Consumer Fraud Alert: Watch Your Quarters

There are many things people need to be on the look out for in order to protect their credit and their credit card accounts. The latest credit card fraud involves a simple twenty-five cents that can be disastrous to your credit report and financial status. If you are not regularly checking your account statements each month, you could be getting taken for a big ride – all for only a quarter.

The Latest Scam
There is a new consumer fraud, somewhat mysterious trend in the credit card industry that could potentially threaten the credit of all who are affected. Twenty-five cent charges are showing up on people’s credit card statements and many times they are flying under the radar. The charges come from the Melville, NY-based company called Adele Services. There is typically one charge listed in the amount of twenty-five cents. The problem is that there is no record of any such company as Adele Services registered in NY state.

What It’s All About
Experts believe that the initial twenty-five cent charge is just a test. If the charge is able to go through and approved, then the person or persons running it through essentially know they have scored an active account. Where the danger lies is that once the charge goes through and the person has secured that they are using the correct card information, the consumer is at risk for being hit with additional charges in the future. The future charges can and most likely will be much larger than a twenty-five cent take. The next charge could even potentially wipe out your credit limit altogether or in some cases, may exceed your credit limit. If this is the case, you will incur over the limit fees that will jack up your credit card balance and potentially damage your overall credit rating.

What You Should Do
In order to catch this scam as early as possible, you will need to take a look at all the old  statements you have on hand as well as all future statements. Check your credit card statements closely line by line if you do not already practice this habit and make sure that all charges on your card are recognizable. If you see anything out of sorts, including the twenty-five cent charges from Adele Services or any other unfamiliar company, contact your credit card company immediately and report your findings. If you delay in reporting the fraud, you could potentially be subjected to further charges that can ruin your credit.

You may think that twenty-five cent charges is not worth the effort to report it but you must understand the reality that even the smallest charge could be the biggest scam. Some theories point to the use of a computer generated programs that creates random numbers to come up with a credit card number that is active and legitimate. If this is the case, imagine how many incidents of twenty-five cent charges have occurred. Hitting a million credit card holders or more, could net a thief a nice sum of money; one that they can walk away with easily if no one bothers to report a simple charge of a quarter on their credit card statement.

Never underestimate the security of your credit card or credit score. Always keep your credit card and personal information confidential. Never give out your credit card or personal information over the phone or the internet unless you absolutely are sure that the party you are talking to is legitimate. If you are unsure, report the suspicious activity to your credit card provider or your local authorities. In this day and age, it is much smarter to be safe than it is to be sorry later.

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 30th, 2009 at 10:01 am and is filed under Card Security, Credit Card News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.