“It was a very patient scam,” said Steve Wernikoff, a staff attorney with the FTC who is prosecuting the case. According to him, the scammers found loopholes in the credit card processing system that allowed them to set up fake U.S. companies that then ran more than a million phony credit card transactions through legitimate credit card processing companies.

The fraudsters were able to fly under the radar for so long because they only charged consumers between $ .25 and $9 and set up over 100 fake companies to pull off these transactions. In this specific case they charged over 1.35 million credit cards a total of $9.5 million dollars – those nickles and dimes really add up! Shockingly, 94% of these charges went undetected by the credit card holder because they didn’t notice an unusual charge on their credit card statements and fraud detection agencies rarely detect anything under $10.

With more and more credit cards being accepted for smaller purchases (e.g., soda machines and parking meters) thieves have taken this opportunity to cash in on the frequency of these charges. While 6% of the charges were detected and reported, the huge number that didn’t even realize they had an unauthorized charge shows how lax we are about checking our statements. Here are some simple steps you can take to catch fraud early:

• Set up automatic account alerts to monitor your daily credit card purchases. That way, anytime money is spent on the card, you receive an email or SMS text to your phone alerting you to the charge. If you didn’t use your credit card, you immediately know it’s a fraud and you can call and shut down your card.
• A more basic step is to simply monitor your bank accounts and credit card statements closely. Rather than trusting that all charges are accurate you should make sure you know exactly when the charge was made, for what, and by whom.
• If you aren’t sure about a charge, call the bank and ask them to confirm it is a legitimate charge.
• Sign up for an identity monitoring service that can help with this. Although these victims only lost a few dollars here and there those small charges can add up – to the scammers it added up to $9.5 million!

Read more about how this scam was able to become so profitable to the thieves.

John Sileo became America’s leading Identity Theft Speaker & Expert after he lost his business and more than $300,000 to identity theft and data breach. His clients include the Department of Defense, Pfizer, the FTC and the FDIC.  To learn more about having him speak at your next meeting or conference, contact him by email or on 800.258.8076.

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Identity Theft Expert John Sileo’s Latest Fraud Report

Just as you wouldn’t want to give any personal identity information to someone via email, you want to use the same practices via text message. There is a new wave of fraud that tries to trick you with text messages appearing to be from your bank.

According to Wikipedia, SMiShing uses cell phone text messages to deliver the “bait” which entices you to divulge your personal information. The “hook” (the method used to actually “capture” your information) in the text message may be a web site URL, like it is in phishing schemes. However, it has become more common to received a texted phone number that connects to an automated voice response system. One version of this SMiShing message will look like this:

Notice – this is an automated message from (a local credit union), your ATM card has been suspended. To reactivate call urgent at 866-###-####.

In many cases, the SMiShing message will show that it came from “5000″ instead of displaying an actual phone number. This usually indicates the SMS message was sent via email to the cell phone, instead of being sent from another cell phone.

Once you take the “bait” and pass on your private information, it can be used to create duplicate credit/debit/ATM cards. There are some documented cases where the information an unsuspecting victim gave on a fraudulent website was used within 30 minutes…halfway around the world.

To minimize your risk:

• Approach all text messages asking for your personal information with a great deal of skepticism (Hogwash, to those in the know).
• Understand that no bank, business or financial institution will EVER ask you to divulge or confirm your personal banking information over email or SMS text message.
• If you have any question at all that the text is legitimate, contact your bank or financial institution directly using a published phone number (on the back of your card, for example).

John Sileo became America’s Top Identity Theft Speaker & Expert after he lost his business and more than $300,000 to identity theft and data breach. His clients include the Department of Defense, Pfizer and the FDIC. To learn more about bringing John to your next meeting or event, contact him directly on 800.258.8076.

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1. Detection-Fraud: 15 Signs You’re a Victim of Identity Theft!
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3. Javelin Identity Theft & Identity Fraud 2009 Survey