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 $9.95 from this website. I’m currently using the process in place from my credit card company to have the situation checked out, but there are a few points that I want everyone to take away from this.
First, this Absolute-Soft.com group apparently doesn’t do a good enough check on the financial information that they are given so beware of using them.
Second, being it’s the holiday season and that it’s the year 2004 we can all expect a lot of online shopping to take place. BE CAREFUL of where you put your credit card information online!!! If you’re not sure of a site (and I was ALWAYS sure before today), then do NOT use your credit card there. Just find the 800 number and make the order by phone.
And finally, I only caught this fraud because I haven’t used my credit card for the past two months. Hence, when I checked my account online ANY charge would be odd to me. For those of you who make a lot of charges, please be sure to check the charges made to your account. You never know if someone is out there pretending to be you!
Oh Hooray -.- I just got hit with the ART MAGIC INC. COM VICTORIA BC charge of 9.95$. Guess I’m part of the club now! I will be contacting my credit card company now,thank you very much. $%#^&@
Just opened my Citibank card and found a $9.95 charge from insofttech.com.
Wanted to add my name to the list, got hit on a Citibank card from Digital Age for the $24.99 on 9/20. Don’t use any on-line services from which they could have gotten my number.
Well I had charges for $24.99 for digital age in cyprus, and $9.95 for master template llc in TX i.e. artmagic i.e. absoultesoft… Disputing both, the $9.95 is already gone and refudned, the other had better be gone soon too! My credit card was in use in amazon, and some other places, but the one that I figure to be the cause is paypal. I have been on various other forums, and the one common link seems to be paypal. Bank was providian, and instantly closed my credit card w/a new number, and blah.. I hate chase… they have terrible service so i wouldnt believe any nonsense they tell you about it not being fraud (some guy wrote that above at some point)… Glad i’m not the only one with the master template charge.. I saw lots of others with the digital age one..
I just found a charge of $9.95 to art magic inc.com on my debit card statement. I better be credited back from my bank. The girl argued with me until I told her I googled it and lots of people were coming up as being defrauded by this company.
Looking closer at my statement, I got hit for the Digital Age charge a month ago. I just reported that one to my bank. I haven’t used that card at Amazon. It’s connected to my PayPal account tho…………
It is very apparent that these fraudulent charges are the result of a security breach at a credit card processing company (how else does one get access to so many credit card#’s? I know that I don’t use my cc online and don’t use any of the above mentioned web sites).
The thing that really gets me mad about this is that the banks obviously HAVE to know about these particular fraudulent charges (so many from same company and with the same $ amounts – all banks must have been alerted of this scam, they are just playing dumb). Why are the banks not obligated to notify their customers before the customer disputes the charges? The banks are the ones who have allowed these charges to “get through” to their customers. Why do they leave it up to the consumer to catch the fraudulent charge when they could easily reject the charge or notify the customer when they notice it. You can’t tell me they don’t have the ability to do a simple search that pulls up specifics like company names and $ amounts…. But I do know why the banks aren’t being proactive on this.. it would cost them serious cash.. not only would they lose out on interest fees, etc.. just think of how much it costs them to cancel and re-issue a new card and multiply that by who knows how many people this affected/will affect. But we are the bank’s customers and they should do what’s right. (in a perfect world)
One more story from an ex-NEWEGG customer. The $9.95 charge dated Sept 25th 2005 from “AZ Business Products Calgary CD” showed up on a Visa card statement issued through my credit union. The charge showed up on the final statement while I was planning to cancel the card. I have closed the account and disputed the item but at this time it is unresolved.
I was hit with the DLX, LLC 530-453-2876 MN $9.95 charge on 8/6/05 on the CC I use for online purchases which includes Newegg and Amazon but lots of others.
Add another to the list. We were hit with a $9.95 charge from “Az Business Products Calgary AB” on Sept 14th. The CC company was kind enough to reverse it.
Add 1 more to the list, I recieved a copy of a Capital One statement tonight, with a 9.95 charge from Master Template LLC, on Sept 30, then a credit for the same charge on October 17th. I called Cap 1 and requested a new account number. It might be small, and it might have been refunded, but I don’t want anyone unauthorized having my account number.
