Alert - STC SAWA Credit Card Fraud

[gator81]

Orlando, FL
Chase MasterCard
07/24/2007 STC SAWA RECHARGE $82.40
07/24/2007 STC SAWA RECHARGE $82.40
(yes, like most, duplicate charge, same day)

I called Chase after I found the charges and this thread. After being on the phone 10 minutes, the account was canceled, the charges would be taken off my bill, and a replacement card would be on the way.

I used that card quite a bit for groceries, eating out, and gas (and I traveled around Florida quiet a bit in the past two months). The only online purchase with that card in the past six months was at DJTronix.com (a Yahoo! Store) about a month ago. My cable, cell phone, and server account had also been automatically billing to that card for over two years.

I'd definately be interested to know where the connection lies and altogether how much was charged.

Thanks to everyone's help and suggestions.

[as2k]

Originally Posted by gator81

Orlando, FL
Chase MasterCard
07/24/2007 STC SAWA RECHARGE $82.40
07/24/2007 STC SAWA RECHARGE $82.40
(yes, like most, duplicate charge, same day)

I called Chase after I found the charges and this thread. After being on the phone 10 minutes, the account was canceled, the charges would be taken off my bill, and a replacement card would be on the way.

I used that card quite a bit for groceries, eating out, and gas (and I traveled around Florida quiet a bit in the past two months). The only online purchase with that card in the past six months was at DJTronix.com (a Yahoo! Store) about a month ago. My cable, cell phone, and server account had also been automatically billing to that card for over two years.

I'd definately be interested to know where the connection lies and altogether how much was charged.

Thanks to everyone's help and suggestions.

Discovered charges for the same just a few minutes ago on a local-area (DC) bank check card. I've stopped the card and the bank will reimburse. The amount was $82.xx on 7/31 and there was only one charge.

There must have been a big dump from somewhere, considering how widespread this appears to be. This will be the second time I've had to cancel my check card.

[The Merg]

As stated above, anyone that is a victim of credit card fraud or identity fraud should place a fraud alert on their credit. All you need to do is contact one of the credit bureaus and they will automatically contact the others for you.

The initial fraud alert is for 90 days. Anyone can put one of these on their credit at anytime. This will prevent someone from opening a line of credit without the financing bank contacting you first on a specified phone number. Obviously, if you give your home phone number and then try to open up a credit card at a store, you will be rejected as the financing bank will not be able to reach you.

You can also put an identity fraud alert on your credit as well which lasts for about 7 years. In order to have this done, you usually need some sort of letter or a police report to show that you have been the victim of identity fraud.

In either case, when you put a fraud alert on your credit, the credit bureaus are required to send you out a copy of your credit report. This gives you the opportunity to check it over and see if anything else is out of sorts.

- Merg

[iwt4choon]

I discovered two charges on my US Bank card last night to Stc Sawa Recharge Riyadh Sa for 82.40 each. As do others, I use my card in a variety of places, with what I thought was common sense and prudence. That card is now history and I am glad I monitor my statements online regularly. The bank said the charges were made 7/27 and posted 7/30 and two more were made on 8/1 and hadn't appeared on my statement yet.

[iwt4choon]

I live in Eastern Washington State and use a US Bank/Visa. There were 4 charges for 82.40 each on 7/27 (2) & 8/1 (2) to Stc Sawa Recharge Riyadh Sa.

Last week's charges:

The Vision Forum, Inc
Washington Dental Service
Delorme Publishing
Chevron
Weststar Talk Radio Network
UPS
Crucial Technology

No history of ID theft

Originally Posted by Sheriff553

Hello everyone,

My name is Investigator East and I am with the Goochland County Sheriff's Office in Virginia. I am working on a case that appears to be very similar to the complaints that have been voiced in this forum and it now appears to me that this issue is not localized to my jurisdiction. At this point in my investigation what I am looking to do for my victim is to try to find out how her information was stolen in order to help her find closure to this incident. Her card was charged 2 times, once on 7/20/07 and once on 7/24/07, both in the amount of $80.00 to STC SAWA Recharge Telecommunications Services. The posts made in this forum have helped me tremendously in my investigation but I think we can help each other find some sort of closure to this. My victim has a Meryl Lynch Visa Card that she never uses online and very rarely uses at all. She uses it at a local gas station (BP) to purchase gasoline at outside pumps and she also uses it to purchase medications for her husband from Medco Health.

