NEW ORLEANS — Since 1998, Basin Street Records has been signing artists from the Crescent City.
“Kermit Ruffins was our first artist,” said Director of Operations Braden Piper. “We’ve got Rebirth Brass Band, Jason Marsalis" and many more.
The record label is known for pushing that unique sound throughout New Orleans.
“It’s really a dream job,” said Piper. “I have loved New Orleans music since I was a kid weirdly enough even though I’m not from New Orleans.”
A part of Piper’s role is to make sure the music is accessible everywhere. From hearing it live at JazzFest to physically playing it on vinyl or downloading it.
Last Wednesday, Piper and his team woke up to a slew of online orders.
“Unusual activity on our website, we had thousands of orders coming in,” he said. “Every few seconds we had a new order being processed.”
Even more unusual, the orders were all for the same low-priced item – a digital song download. After doing some digging, Piper realized it was all a scam.
“It was very likely a credit card testing scam.”
Thieves used thousands of stolen credit card numbers to make a small purchase. If it goes through then the scammer knows they have a valid active account.
“They get a dollar to go through and then they hit it for a larger volume,” said Matt Malone, a Cyber Security expert with Vistrada.
Malone says scammers are banking on you not noticing the small dollar amount they charge to your stolen card.
“Diligence is the name of the game,” he said. “We used to count our bank accounts on a ledger and that no longer happens. Now we have this electronic ledger and if you don’t know where your money is going it could be going to the pocket of a scammer.”
Basin Street Records was able to refund the handful of stolen cards that went through. Piper and his team also implemented extra website security measures.
“It’s part of our due diligence of running an e-commerce site,” said Piper. “It’s a risk for anyone who sells something online. It could happen to you.”
Malone also suggests that online stores install CAPTCHA on their websites to catch fraudulent activity. He also says consumers need to closely monitor their transactions and take advantage of credit monitoring services when offered.
And finally, he says you can report cybercrime by CLICKING HERE.