International Credit Card Scam Busted by the Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission has once again thwarted a multi-million-dollar, international credit card scam.
This long-running international credit card scam was estimated to have net more than $10 million; but the interesting part is that credit card customers were charged no more than $10 in fake credit card charges, thereby allowing the thieves to get away with the scam for such a long period of time.
For four years the perpetrators charged unsuspecting credit card customers small amounts on their credit card and debit cards. It is still unclear how the thieves got the credit card customers, but the FTC thinks that they may have even gone as far as done credit checks on their victims to make sure the credit cards were legitimate.
This scam, along with the countless scams being busted nearly every day by the FTC, is a clear example of the extent to which credit card thieves will go to steal money. It is also a good time to alert credit card customers to these credit card scams so that we can all be more aware of our credit cards and how we can protect ourselves:
- Check your statement carefully, each and every month. Many of us get into the habit of paying our credit card bills each month and we don’t even take the time to really examine our statement. However, this case is a perfect example of ripping credit card customers off because they simply didn’t take the time to carefully read the charges on their statement.
- Understand credit card scams so that you can be better equipped to fight them. Credit card thieves, unfortunately, are staying one step ahead of the FTC and other cyber-crime-fighting organizations, so it is best to understand the lengths at which thieves will go to bilk people out of millions of dollars.
- Keep your receipts so you can compare them with your credit card statement each month. You may be charged a few dollars extra by a company and not even be aware of it unless you check the amount carefully against your receipt.