Also, I’ve never used this card to purchase on amazon or the other mentioned sites. I’ve used it once online in an a-mail to purchase a parking pass from my local University. Never again….I’ll write a check and hand deliver it.
Count me as another $9.95 from AZ BUSINESS PRODUCTS CALGARY CD. I always check over my charges and this one definitely didn’t ring any bells. Ridiculous.
I purchase from Amazon and Ebay, as well as other places online including many mom and pop places, so it could have come from anywhere.
I was charged $9.95 for ART MAGIC INC.COM. I called the bank and was told the charge was a debit charge. I told them I want to dispute the charge and was credited $9.95 back to the account. ART MAGIC INC.COM scammers are charging credit cards at random. They charge 100,000 people $9.95 they collect $995,000.00. If 40.000 people discover the charge and complain, $398,000.00 is refunded plus ($10.00 for each dispute 40,000 = $400,000.00) for a total of $798,000.00. The crooks still collect 197,000.00. Just think of all the people that do not notice a charge of $9.95! This is a big business for the crooks!
Hey Joe, I’m sure that the banks and/or the credit card companies who collect that extra $10 for each dispute sure don’t mind the extra revenue either. This whole system is so corrupt! The only ones who seem to lose out are the lowly consumers. We’re the ones who have to be so vigilant that we are not ripped off, yet we are paying all these bank fees and interest fees to the banks… and they don’t have our backs, they could care less, IMHO. I’m getting a shoe box and a gun. That will be my bank from now on… just kidding (unless of course you want to try to rob me, hehe..)
Mary; I heard that! The gun is a good idea! LOL! These banks do not care about thier customers otherwise they would stop the charges after they received a few reports and share the scammer’s info with other banks. All credit cards should issue and accross the board credit when a scam is brought to their attention but they are too busy trying to figure out how to apply another fee to their customers!
To everyone who thought that your card was compromised by using it online, it wasn’t. It was the credit card processing company, Card Systems Solutions, itself that was hacked. Read on.
This is the “Digital Age Credit Card Fraud” as posted on October 11, 2005 on About.com:
http://antivirus.about.com/od/emailscams/a/digital_age.htm
“According to Congressional testimony provided by John Perry, President and CEO of Card Systems Solutions, the theft was carried out through the use of a malicious script planted on their system through an Internet-facing application. The malware was programmed to run every 4 days, at which time it sought out a specific file type and extracted credit card holder’s names, account numbers, expiration dates and CVV codes. The extracted information was zipped and forwarded to an FTP site where it was presumably retrieved by the attackers.”
Information for over 263,000 accounts was known to have been stolen. How many unknowns were there?
From reading above, I note that one person said that the domain hosting source for one of the fradulent companies was http://www.RegisterFly.com. I tried to go there, and their website has been withdrawn. One almost suspects that the hackers were setting up real web hosting companies as fronts . . .
hope this helps,
J.B.
I too have just been hit. I recieved my Visa Statement in the mail today and there it was… on 10/01/05 a $9.95 Charge from AZ Business Products Calgary CD posted to my account. I have not used this card in about 6-8 months except on 9/28/05 I bought a subscription extension and software upgrade from Panda AntiVirus for $129.95. Panda Apparently Bills through a company called http://www.element5info.com in Germany. I am 100% sure this is where the info was/is obtained (in my case). I will be contacting my Visa company once I am done with this Blog.
I JUST CHECK MY BANK STATEMENT TODAY AND GUESS THE SAME SO I DECIDED TO SEARCH AND FIND YOU GUYS SO I NOW NOTICED THAT THIS IS A SCAM!!!!!!!! BASTARDS I AM SO PISSED AT ART MAGIC INC.COM VICTORIA BC—–BRITISH COLUMBIA WASN’T THEM FROM CA????
MY BANK JUST SUGGEST TO FIND OUT THEIR NUMBER AND CONTACT THEM OR DISPUTE AND CANCEL MY VISA WHAT A PAIN IN THE BUTT
Just found your site while researching. In August I was charged 9.95 for a company listed as http://www.insofttech.com, Eagleville PA. This charge was on a credit card that I NEVER use online!!
I’ve been watching weekly and have had no other undocumented charges on any cards, including the original card.