In order to attempt to find some sort of connection between all of these cases, if the persons in the forum who have been victimized would be willing to make another post stating the following general information, it could help me try to piece together this puzzle.

- Victim's location
- Name of bank/type of card used
- # and amount of each charge
- Date of each fraudulent charge
- Name of company spelled exactly that the charge was made to
- If any online shopping is done and what companies used if you can remember
- Any past history of ID theft (just yes or no)

I can't promise that with this information I will be able to track down this person and prosecute him/her, but hopefully we can determine a pattern and try to at least figure out how the information got out so future problems can be avoided. Please keep in touch with your respective banks and credit card companies as they have fraud departments that can continue to investigate this crime as well. Also you may be able to report this fraud to the Federal Trade Commission at http://www.ftc.gov. Also, being that this is a form of Identity theft, you may also want to consider contacting one of the 3 credit bureaus in order to place a fraud alert on your credit report in case future fraudulent acts are attempted. Thanks for your time and hopefully together we can gain some closure to this incident.

Investigator M. A. East
Goochland County Sheriff's Office

[GOT_SCREWED]

hey guys

well the bastards got me too. on 30jul07 they hit my usaa credit card for $79.99. of course usaa contacted me and i have now cancled my card. this thread really helped a lot. i had no idea what the hell it was so i googled it and i found the thread. i dont know if it will help but to let you guys know i am currently in the military stationed overseas in japan. i have used my card online a few time recently and also a few time while i was home on leave in houston tx. i noticed someone else from houston got hit. any how i hope that this all gets figured out before too many other people get screwed.

[blantonious]

Yep I was hit with the 2 $80 charges in addition to the 2 $1.60 foreign processing fees.

Had to cancel my card and send in a dispute form. Hope everything goes well.

[bigocharlie]

On July 25,2007 I too was hit by these cowards, two $80.00 charges on my Master Card. I've contacted my bank & canceled my account & filed a claim. I live in Texas. Hope they can shut this thing down soon,

Good luck & GOD BLESS:

[dealguy31]

I have two business accounts with the same bank (Commerce Bank).
So I was upset to see four charges on one business credit card see below
08/01/2007 STC SAWA RECHARGE RIYADH $80.00
08/01/2007 STC SAWA RECHARGE RIYADH $80.00
07/30/2007 STC SAWA RECHARGE RIYADH $80.00
07/30/2007 STC SAWA RECHARGE RIYADH $80.00

I could never figure this one out becuase I use this card for everything from dinners, to gas, to online purchases to bars and random business expense. It would impossible to find the common point. So I called commercebank and their risk dept froze the charge and changed my card.

But then I logged into my account for the other biz (also with commerce bank) and saw this on my CHECKING account.
08/02/2007 Withdrawal CKCD DEBIT 07/31 STC SAWA RECHARGE RIYADH $80.00
08/02/2007 Withdrawal CKCD DEBIT 07/31 STC SAWA RECHARGE RIYADH $80.00

So one was a credit charge and the other was a charge strait from my checking account. The only link these two accounts have are commerce bank and paypal.
I am wondering how people here have a paypal account connected to these cards? Im thinking the link is paypal. I cant see commerce getting hacked. Other people are saying different banks. But who would think if to remember if the account was connected to paypal. Ill bet someone hacked the paypal database and got all the info. Shame on paypal for forcing us to attach accounts and credit cards. Paypal is such a large fraud target and really has little to no security measures. The FBI should contact paypal and force them to disclose what has occured.
Here is my info for the investigators

-Victim's location
(New York)

- Name of bank/type of card used
(Commerce Bank Visa card and Bank Debit Card)

- # and amount of each charge
(see above)

- Date of each fraudulent charge
(see above)

- Name of company spelled exactly that the charge was made to
(see above)

- If any online shopping is done and what companies used if you can remember
(Paypal plus various online and offline)

- Any past history of ID theft (just yes or no)
(no)

[The Merg]

I'm going to try to get my list of shopping sites up in the next day or two, but I did have my account on-file with Paypal as well. Let's see how many other people have the Paypal link in common...

- Merg