I'm posting this as a public-service announcement. Read the story from the Boston Globe and then make sure that your card has not been charged 25 cents by the company in question. If you have been victimized by the company, be sure to contact your card issuer and have the charge reversed.
From the story: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.
Read the rest of the story here (link).
Monday, January 12, 2009
Mysterious Credit Card Charge May Have Hit Millions Of Users
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15 comments:
I had some outfit put phony charges on my home phone bill about a year ago.
The company did reverse the charges, but they never explained why I was charged in the first place.
What I wonder is how these companies get the card information in the first place.
I suspect there are huge security gaps that are undisclosed.
I can't imagine crooks taking the time to physically swipe millions of credit cards through readers in order to clone them.
But then again, some crooks have a LOT of free time on their hands :-)
Exactly. You know there is a breach somewhere -- some place. Millions of people with 25-cent charges? Would love to know the commonality of the victims, though.
And this is why security breaches should be required to be made public.
A breach this widespread should be disclosed. Smaller ones, that's aren't all that significant, maybe not. But victims should still be notified -- even if the breach isn't made publicly available to the masses.
Lion, the sad thing is, many institutions don't even realize they've been compromised.
http://hjnews.townnews.com/articles/2009/01/11/news/news02-01-11-09.txt
It has been suggested that these guys are using some kind of complex random number generator to come up with account numbers. Some work and some don't. The ones that do work obviously are the ones with that mysterious charges.
Glacious, that's as good of a theory as I've heard yet. Thanks.
I don't think they all need to be made public however, many states do not require that victims of such breaches even be notified. Sure the companies often do notify those affected but they are often not required to.
And frankly, there are issues if you don't know you have been compromised. What kind of crappy security do these companies have in place, anyway? Humph!
"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."
I must be living in Utopia.
I balance every single account every month, and when I see a discrepancy, even for one little penny from a transaction I don't recognize, I report it right away.
So far, in my 20+ year credit history, I reported 2 errors not of my doing, and they were corrected promptly.
I hope everyone here does the same.
V, that doesn't surprise me about you. You seem extremely meticulous. You would have made a great accountant. I would have hired you in a heart beat.
Thanks CM, but it's no biggie.
Sorry about your Chargers. I feel bad, both for you and my niece in San Diego.
:-(
Regarding my Chargers, no biggie. I'm already looking forward to next year.
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