**Was the payment made from an account of yours that the AMEX website already
knew how to get payments from? How do you know it was the same person?

Yes, the payment was made via an online account where AMEX was already
familiar with the "paying" account. I know it's the same person because
whoever it was logged on to my online AMEX acct not only made a payment, but
added a "valid" shipping address (which was then unsuccessfully used in the
order with Apple).

**I don't know of any reason to presume that Money is the source of this
issue
since there are thousands of other possibilities.

I don't agree that there are "thousands" of other possibilities, but would
agree that there are a few other possibilities. Remember that whoever did
this not only had the Amex card number, but also had both my login ID and
password for my online acct with Amex. I use the card in person at stores,
and online. I use the online login ID and related password when I login
online. I NEVER use both at the same time. ALL of this info only resides in
two places--my brain, and Money.

**Do you have WiFi? (Among hundreds of other avenues for exploration.)

No.

**Have you ever been phished? Would you know?

As is true with most people today, I've received many, many phish-mails...I
have never been victimized by them.

**Do you have money going to AmEx "direct connect" or "direct connect, via
third party"?

Not sure what you mean here. Amex is provided with the acct info of a
checking acct I maintain. When I make a payment, I merely log on to my Amex
acct. and with a couple of clicks tell Amex to withdraw the current months
required payment from the checking acct.

**Do you use strong passwords?

Yes, where I can (meaning that many online sites seem to only allow
relatively simple passwords).

Was the payment made from an account of yours that the AMEX website already
knew how to get payments from? How do you know it was the same person?

I don't know of any reason to presume that Money is the source of this issue
since there are thousands of other possibilities.

Do you have WiFi? (Among hundreds of other avenues for exploration.)

Have you ever been phished? Would you know?

Do you have money going to AmEx "direct connect" or "direct connect, via
third party"?

Do you use strong passwords?

"DanJ" <DanJ[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F876512F-914A-48EB-8DD6-BE710C470AFA[at]microsoft.com...
- quote -

Last week someone used my American Express card to attempt a purchase of a
$2,600 Apple computer. Although the fraudulent use of my card was quickly
detected, thanks in part to both the Apple and American Express people, what
really bothered me was the same person ALSO was able to log on to my online
American Express account and (think about how strange this is!?!?) make my
monthly American Express payment for me.

For some time now, I have been updating my American Express card daily using
Microsoft Money Plus Home & Business. To accomodate these updates, my credit
card number, my logon ID, and my logon password are stored on only one
electronic file on my computer--Microsoft Money Plus Home & Business. While
I understand that my logon info could be stolen while logging on to the AMEX
website using IE (I'm thinking here of the MS update for IE from last
week???), the credit card number would not be compromised in that manner
(since I don't need to enter it). So I start with the premise that my data
was compromised when transmitting update info from Money.

How secure is this update process? Anyone have similar experiences?

Thanks for any feedback!

Dan