Listen up here folks, I want you all to be aware of this. Yesterday I checked my credit card balance online and I noticed a charge of $9.95 from a company called Absolute-Soft. Apparently this is some type web design company – something that I obviously do not need having built the internal and most of the external infrastructures of the websites that I own.
Folks, I was the victim of identity theft!
Somehow, either this company or someone pretending to be me used my credit card number and personal information to make a purchase of $9.95 from this website. I’m currently using the process in place from my credit card company to have the situation checked out, but there are a few points that I want everyone to take away from this.
First, this Absolute-Soft.com group apparently doesn’t do a good enough check on the financial information that they are given so beware of using them.
Second, being it’s the holiday season and that it’s the year 2004 we can all expect a lot of online shopping to take place. BE CAREFUL of where you put your credit card information online!!! If you’re not sure of a site (and I was ALWAYS sure before today), then do NOT use your credit card there. Just find the 800 number and make the order by phone.
And finally, I only caught this fraud because I haven’t used my credit card for the past two months. Hence, when I checked my account online ANY charge would be odd to me. For those of you who make a lot of charges, please be sure to check the charges made to your account. You never know if someone is out there pretending to be you!
I suspect this Absolute-soft.com is a fraud; there have been multiple companies ( different names but they all ‘sell’ templates ) charging people, out of the blue, $9.95 for products never ordered.
Absolute-soft may be the lasted incarnation-name of this scam ‘company’.
Thanks for the information. I’m going to report this Absolute-Soft.com group to all of the government agencies that I can.
Joe,
They are still at it, abolute-soft.com. Today I have found a charge on my card for $9.95. I too have filed complaints with the FTC and the FBI. Just curious, have you encountered any charges like this on your other cards?
No, I haven’t. I’m pretty secure about my finances and what I do online and in the stores. I don’t know how these people got my information or if they figured that charging $9.95 to a bunch of people would be an easy way to make a bunch of money, but they are disgusting.
Please keep me informed of your fight against them. I’ll help in any way I can.
Google is my friend. I just got off the phone with my credit card company. Same exact charge $9.95 from absolute-soft.com. Refunded immediately. Glad to hear it’s not just me being paranoid.
Joe,
They got me somehow too. I have been using the internet for purchases for over 5 years now. This is the first time I got bit! I also contacted my bank and disputed the charge along with cancelling the account… The bank says about two weeks..
Don
It’s incredible. You think that yuo’re so secure and then all of a sudden there’s a $9.95 missing from your account! My credit card company was good about refunding my money and they claimed that they went after Absolute-Soft.com
These bums are just the lowest form of trash out there. This particular page has been getting a good deal of hits lately so I encourage anyone who has a gripe against these asses to post their experiences here.
Guess somehow this site got lots of peoples info recently… I to today noticed this same charge from these people. I didnt recognise it, so i googled it, and here I am. Glad to know im not nuts… I will call and file a dispute of it right now with my CC company. Any ideas where they get your info from? I shop online a lot, Amazon, NewEgg, Buy.com, compusa, bestbuy… the only new store I recently used was ebuyer.com for one purchase… but i think that was after this charge hit my card… Any similarities or ideas? Thanks
Erik
Absolute-soft got me for 9.95 today. I had to cancel my credit card. Why are these crooks still allowed to do this? How many people do they have to scam before the government steps in and stops them? What a pain in the ass. Bob
Just checked my account visa check card that is directly connected to my checking account. What do I find? You guessed it the same thing. Absolute-soft (some website design company soposedly). I’ve also done tons of transactions via the internet and no problems until now. I’m gonna cancel all of my accounts and dispute the charge as well. BEWARE!!!!
I just got my credit card statement today and saw a charge from absolute BS-soft .com.
this is the second time it has happened to me. Last month I reported it to my cc company and they issued me a new card with a new number ( I have only had the card for a couple of weeks) and now I have a new $9.95 from them.
this is totally outrageous!!!
Erik gave me an idea — lets compare notes to see if we can find something in common between us. For example, like Erik I am a Newegg customer. I used the card that got hit by Absolute-Soft with Newegg. Anyone else here a Newegg customer?
I, too, am a NewEgg customer. However, with that old credit card that I was using, I was also a PayPal customer, an AOL customer, an eBay guy, and so many other things. But let’s give this a shot…something has to be done about this scum.
