If you have been a bit casual about reviewing your credit card statement you may want to check it a little closer. There is a growing scam on low charge billing going on that is growing each month. When I was hit last month I found little on the web to help me, but even worse my credit card company waited for me to call them - even though they know it’s a scam.
There’s not much on the WEB about this with most that I found here:
forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php … r++berning
The Spyware site requires a no cost registration to access, but I’ll summarize here.
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Sept 30: "The entry on my statement is ASTOR BERNING with an 800 number (800-307-6961) that goes directly to an answering machine. The amount is $9.55 Yes, it’s a small amount. Small enough that my credit union won’t do anything about it and small enough that many folks might simply overlook it. But I am a hardworking person like the rest of you and I could use the 10 bucks. Not only that, it seems they could do it more than once.
“I found out that ASTOR BERNING is a textile company in Sweden. I have also found out in a couple of newsgroups on the web that it has happened to others but no one seems to know who is behind this nor is there any information regarding the authorities know anything about this.”
Oct 1: “We seem to think that someone has managed to get my CC number and simply use their name and a phone 800 number to get the bank to send them that small amount. The amount is small enough that most can’t afford to do anything about it and some banks (like mine) will not do anything about it. The problem is that if one assumes that this is happening a lot well…a lot of $9.55 debits would make these crooks a lot of money.”
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Also, they use the name of Infini Solutions of Delaware to charge $9.55. They ‘real’ Astor Berning company has nothing to do with this scam.
As I posted on the Spyware board - “My problem - I had to contact the card company to get it straight. They know it’s a scam and they let it continue, only correcting those accounts that complain. Let’s see, the phony company bills 100,000 accounts. 20 % complain and get a refund. 80 % are oblivious to the charge. The fraud agents get the money - but wait - the credit card company gets a percentage of the “sale” as well. It’s in the card companies interest not to correct the problem, even when they know it’s a scam. They are guilty of enabling and allowing wire fraud for a profit. IN MY OPINION.”
Check your statements.
OOC