Compromised CC on Tickitaly.com..... aauugghh

How awful! Since it's happening to you so often, perhaps another possibility is your computer is infected with a trojan?

Maybe you should take it in to the shop and have a professional clean it up and confirm whether or not the problem is at your end?? It seems like a good place to start troubleshooting.

I have made as many reservations as possible without using my card- either phoning or just simply using a different hotel that did not require my card- better to be cautious- the phone calls can be inexpensive if you get an international calling card.

Hi NanC,

I will second what Linda has said. On a previous post regarding concerns like this I asked if you had a virus scanner that had been recently updated, and I do not recall you responding to that. It appears at this point that this is most likely the source of the problem. I would be willing to bet that it was not the ticketitaly website that was compromised, but rather your computer as the odds of this happening to you this frequently through third party sources is extremly low, yet the idea that your computer is infected easily explains what is occurring. Therefore, I assume that your computer has been infected with a trojan horse and is now being monitored by someone who knows that they can get credit card details from your machine.

Actually NanC, I have discovered that every year that I plan a trip to Italy I have problems with acquiring a virus or having my cc used fraudulently! Never happens on the trips I plan that don't included Italy, such as France, Germany, Benelux, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria etc. This year on March 12 someone tried to run my card in London for $733.68...fortunately (for them & for me!) the cc company blocked it but of course I had to cancel that number. With our trip coming up in 6 weeks, I'm now hesitant to give our new number but want to be sure to hold our hotels! (I only fax our cc number but anyone can get the number while the printed page is lying there!)
I phoned to make reservations for the Uffizi, Medici Chapel and also for the Last Supper. It's very easy to do...For the Florence sights I was able to get through immediately and for the Last Supper, it only took 3 times to get through.

Yikes! Good thing you caught it!
I would recommend emailing your hotel (or wherever you are staying) and asking them to make the reservation for you. They should do this for no charge, and you can pay for the tickets when you arrive at each respective museum/etc. Your hotel (or whatever) should email you a confirmation number of your reservation; just take it with you and show it at the ticket office.
Good luck, and have a great trip!

Steve,

Yes I remember your suggestions.

My computer is secure at this end, no virii, trojans, etc.

What was interesting about the ticketitaly bill was that it was charged to "ticketitaly counseling".....

I have made the reservations by phone, no problem, and it was pretty quick.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

For those who aren't aware of 1-time credit card numbers, Citibank and BofA are 2 card issuers that offer them. I use the one from Citibank for EVERY online or phone purchase I make. You generate a new card number each time you want, and you can give it a dollar limit and expiration date. Furthermore its only good at the 1st merchant to use it; so if you buy something from merchant A and the number gets stolen they can't use it unless they're buying more from merchant A (at which point they hit the dollar limit pretty quickly; I set it for $5 or so more than my purchase).

A safe site for this type of tickets in Europe is isango.com. I have used them before. They are based in London but through them you can book things everywhere including Italy.

Mike, thanks for the GREAT suggestion about using 1-time credit cards. That is a really good idea. I am going to look into that one.

Thanks, everyone