Just got hit with a charge from http://www.artmagicinc.com showed up on my statement as Art Magic Inc. .com Verona CA. The charge was for $9.95 and when I checked out the website it is the same thing as Absolute-Soft. E-mailed them and they responded promptly saying they would credit my account and that somebody must have stole my credit card number. I am also signed up for Newegg, Computerbooks Direct, Paypal, Ebay, Columbia House, BMG Music.
I got pegged with a 9.95 charge today from this absolute-soft company. Had my card cancelled. The only time I recall using my debit card online (I usually use my credit card) is for paypal and maybe amazon once.
Me too.. Absolute-soft.com charged $9.95 against my account. Over the weekend they wrote back in response to my e-mail and re-credited my account. I have since cancelled my credit card and asking for a new one to be issued. Why aren’t the Feds bouncing on these people, is it because of the low individual charge? This is a scam and someone needs to do “time” for this.
I just got hit with the same $9.95 charge also ART MAGIC INC.COM, VICTORIA, BC.
Ok. I had not used card so I was suprised to see $9.95 for Absolute-Soft.com. This is what I figure cause I am not registered with alot of companies. From other posts it must be NEWEGG or Amazon. I am certain of it! Google is the best thats how I found this site. Thank You All! Keep posting we will figure out whos servers where hacked!
I too, just got nailed with the $9.95 charge from absolute-soft.com. I’ve been doing online purchases for many years without issues until now. The only thing that I can think of is that I bought something through an Amazon company about a week ago. From the other posts here, Amazon may be the culprit. I cancelled my card and reported Absolute to the FTC and my bank.
It must be NewEgg. Their credit card database had to have been hacked. I have three cards on file with them, and one of the cards IS ONLY used at new egg (at least in the last 1.5 yrs). All three cards got hit once each on Aug 11/12 for $9.95 from ABSOLUTE-SOFT.COM on one card, AZ BUSINESS PRODUCTS card #2, and DLX, LLC TEL5304532876 MN for card #3. Amazon is a possibility. I have never been hit with unauthorized charges or card theft before – what a pain in the ass.
I just got my credit card statement, and I got nabbed for the $9.95 charge from absolute-soft.com. My statement includes their phone number, if anyone needs it: 413-812-5720. I didn’t call it, but I did call Chase (the card issuer) and they deducted the carge from my account. I wasn’t too pleased with the conversation I had with them (despite getting the charge easily reversed). They told me it “wasn’t a fraud situation” and that I didn’t need to cancel or close the account, or even be issued a new number. If it was a “fraud situation” the charge would have been “much higher”. That’s complete bullcrap. Anything I didn’t authorize is fraud, as far as I am concerned. Not to mention this company’s obvious history that a simple google search uncovered (and led me here…).
I had something similar happen a few years ago with a Citi-bank card and they immediately closed it and issued a new one. At the time I was told that these types of scams usually use a small charge to an account first, to see if it is active. If that charge goes through OK, then they may charge a larger amount later. I suppose it is also possible they just charge thousands of people the small $9.95 amount and it just adds up to big bucks.
As far as where I used the account online… I use this card as my ‘online’ charge card. You name it, I’ve probably used it there. I have another credit card, plus my bank card, but I never use those online. If they start showing charges from absolute-soft.com, something is seriously wrong…
Got charged $9.95 somehow as well from “AZ BUSINESS PRODUCTS”. I’m pretty sure it is a result of Newegg or Amazon’s database being hacked. Bank has been notified and an investigation is pending.
I’ve been hit with $9.95 from ‘Art Magic Inc’, Victoria BC. I’m 99.99% sure this is fraud. The only online source with my credit card information is PayPal.
The bank did not know anything about ‘Art Magic Inc’ but did immediately cancel the card and arrange a new card with a new number (Bank Of America).
absolute-soft.com whois goes to a ‘protection service’ which hides the register. artmagicinc.com whois is fake – the zip code is 718288 and the state is AQ.
Doing a quick search artmagicinc.com shares the same design as absolute-soft.com (“Create a unique web presence using pre-made designs and templates of the highest quality”).
Conclusion: artmagicinc.com is a scam site and the people behind it are criminals.
Same story as everyone else. $9.95 from ‘Art Magic Inc’. New account, money credited, etc.
