Beware of this debit/credit card scam

I’ve fallen victim to a run-of-the-mill credit card scam, and I thought I’d post about it so others out there are aware of it. When I was looking over my banking statement this month, I noticed a charge of $9.95 to a company called KCSoft LLC. Well, not having done any business with such a company (in fact, not having used my debit card in a couple of months) I did some research, and found plenty of information about this scam. Apparently the “company” somehow generates random credit card numbers, and charges them $9.95, ostensibly for blank web site templates. This fraudulent behavior has been going on since 2004, apparently, and since each charge is so small, most banks won’t investigate further. It seems many people don’t even notice the charge, as they don’t check their credit card statements thoroughly – a charge so small doesn’t stand out.

At any rate, look out for this one. Maybe if enough banks are dealing with this on a regular enough basis, they will do something about it. I have to admit, these blackguards have a pretty sweet deal going on, a charge so small nobody notices. But how they get lucky with the credit card numbers is beyond me. I haven’t used my debit card online in quite some time, and the last time I did use it I took cash out of a machine, so I don’t think they got it that way. Not to mention I am super duper careful about such things, I’m usually the one who schools others about being scammed.

Now, I don’t know if this scam applies to credit cards outside the U.S. (my debit card is still on a U.S. bank account), but it can’t hurt to keep an eye out anyway.