter my PIN. If I instead select 'credit' then I am asked nothing. EVERY CREDIT CARD SHOULD HAVE A PIN NUMBER just like debit cards. Right there prevents alot of fraud. Anyone can swipe a card and write the number and expiration date down and use it later. That becomes much more impossible without the PIN number. It might be a minor inconvience to the card holder but it's a measure of safety that will elimiate some credit card fraud immediately. It should be mandatory to change that PIN at least every 60 - 90 days on top of it all.
In most cases it's rarely the card holders fault they were hit with fraud. It is usually the very lax habits of the banks and credit card processors who allow any company any where to post charges to your account with little to no proof that they are even a legitimate company. | |
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andAnother
@cox.net
| Pluto Data scam 1 day after a friend told me about this I got hit too. Peoples bank debit Mastercard, 29.99. I closed the account. I had used card over the Internet but not too much; mostly well known sites like Amazon; no AOL or eBay.
How can they not track back to a real company or person? There is the 1-888 number. I reported it to the FTC. Other sites like Internet Fraud Complaint Center want too much info.
And can't the credit card companies deny the charges that people have been reporting on this site since 2/22/2005?
Hang em! | |
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USAF user
@wzrd.com
| more I got the $29.99 special from Pluto D Nicosia Cyp last month...I called my credit card hotline, they said to call the number on the charge (same as all of yours)...I did, got the answering machine, I left a msg with my name, phone, charge date, etc...This month, I got a $29.99 *credit* from Pluto D...
I also use Blockbuster for my DVD/VHS rentals... | |
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MBNA
@optonline.net | Re: more Pluto Data Ltd 39.99 in NJ, mbna busy signal, etc. | |
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AlsoScammed
@192.233.x.x
|  Possible data source?
How many of you have used your credit card as an ID to pick up an e-ticket at the airport?
Not to charge it online, but to pick it up/print it out at the automated kiosk? It is one of the very few places, within the last year, that I have ever used one of the two cards that was charged. If this was the source of the data, it could explain why people so geographically widespread and seemingly randomly selected would be hit.
Any thoughts? | |
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Scammed me too!
I also had a charge from Pluto Data Ltd. But mine was for 39.99. When I called the number after the name on my credit card statement, I got a busy signal. My credit card company was very, very helpful, but I'm still mad. I was always wary of using my credit card online. The only place I used it was FirmDirect.com . . . for the exercise program The Firm 3. Hopefully these people will be caught!
Pluto Data Scam