Imaginary Conversations and Random Thoughts

Twice. In the same month.

U-Webtemplate and KCSofTLLC.com are scumbags. What Deb Frisch wished on Goldstein (07/06 "More from the Tolerant Left"), that's, well no. While the people behind these charges are subhuman to me, and I pray for their lingering deaths, I guess I really wouldn't want their children molested and killed like Deb wanted to happen to Goldstein's kid.

Both charges were for $9.95, an innocent sounding amount. It's not something like a $4,000 charge that would immediately jump out at me. In short, it's just the sort of charge that would be easily overlooked or dismissed. Well, maybe. Two things tipped me.

First, my other charges on this card were for $26.62 and $41.79. Yeah, I know. Whoop-de-doo, big spender. But come on. Does anything ever come out to an even $9.95? I'm sure some things do, but compared to the other charges, they stand out. If one was for $9.53 and the other was for $10.37, they'd get the same amount of money, with less suspicious-looking charges. So on the money side, they have the small amount going for them, and that's about it.

Second, I didn't recognize the name of the two companies. If I see Macy's, I'm likely to recall if I did or didn't go to Macy's that month. What I'm not likely to remember is something like getting gas. Everyone gets gas. If the bill said "GasMart #817" I might wonder which gas station that is, and then shrug my shoulders and go on with life.

When I combine an unlikely amount, with an unfamiliar company, especially apparently two internet companies, flags go off. Where would I begin? I decided to take the same advice I took with the Enhanced Services Billing Inc (ESBI) scam on my phone bill: Google is my friend.

Searching U-Webtemplate gets me two hits for Robert K. Brown. The first link goes to a specific post on U-Webtemplates. The second goes to a Digital Age fraud post that went up last October, and had it's most recent comment, well, today. It isn't going away folks. People are still getting hit by the scam, and many thanks to Robert for putting this out there. I recommend this post because they have a number of comments naming all sorts of scam charges you might find on your credit card. This is a nice example:

Stop Digital Age:
The scam starts with:

DIGITAL AGE 888-529-98 CYPRUS SWE - on your credit card.

It is then followed with these charges (in any sequence):

AZ Business Products
KC SOFTWARECOM LLC
GENEREX TECHNOLOGY LLC
HOSTITNOW,INC. STATEN ISLAND NY
WP-NEDBUL WESTERBROEK
KEYSTONE 4 WEALTH WESTERVILLE OH
SPRINT SPECTRUM
Softprojects LLC
BURDETTINC.COM
TROUBLE BUBBLE LLC
SUN SOFTWARE SYSTEMS
JM BUSINESS PRODUCTS
ART MAGIC INC.COM
INNOVATIVE SOFTWARE-Computer Maint & Repair
SOFTPROJECTS LLC COLUMBIA

What to do: Call your Bank or Credit Card Company, indicate that this is not your charge, and you DID NOT initiate it. Dispute the charge, start FRAUD ALERT on your Card, AND CANCEL YOUR CARD AND HAVE IT REISSUED.

How to complain: Federal Complaint Site - http://www.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp

Local Complaitn Site - http://www.bbb.org/

How to follow up your credit:
http://www.equifax.com/ (request credit report)

Other agencies also provide reports be careful who you use.

How to follow up on line (Info etc):
TRUTH
http://www.robertkbrown.com/
http://www.snopes.com/

How this happened:
1. Stored CC numbers
2. The CC numbers that were stolen in May and Sept
3. Cards info stolen from merchants

Probably what did NOT HAPPEN:
1. Infected Computer
2. Internet Worm
3. Stolen Cards

If this happens to you, you're not alone. Does that bolded company on the list seem familiar? It's too close to the "KCSofTLLC.com" I see on my other scam charge to be a coincidence.

Google is my friend there too. "kcsoftllc" brings up eleven pages of results, all about this company's scam charges. Start with my ESBI research buddies Ripoff Report. And here's a Better Business Bureau report from the Pacific Northwest. Even Middle Earth isn't safe! Here's a report from Joe's Journal at blog.thebalrogslair.com.

I know what you're thinking. "I don't even have a cool staff like Gandalf, so how can I stop this?" Follow the advice of commenter "Stop Digital Age" above: Call your Bank or Credit Card Company, indicate that this is not your charge, and you DID NOT initiate it. Dispute the charge, start FRAUD ALERT on your Card, AND CANCEL YOUR CARD AND HAVE IT REISSUED.

I made this call, and the credit card company was more than happy to do just that. They cancelled the old card and I got a new one in about a week. One thing to note: if you have any regular monthly charges, like a book of the month club or something, make sure you contact them and update them with your new card number. The biggest tragedy in all of this is that my Girls Gone Wild subscription almost lapsed!