We keep your purchases safe

 Within the last 2 months, I have received two coorespondence emails regarding their credit card information, and whether that information was leaked/stolen through doodlepantry.com during their order.
 

While I addressed both of those individuals personally, I would like to make a statement for Doodle Pantry. 

A little background on my site:   

I pay good money to my host provider to keep my site safe, functional, and hack free.  If your credit card number is stolen, I can assure you that it did not happen while you were on doodlepantry.com.

The are 3 reasons that assure this.  

1. I have a secure SSL certificate. 
2. I have an additional firewall that prevents any unregistered users to be in my system. In order to be registered, they have to have a valid email address by which to activate their account.  When they login, their IP address is recorded in my system. If any user is operating from a known malicious IP address, my firewall will block it, preventing them to even be within my system. 
3. Most importantly, I do not collect or store credit card information directly on my URL. If you are not paying with a Paypal account, then when you enter your credit card number in the left side of the Paypal screen without logging into Paypal, you are entering it on the Paypal merchant gateway URL, not doodlepantry.com. Your credit card number is supposed to be protected by Paypal when you pay this way, at least they promise that.  The only way anyone else could see what you are inputting on that Paypal screen, is if your own personal security software is not fully protecting you.

I'm all for staying safe.   I hope this has helped reassure your shopping experience at Doodle Pantry.

 

If your credit card number has ever been stolen, my heart goes out to you!   I know EXACTLY how you feel.

About a year ago or maybe a little longer, I ordered some cosmetic products online from a company in Florida, and then the same day I went to get gas and used my credit/debit card (the same one) at the pump. The NEXT day, there were multiple attempts trying to make purchases on my card. The purchases didn’t go through and I was notified by my bank of suspicious activity.   I had set up that particular checking account to have NO overdraft protection, and that particular account is one that I only use for online purchases and gas.   I only transfer exactly what money I know I will be needing a day before I need it. 

I assumed and emailed the cosmetic website telling them that the hack came from their site. They assured me it could not have been from their site, so I did further investigation.  In fact it turned out later to be from the gas pump.  I now never use my credit card at the gas pump.  I always load a Walmart card and use that card at the Walmart gas pump, and never get any other gas. 

When I called my bank about the attempted activity, they said that whenever this happens (credit card thefts), the people who steal the numbers always wait a day or two before trying to use them, so that the victim forgets what all they did and where they were, and can’t pinpoint from which area their number was stolen from. In my case, I had only done 2 things the day prior, and they were planned things since I had to transfer only the money I needed for those transactions, into that account. So everything was still fresh in my memory.   

 It is the most unsettling feeling not knowing who stole my information from me and tried to use me for their own personal gain. But at the same time, I felt a little redeemed that I had set up my checking account the way I did, so that they actually could not get any transaction to complete. They had made 5 attempts of transaction of about $200, $then $180, then $150, then $100, then $50….. they kept trying lower amounts.  Haha, I had to laugh in the end, because they were probably very frustrated in stealing (or buying my number from someone else) a credit card number that had no money in the account for them to steal!

Now you don't have to do this, but I highly suggest to you in having a second checking account with 1 debit card, where you transfer only enough money for you to do your online transactions and/or gas.  If the bank insists on charging a monthly fee, it is WORTH EVERY PENNY not to get your money stolen.   And also sign that account up for no overdraft protection.   Banks will automatically give you overdraft protection, thinking it "helps" you.  ????  Not when your credit card number gets stolen!  The banks make you go through hoops and you actually have to sign a separate form for every checking account you own, to have NO overdraft protection on them.  But I highly recommend this, especially for a separate account specifically for online transactions where you only transfer money to it when you are planning a transaction.  This will basically make it impossible for anyone who steals your credit card number to complete a transaction (and get any of your money). No overdraft protection means they can't complete a purchase if the money isn't there. And if you have alerts set up on your bank account, then they can't try to make purchases without you knowing they are trying.  You'll get an email that your account is "low" and won't cover X transaction being made. Viola!  You would know instantly that someone else is trying to use your card and you can take care of it immediately.

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Thanks for stopping by today, I hope some of this info is useful.