Posted by David Rogers on December 19, 2010 at 11:32 AM
My credit card got a $1.52 charge from TheIconique.com. This "company" is/has been hitting A LOT of people with bogus charges (including mine). There are many posts on this on the web. Many times they are small charges ($1.00 - $5.00 range). This is a bogus company whose website was apparently selling icons. That domain is now in a parked status.
NOTE: The TheIconique.com is not related to Iconique.com
Keep an eye out on your credit card statements.
Now we have a canceled credit card (right during holiday/travel time ), and we are in the process of completing a fraud alert form to go back to the credit union.
Here is a larger discussion on DSLReports.com fraud information that goes into great detail of the bigger scam that is involved with this.
Posted by David E Lester on December 19, 2010 at 12:05 PM
Good to know..thanks for the info...
Dave
Posted by David Rogers on December 19, 2010 at 1:34 PM
The original charge was on 10/15/2010. I noticed it within a day or two as I check my bank account fairly regularly. I watched for almost two months to see what else might happen. At the time the website for the company looked legit, and I assumed that it was merely a mistake.
After two months I contacted the credit union to dispute. They immediately canceled the account, and sent me a fraud affidavit to complete (a simple form). I looked online some more, and that's when I realized that this was part of a bigger scam.
And that's how they operate - small charges that people will not notice or will not care to dispute. Really - how many people spend the time needed to contact their bank, fill out forms, wait for a charge-back, etc. for a few bucks (especially when there are many people in the household that use the sames card number for purchases)? My wife and I have the same account, with our own names on the card. How many people can honestly know what their spouses or other card-holders are buying?
The scamsters win as they have relatively no overhead, and I would guess a large number of the charges never get reversed.
Will be in the lookout btw did the try to make bigger charges? Imagine is easier getting away with the small charges
I have had this happen to me on my Discover Card. They called to alert me of $1.00 charge on my card. This was before I received my statement. They recommend to cancel which I did. On my next statement there were charges for three computer games for a Ibox which ever microsoft has out. I called Microsoft to alert them. They put on note on this order. I don't even have computer game box. They had my name, address, phone number, etc. Microsoft was very understanding and gave me fraud numbers if Discover needed them. I reported the fraud to Discover and that was the end of it. These crooks charge a $1 to see if it goes through successfully.
John
Posted by David Rogers on December 23, 2010 at 11:46 AM
I'm glad you/they caught it before it became a big deal.
I am a firm believer that credit companies such as Visa, Discover, etc. should be on-hook for double the cost of fraudulent charges (subject to verification, of course) and require that all databases that contain credit card data/personal data be highly-encrypted. For the life of me I cannot figure out why companies still maintain unencrypted databases for anything. Yes - it does increase costs and storage, but this is relatively small expense when compared to the risks of data loss, bad public press, and fines/fees/lawsuits.
Discussion
4 repliesNOTE: The TheIconique.com is not related to Iconique.com
Keep an eye out on your credit card statements.
Now we have a canceled credit card (right during holiday/travel time ), and we are in the process of completing a fraud alert form to go back to the credit union.
Here is a larger discussion on DSLReports.com fraud information that goes into great detail of the bigger scam that is involved with this.
Dave
After two months I contacted the credit union to dispute. They immediately canceled the account, and sent me a fraud affidavit to complete (a simple form). I looked online some more, and that's when I realized that this was part of a bigger scam.
And that's how they operate - small charges that people will not notice or will not care to dispute. Really - how many people spend the time needed to contact their bank, fill out forms, wait for a charge-back, etc. for a few bucks (especially when there are many people in the household that use the sames card number for purchases)? My wife and I have the same account, with our own names on the card. How many people can honestly know what their spouses or other card-holders are buying?
The scamsters win as they have relatively no overhead, and I would guess a large number of the charges never get reversed.
John
I am a firm believer that credit companies such as Visa, Discover, etc. should be on-hook for double the cost of fraudulent charges (subject to verification, of course) and require that all databases that contain credit card data/personal data be highly-encrypted. For the life of me I cannot figure out why companies still maintain unencrypted databases for anything. Yes - it does increase costs and storage, but this is relatively small expense when compared to the risks of data loss, bad public press, and fines/fees/lawsuits.