I don’t shop at Newegg, but I do shop at Amazon. In my opnion, I don’t believe that these two companies are too blame, but rather I think that this might be due to the breach at CardSystems Solutions, Inc., that was announced in June this year, or this might hint at another breach at a processing company that will be announced shortly.
I got hit twice today! One mastercard got the Absolute-soft.com, a visa got a KCSOFTLLC COM ROCHESTER NY ! Unbelieveable.
Same here, got it on Keybank Visa card from Art Magic Inc.com
Hi again,
Recently checked back here to see what else had been posted… Maybe its not a breach of a company like amazon or newegg at all… since some people claim they use their cards exclusively at “x website” or whatever, maybe this place just uses some sort of algoritum (sorry for my spelling) to try random cards… I mean unless there is some massive credit card transaction clearing house, how could so many different cards from different backers used on different legitimate web sites be hit by the same scheme? I too was ‘blown off’ when I contacted my CC company (an Amazon.com card from Chase). They were perfectly willing to take off the charge (though it still appears on my balance 2 months later, though no interest charges…) but when I said that I thought it was intentional fraud and that I had done research on the internet the guy seemed to humor me by saying “so who is this that commited fraud against you?” and obviously I said I didnt know… and then I said I wanted to cancel the card and he told me that they usually dont do that after one small incident…
Does any one know if there is a way to go after the domain registration company? I too did a whois on the absolute-soft site and found that they are registered via http://www.RegisterFly.com. And the specifics of the registraint are protected via “ProtectFly.com” some sort of extra domain registration information cloaking option… Can we somehow force registerfly to give up the info since they are seemingly looking the other way while they protect the identity of theives?
Like Michael who posted above, I too was hit on the same date with a 9.95 charge from DLX, LLC 530-453-2876. Immediately canceled the card and disputed the charge. The card had been used at both Amazon and Newegg.
Like Michael and EM above, I have an unexplained charge for $9.95 from “Dlx. LLC 5304532876 MN” on my statement this month. I’m sure I have never done business with any such entity. I found this blog entry and thread by Googling on “Dlx. LLC”.
I have used this card at Newegg and Amazon, but also other online merchants. The association with Newegg as suggested above may be jumping to conclusions too quickly – there could be other merchants that we have in common, or some other factor.
What seems like a possibility is something in the processing system – I’m thinking of the recent massive data leak from one of the credit card contractors (CardSystems Solutions). It’s defintitely not a spyware/trojan issue in my case – I know how to secure a PC. It’s either merchants sharing data, or something like the Cardsystems situation.
I have been hit with a $9.95 charge from Arts Magic. I also do online purchases from NewEgg, Amazon and Buy.com. I have also done purchases with other online vendors including MicroCenter.com but the 3 mentioned are the main ones.
These people are low lifes almost as low as the banks themselves (who will be happy to slip charges on your account buried in fine print).
I have an account with a bank in Virginia. On Monday, September 5th (Labor Day), I was charged — without my consent or knowledge — $9.95 by AZ BUSINESS PRODUCTS (actually shows as AZ BUSINESS PRODUC due to the line limit) using my Visa Check card. I have no idea who they are. I have called my bank … they are investigating, refunding the $9.95, and replacing my card with a new one. I have made countless purchases from various places online, including Newegg and Amazon, but I agree that it’s unlikely we would be able to figure out who the common retailer or card processor is in this case.
Yup. I just got it too. 9.95, I’ve only been using E-bay and Amazon. I think it may be Amazon, I used it the same day that it happend. Gonna contact my credit union and get my stuff back. And this wasn’t on a CC it was my debit card.
$9.95 seems to be the Magic number …. me too Art Magic Inc .com Victoria BC I too am a new egg customer NEWEGG could be the common factor?
I just got hit today with 9.95 from KCSOFTLLC COM ROCHESTER!!! I haven’t used my card in months! Perhaps they have found a way to get the #s right, along with expiration dates? I read above that these companies might not do a lot of validation…
Same here. $9.95 from Art Magic Inc.com.
My credit card company refunded the charge immediately.
my bf just got hit with 9.95 from art magic inc as well. we don’t use NewEgg, but have used BUY.com and Amazon. I guess he has to go through a notorized process?
While balancing my checkbook this am I too have been hit for $9.95 without my knowledge of who authorized it and have contacted my bank and will be blocking my card. The problem now is I have to contact all
creditors that my card is blocked. What a shame!!!
