"I've been a keen purchaser of Aussie wines, normally over the net using my credit card, and I have transacted with you previously. I am not seeking any refund, but wanted to flag a potential issue with you regarding your transaction security. 

Two days ago, I got an email thanking me for my subscription to Cars and Models - an online magazine combining naked ladies and motor cars. While I hadn't actually subscribed for it, it looks fun, if you have a well developed bicep on one arm only (not applicable in my case as I am a total weakling, although my eyesight is failing ). The user name and password "I" had provided sounded Asian.

I was told the subscription had been charged to my visa card, went online to check, and sure enough, there was a charge for US$14.99.

I contacted visa, and got them to block that transaction, then went through my visa statements for the last 6 months. I noticed a relatively small number of transactions for software and other subscriptions, always for a low amount (probably to avoid authorisation issues), totaling about US$100.

I phoned the Car and Motors people in the US, whose only concern was whether I was prepared to pay, stating that, as my home telephone number, UK address and card number were all valid, I was responsible for the charge. I politely told them that visa would not accept the charge and hung up.

I then re-called visa, and now have a permanent block on that card. Within one hour of blocking the card, I was called by a company somewhere in Asia asking me to confirm a transaction for a few hundred US$, as my card hadn't been accepted by visa. I told them that the transaction was fraudulent, thanked them for calling and rang off.

I can only assume that Car And Motors had, somehow, contacted the individual who has hacked onto a website to get my details to tell them that the charge wasn't going through, resulting in them trying to squeeze in a few larger transactions. The reason I am confident that this is online retailer-related is that I don't provide
phone numbers and home addresses for any other visa transactions, and have security software and firewalls up to the hilt.

Now, the sites where I have provided these details online tend to be wine oriented. I am not suggesting that this is endemic but have noticed in the past that a couple of sites that profess to be secure, have retained my cc number, address etc (by clicking the down arrow in the relevant field, the details came up), causing me to question their security. 

I would therefore ask you to kindly remove any credit card details you may have retained from past transactions with me from your server. I will in future either call you with a new card number, or will wire funds direct to your account. As a consumer, I would also ask you kindly to review your online security to ensure that you and your customers are protected from this scam.