Alert - STC SAWA Credit Card Fraud

[Kimco]

Ok, I went to Erie Federal Credit Union and filed a "Fraud Report". I was told that I have to wait 5 days from the transaction to get re-imbursed for the fraud. It has been way more than that so supposedly today I should have the money back. I have yet to see it in the Electronic Online Banking. My debit/credit card was cancelled so I don't see any more of the transactions thank goodness. I can't believe they got one person for $600 dollars!! Whew! That is awful. I think I am going to call the attorney General's office and file a complaint also. As I said in an earlier post, I do not have paypal so that is out. I do use Ad-Aware mentioned above but I don't pay for it, but use the SE free edition? No connection?? Paycom... now that rings a bell. Not sure what I purchased but the name sounds famiiliar. I'll have to look on the statments. I think maybe we have something there since someone mentioned Porn and from my experience with a computer store as a techinician, where there is porn or online casinos, there are spys and virius' and such. Who else has used Paycom??? Everyone??

Sparks

[Spiritglow]

Originally Posted by Kuulei

Ok how many of the people that previously posted play WoW? I am curious to know if online gaming or recurrent subscriptions may be the culprit

I've played Everquest using the card that was charged by STC Sawa Recharge. I also wondered if someone at that company sold my CC info. My best guess is Spyware or someone with a list sold it.

Spiritglow

[Spiritglow]

Originally Posted by 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)

I just checked. My card info is at Paypal as well and it had been on file there for less then 2 months. I switched cards about that time ago and had updated my card info there.

Spiritglow

[formerar]

Same thing happened to me, I checked my bank statement online last night and discovered four $80.00 withdrawals by STC SAWA Recharge Riyadh during the last week in July. I emailed my bank last night and they contacted me first thing this A.M., I went to the bank and had my card closed. Fortunately the bank is replacing the money. It is the sort of thing you hear about happening to others, but is happening to me...I live in a small, rural town in mid-America...so, I can see this person(s) is striking wide-spread. I am a retired prison superintendent and hope these people are caught and prosecuted.

[dealguy31]

I just got a notice in the mail from another card (not one associated to these charges) that says you account number may have been illegally obtained as a result of a merchant database compromise at TJX (T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, AJ Write and related stores. ) Is this like international fraud week or something?

[formerar]

I just rec'd an email from paypal indicating that someone has been trying to log on to my acc't from a foreign IP address and my acc't will be suspended shortly...this happened to me about four weeks ago and now the the STC SAWA deal...I am becoming so leary, I don't know whether to respond to paypal via the computer because they are wanting my SS#, and lots of confidential info...I think I will call paypal to verify that the email is authentically from them. Think there's any connection to STC SAWA??

[avantartist]

go to http://www.paypal.com directly and change your password or see if there are any notifications regarding the status of your account. paypal will never ask you for personal information via email.

Originally Posted by formerar

I just rec'd an email from paypal indicating that someone has been trying to log on to my acc't from a foreign IP address and my acc't will be suspended shortly...this happened to me about four weeks ago and now the the STC SAWA deal...I am becoming so leary, I don't know whether to respond to paypal via the computer because they are wanting my SS#, and lots of confidential info...I think I will call paypal to verify that the email is authentically from them. Think there's any connection to STC SAWA??

[Sheriff553]

Hello again,

For those of you following this forum, here are the current numbers I've come up with based on the information on these posts: We have at least 30 different victims stretching all across the U.S. as well as Mexico, Japan, and Sweden with an approximate total money loss at $7,540.59. These numbers are only from the posts here in this forum. I'm pretty sure that this fraud is a lot larger than anyone here realizes. There are probably hundreds of victims who don't even report the loss and others who don't have a clue how to use the internet in order to find this forum.

I have an I.D. Theft Taskforce meeting tomorrow with the U.S. Postal Inspection service, F.B.I., and Secret Service. I plan to run this information by them to see if they are currently investigating this case and if not; see if they are interested in checking into it further. I'll do my best to keep everyone posted on the progress of this investigation and hopefully we can find some closure to this case.

Sincerely,

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

[Admin RR]

I've noticed that this thread comes up #1 in google when searching for STC SAWA so hopefully any other victims will make their way here for info.

[mbgottlieb]

I have a Merrill Lynch VISA card and just noted the charge for July 31 to the same scam site noted by everyone else. Merrill immediatedly connected me with the fraud department who is investingating this scam as many people have reported this. They immediately gave me a credit. I checked my other credit cards and those were safe.
Interesting, we rarely use this card and very rarely buy online with it. Last charges were to Medicare! and Medicare Part D.