ART MAGIC INC.COM VICTORIA BC hit my MBNA card, and it was $9.95 plus I got hit with a $0.29 for a Foreign Transaction Fee. The card has been cancelled. I used this card exclusively for online transactions. I’m a Newegg, Amazon, Paypal and others customer too. I just wanted to say I’m glad to have found this Blog. Now I can maintain a list of bogus companies to watch for on my CC statements.
Bogus charges for $9.95 on THREE separate credit cards !!! all dated 8/14 – with different bogus companies (insofttech, evergreen alliance, and absolute soft). Since these cards are used for different purposes, there aren’t too many vendors in common. However, I think that I might have used all of them at NewEgg …
Another (scary) possibility is that they have “rooted” all of our computers and collecting them directly from the keyboard. I have two other credit cards that have never been used on-line and these do NOT appear to be affected. This would seem to reduce the likelihood that the breach at Card Systems is behind this. I am running (updated) RedHat Linux behind a Linksys firewall and switched from Mozilla to FireFox. Any similarities here with the other vicitims ?
Scott and others: I just want to correct the assumption that online or offline makes much difference. Card Systems for example, is a company that provided processing services to the banks – for all their credit card transactions. Whether the transaction was on internet or in-person in a store, it would be processed the same way.
And anyone obtaining the database records could charge any of those cards, regardless. Similarly if a business “shares” a person’s data or lets it be copied, anyone obtaining it could start charging accounts, regardless of what transactions it originated from.
Supposedly some scammers buy lists of credit card numbers from other criminals and just use them as much as they can get away with. And many of those list entries come from compromised computers. But that’s not the only way these things happen. Scott, your setup is probably very secure, unless some untrustworthy person has physical access.
I just looked at my online statement and noticed a 9.95 charge from september 12th from AZ Business Products, I called my bank to see if they could get more information and they told me it was from calgary canada. It was put thru on my wife’s visa check card. I am the only one who uses teh internet from buying things, so how they got my wife’s V.C.C # is beyond me.
Now after finding this website I will have to call teh bank back and report it as fraud.
I googled AZ Business but found nothing useful other than this website…
If anyone has found out how to contact these people, please let me know..
i also noticed on my card a 10.00 charge from absolute-soft.com, its under investigation ( but looks like its goin south, so im sendin the idoit bank lady this website, how great is the e-net) but this place is still at it, i always had my card on file and three buddies cards on newegg.com, just dont make sense on how long this company can do this;(
I too was charged $9.95 from insofttech.com. I haven’t purchased anything from them nor purchased anything online for months using that card. My bank, Webster Bank, was not very helpful insisting that I make contact with the company. They don’t seem to understand that the company is a fraud and will not answer a phone. They refused to do a google search and read the same info I am reading.
I was also hit on 08/22 with DLX LLC (530-453-2876) for 9.95. I have also used NewEgg with this card.
On Sep 13, Art Magic Inc also hit me for $9.95, on a debit card I closed a week earlier. I’ll be damned if I pay a penny of it. Luckily, my bank has great customer service, so I hope it’ll work out.
Joe,
I got charged $9.95 on 3 Sep 06 from AZ BUSINESS – Alberta, AB. I found your BLOG from a google search. Thanks for your post! I have canceled my card and disputed the charge 🙂 It is amazing how a credit card company can accept a charge from a business with no contact information???
Found your site after noticing a charge for $9.95 from AZ Business Products on 9/18/05. Haven’t used the card in over a year, but just like others on this board, I used to shop at newegg and amazon with the card. CC company said the company was located in Calgary and he reversed the charges immediately.
art magic inc.com Victoria, BC for 9.95 on 9/21/05, and
digital age 888-529-98 Cyprus for 24.99 on 9/20/05
we use this card on the Paypal, eBay, and USPS websites daily, and have used it on Amazon in the past. Never at New Egg though.
I have a Citibank MasterCard, and when I went online today to check my recent charges, this appeared:
9/20 AZ BUSINESS PRODUCTS CALGARY 9.95
After Googling it and finding your blog, I called Citibank. The nice lady immediately closed my account and we’ll get a new card and account number in 7-10 days.
Thanks for putting this out there!
Got hit for $9.95 from Art Magic Inc. I use eBay, Amazon, NewEgg, and others on this account. Appreciate this site here- I was freaking out a bit at first. On the phone with Visa right now…
What a pain….