Mysterious Credit Card Charge May Have Hit Millions

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http://www.boston.com/business/pers...t_card_charge_may_have_hit_millions_of_users/

Several Internet complaint boards are filled with comments from credit card customers from coast to coast who have noticed a mysterious charge for about 25 cents on their statements.

The charge shows up on statements as coming from "Adele Services" in Melville, N.Y. There is no business by that name listed in Melville, or registered to any business anywhere in New York, for that matter.

Two theories of what is going on have advanced on message boards and among consumer advocates: Someone is trying to find out whether an illegally obtained credit card number will work before making a bigger charge, or they're trying to rip off tiny amounts from tons of people.

The latter theory has more credibility at the moment. The Better Business Bureau in Louisville reports that, at least so far, those who have been hit with the small charge have yet to get slammed with a bigger charge. The bureau speculates that the number of possible victims could be in the millions.

It's not clear how the numbers got in the hands of the people making the charge, but consumer advocates say it is most likely through either a data theft or someone using a computer to generate numbers.

Former Massachusetts assistant attorney general Edgar Dworsky, who runs ConsumerWorld.org, said the scam reminded him of an old adage: "It's easier to steal $1 from a million people than $1 million from one person," he said.

Most people, Dworsky said, are likely to overlook or ignore the small charge. "Isn't that the perfect scam, when the victim doesn't even know something has been taken?" he said.

Take a look at your credit card statements, and if the charge is there, don't let it slide. It's what the thieves want you to do. Instead, file a dispute with your credit card company, and lodge complaints with the Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov) and the Internet Crime Complaint Center (www.ic3.gov) - which is run by the FBI, the National White Collar Crime Center, and the Bureau of Justice Assistance. Federal law enforcement officials tend to react when the complaints reach a certain volume.
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Check your statement :whee:
 
Genius. Plus stealing only 25 cents would be a very minor crime wouldn't it? Would people take you to court over 25 cents? But then again its credit card fraud
 
Well, stealing 25 cents from 1 person is a small crime but stealing 25 cents for hundreds and thousands of people is a huge crime.

Each time you do it is just one more count against you and when a judge sees that you have done this a thousand times I think the punishment is going to be huge.
 
true, i was imagining a few hundred thousand seperate cases over 25 cents. Reminds me of office space in a way.
 
Happened to me back in November, noticed it on Sunday after they charged it on Friday. Needless to say, was in the bank Monday getting a new debit card and had the charge reversed.
 
Thanks for the insight. I checked my last three statements and, fortunately, there has been no such charge.
 
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