Joe is right. This is the third time I’ve had a charge I didn’t make. Most people won’t notice or won’t bother with the hassle. On 9/13 it was Innovative Software Techn (610)579-9414. On 4/10 it was N2P*Net2Phone for $75, and last Novemner 11/11 it was WP-Flashstylus.com for $7.20. I think it is about the volume and is totally random. Have you noticed they happen right after the closing date so they can use the money a whole month before you get your statment?
The first two times the credit company has reversed it. I’ve left a message with the company to reverse it or be reported.
Has anyone notified 60 Minutes, 20/20 or other news shows to investigate?
Just found a $9.95 charge to my card as others have found. Only new use was at New Egg, might be an inside leak at that company but I have no evidence to substantiate that charge. Have filed complaints with the FBI and FTC web sites. If the persons behind such fraud are found I will donate to a fund to do great harm to them !!!! (If that happens I was just kidding .)
Found just what everyone else did. New site The actual charge was from: MAGIC ART INC.COM. Calling my bank as I type.
I found a charge yesterday on my bank statement from absolute-soft.com.
I called their phone number and left a message that I am reporting them to every agency I can and that I want the $9.95 credited back to my account.
I was surprised to find an email response from David Bergman who claimed to be the owner fo the site and apologized and said Ii should see a credit on my account in the next 3-4 days. He also questioned whether I remembered buying a template or maybe someone else used my card that I didn’t know about.
Anyway, I cancelled my card and have reported absolute-soft/fraud.com to this site: http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp
Even though it is a small amount of money-the more complaints that are filed against them, the sooner they’ll be shut down.
11/16/05 I just went online and checked the unbilled activity for my credit card. I found an unauthorized charge by
AZ BUSINESS PRODUCTS CALGARY CAN
I immediately called the card issuer. The charges have been reversed, card cancelled, and new card issued.
I do not use any of the websites repeatedly noted by other people posting this fraud. No common denominator.
Count me in, too. Or actually, my husband… it was his card that ART MAGIC VICTORIA BC charged $9.95. Sadly, it over-drew our checking account. Now we are going to have to cough up $31.50 for overdraft charges. We just found out about it 30 mins ago. The bank is looking into it but he had to have is card cancelled and a card with a new # will have to be issued. What a pain in the neck (well, actually 3 feet lower).
I’ll be looking for other charges in old statements now…
I was hit for $9.95 from ArtMagicInc on Aug 26th (see above). Returning here, I see the same scam is still going, but now we know the source of the stolen credit card information: http://antivirus.about.com/od/emailscams/a/digital_age.htm
How is it that Digitial Age cannot recognise a pattern of a huge number of charges for the same amount ($9.95) in a short period from the same company? Are they trying to do anything to help protect us? If they know 263,000 card details were stolen then we have the 263,000 credit card holders not been notified? As well as helping the criminals they’re leaving themselves open for a class action lawsuit by their lack of action.
Opps – substitute Card Systems Solutions for Digital Age in the above post.
Artmagic got us, too. The magic here is that they artfully took my $9.95.
same here, AZ BUSINESS PRODUCTS CALGARY CAN charge for 9.95 on 11/23. Really sucks. my card company requires that I fill out and hand-mail paperwork before they will re-issue the card, 7-10 business days after I cancel. Bleah.
have 2 or 3 returns that will have to be credited back to it too. i sucks very muchly.
Got the 9.95 from Absolute-SOFT.com. I was alerted to this scam via an email chain which listed “Alta Vista Web Design” as the culprit. I was very surprised that as soon as I got the email, I checked my accounts and found the charge! It is my husband’s credit card and he rarely shops online.
Got hit – AZ BUSINESS PRODCUTS CALGARY AB – 9.95.
11/15/2005
have to cancel card – takes forever to dispute charges (I have to actually send in forms !)
They’re still at it. I got hit today with that art magic inc.com scam and luckily US Bank is all over it and refunded my account and sent me a new card. Again, Newegg and Amazon had my card on their records. I worked hard for that 10 bucks and I will be damned if someone gets it that easy!!!
