MGD
Premium,MVM
join:2002-07-31
Fort Lauderdale, FL
4 edits | reply to kruser
Re: [Credit Card Fraud] REQWEST CA bogus charge
said by kruser  :My bank will not disclose any info on the company! They said all this correspondence has to be done via mail for some reason........ And that is a contributing factor as to why this type of fraud is an epidemic.
However, I will tell you more info about the "company" than your bank will, or even knows.
First you are correct to cancel and replace the card, and this charge should be classified as FRAUD, not a dispute.
REQWEST hit my radar screen about a month ago while I was working on an update of my long term investigation of the Devbill/Digital Age card fraud criminal enterprise.
See the last post that I just made in this thread along with the included links: »Just an FYI: KCSOFTLLC $9.95 Fraud - They're still at it!
The connection between these two is that there are reports of charges from both REQUEST and the "devbill" group showing up together on the same card, either on the same bill date or within a day or two. And it is not a coincidence by any means, it is part of a criminal enterprise that involves hundreds of rotating websites that are set up as front companies. The purpose of the site is not to sell anything, in fact nothing can be bought from them. They are set up in order to obtain a merchant billing account to process small charges to what appears to be an endless supply of card data.
Fortunately, I collected some data on Request last month and added it to my archives before it disappeared. REQWEST and its sister company DIGITAL READING were both set up within a week of each other in January of 2006. They were set up with Jaguar Technologies LLC via ENOM, INC. Jaguar and Enom have been a long time favorite of these criminals and have been used repeatedly for hosting.
The two fraudulent websites used for this portion of the operation advicebyrequest.com and digital-reading.com have now been suspended. However here are screen shots of the two identical sites that I had in my archives:
advicebyrequest.com
"About Us"
Advicebyrequest.com About
and
"Contact"
Advicebyrequest.com Contact
digital-reading.com
"About Us"
Digital-reading.com About
and
"Contact"
Digital-reading.com Contact
And the current status for both:
Both Suspended
I am not sure if you want to bring your Bank "up to speed" on this issue by providing them a link or not. However, reversing the charge as a fraud and replacing the card, is the prudent option for them, rather than wasting their time requesting verification that is non existant.
MGD
Edit=formatting
Mod Edit: correct OP information |
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kruser
Premium
join:2002-06-01
Saint Louis, MO
clubs:
 ·AT&T Southwest
1 edit | My bank told me the charge appeared to be legit!
They said it was something to do with at&t!
Granted, I live in at&t land but I've never had any personal accounts with at&t in my life.
So they have granted my request for fraudulent activity and will place the cash back into my account for now.
I've also looked over my past purchases with that card and it turns out that I had recently used it.
I made a purchase just days earlier from Paragon Software for a product called Partition Manager.
They use Element 5 for their card processing.
I've purchased a lot in the past that used element 5 and never had a problem.
I'd also purchased a pizza from a local Pizza Hut with the on-line ordering system just prior to the element 5 purchase.
Prior to these purchases, I had not used the card in months.
So it could be a breach at either of those places or a key logger.
Key logger is doubtful but not impossible.
Between the pizza and paragon purchase, I had done a complete format and clean install of XP.
Anyway, thanks bunches to everyone who has given advice!
edit: spelling
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Doctor Olds
I Need A Remedy For What's Ailing Me.
Premium,VIP
join:2001-04-19
1970 442 W30
clubs:
| said by kruser :I've also looked over my past purchases with that card and I had recently used it. I made a purchase just days earlier from Paragon Software for a product called Partition Manager. They use Element 5 for there card processing. I've purchased a lot in the past that used element 5 and never had a problem. I'd also purchased a pizza from a local Pizza Hut with the on-line ordering system just prior to the element 5 purchase. Prior to these purchases, I had not used the card in months. So it could be a breach at either of those places or a key logger. It's not you that is the source of the CC info leak. They didn't get it from your PC or from any recent transactions you have made.
This is where they most likely got it. Read what MGD wrote in the topic below:
»Just an FYI: KCSOFTLLC $9.95 Fraud - They're still at it!
Regards,
Doctor Olds
--
What’s the point of owning a supercar if you can’t scare yourself stupid from time to time? |
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kruser
Premium
join:2002-06-01
Saint Louis, MO
clubs:
·AT&T Southwest
| Hey Dr. Olds!
I do agree that they most likely did not get it from any online stuff.
I just felt obligated to reveal my past purchases just in case.
The way I look at it, they get the info from somewhere and who knows where.
I'm sure that one of these days that this will be figured out.
If it is just random card number attempts then it will be hard to figure out.
I'm still leary of the card processors myself.
I'd bet they pay the employee's a low wage.
So you get your typical bandit who has leads on employee's of said company that are having a hard time financially and this said bandit offers that person a large sum of money to disclose info.
I'm not saying that is what happened in my case but it is possible.
I did read MGD's post that you linked.
I remember the TroubleBubble fraud that went down.
I'd say that the same people are behind this fraud.
Years ago I told myself that I'd never ever use credit cards because someone could steal your money.
I even told my parents that way back when!
Now of course almost 40 years later, I have cards and they are almost a necessity of life these days!
I do wonder how many people that DON'T use the internet have been hit with these charges? |
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