I got hit with AZ BUSINESS PRODUCTS for 9.95 the day after Thanksgiving. I know it’s shopping season, but I don’t shop in Calgary AB (Canada). I live on the West Coast USA.
I too have been hit with a fraudulent $9.95 visa charge on 9/29 by “AZ Business Products Calgary AB”.
Hi all and thanks joe for having this blog. I got hit with az business products calgary bc on a card i only use for monthly gym membership. I will bookmark this site and post how it works out. post date was 11/13.
Hi all
I just got hit with a bogus charge of USD 9.95 (on 11/26/2005) on my citicard. It is from AZ BUSINESS PRODUCTS CALGARY CAN. Initially I wan’t sure as to the nature of this transaction but then I did a google search and got here.
Thank you all. The information here is very helpful. I have posted online complaints to Federal trade commission as well as the FBI. I have also disputed the amount and have cancelled my credit card. This is a very time consuming nuisance and is a big hassle. I wonder how long this scam is going to continue, from the same companies.
I have used this card at buy.com, amazon.com among other online websites. I wonder where did these fraudsters get my information
Just noticed a $9.95 charge by ART MAGIC INC.COM on my Visa. This blog was a big help and allowed me to straighten everything out within a matter of minutes over the phone with Visa support. Thanks.
I too just got charged $9.95 twice, ART MAGIC INC.COM VICTORIA CD and AZ BUSINESS PRODUCTS CALGARY CD. I realized a little bit late on 12/07/05 because I was charged on 12/3/05. I just contacted my creditor.
Additionally from above, I’ve been using this card online for over a year and hadn’t had any problems. I’ve been a customer of NewEgg.com more than 6 months. I ordered from them twice and never got any problem. Surprisingly, I just applied for paypal on 11/15/05 and 3 weeks later I got these frauds. I dont mean to bash paypal. My sister is a member of paypal too but she hasn’t had any problems at all. This fact makes me think that it is probably not from paypal or NewEgg company. I’m working on my pc’s security right now.
I jut nailed with a charge from AZ BUSINESS PRODUCTS CALGARY too!!
I just got the $9.95 hit from AZ Business Products – Calgary, billed to my MBNA credit card on 11/14/05. I seldom use this card so the transaction –the only one of last month –jumped right out at me. I’ve contacted MBNA and referred them to this website. I’m anxious to hear how this works out.
I just noticed a $9.95 charge to a CC account I rarely use. The charge was made by magic art inc who sell web templates. I have disputed the charge with my CC comapny and awaiting a respose but am anxiouse to hear how people get on with there disputes.
…….I’ve only ever made purchases with Amazon.com using this card!
Looks like I’m the newest member of the club here. I just found a charge for $9.95 from AZ Business Products of Calgary, Alberta on my debit card yesterday, 12/15/05. When I googled the business name (knowing I hadn’t done business with them), I found this website. While I’m sorry that everyone else has been through the same experience, I did appreciate finding some information on these scumbags. I shared the information I found here with my bank’s fraud department so maybe it’ll help in their investigation. I’m also an Amazon customer who has had her debit card information stored on their website for several years now. Guess I won’t be doing that any more!
Just one more fyi: I’ve never shopped on NewEgg, never even heard of it until I started reading the posts on this site. I shop all over the place too and have never had any problems before yesterday. In all fairness, it probably isn’t Amazon’s fault any more than it is any other merchant’s fault, it’s just that Amazon is the only place online that I allow to store my CC information.
I just discovered an unauthorised $9.95 charge from Absolutesoft.com on my Citi card on 12/16/05. I called Citi to dispute the charge, and have cancelled the card. What a hassle.
Just noticed that a visa card that I haven’t used in over 2-3 months was charged $9.95 by art magic inc.com. This is bullshit.
I just checked my checking account and found AZBUSINE AZBUSINESSP
CALGARY CA for 9.95… a purchase I didn’t make. I haven’t used my checking card (Sovereign) in months. I submitted a complaint to the FTC’s ID theft webpage, and I suggest everyone else does the same.
I also got a AZ Business Products of Calgary AB for $9.95 on my Bank of America Visa, transaction date December 5, 2005. I’m on hold with the fraud department of that Bank now. Waiting… and waiting… But thanks to everyone else who reported — otherwise I would not have known!