Digital Star unauthorized charge

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Complaint

0
Steve
Country: United States
A preauthorization for $74.95 from Digital Star with a bad phone number (208-123-7377) showed up on my debit card account 1/29/12.  Called bank fraud department and had the account killed immediately.  They stopped the charge since it had not completed.  Do not know who Digital Star is or what the charge was for.  I use the card for online purchases mainly through Amazon.  No purchases in the last 30 dqays.  However, I placed orders in the last 60 days from a company called Turncraft (woodworking plans), Personal Creations, and Entirely Pets. I wonder what companies others have used recently.

Comments

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  • 0
    BrianD
    I was the one who only used my card once.  I was about to contact local authorities and have them investigate the restaurant but then saw this thread.  Seeing so many charges of 74.95 on the same day made me realize that something else was happening.

    The card issued to me was the same acct. no. with a new expiration date.  If the scammers had my old card info, they could have guessed the new expiration date if the first time through was declined, otherwise whoever issued the card had the security breach.  Amazon, Paypal and a couple other companies have this card info, but I had NOT updated the new expiration date with anyone.

    The similarity I see from reading the responses is most people report it was a debit or bank issued card (as opposed to discover, amex, etc), although it seems there are a couple "credit" cards and 1 EFT(?).
  • 0
    Keith
    Same thing happened to my business card today, only my debit was for $498.99.  I haven't used Amazon but did purchase 2 computers last week from Tiger Direct.  Card company has canceled the card and started investigation.
  • 0
    Amy S
    Same thing happened to me today, Feb. 2. Authorization from Digital Star for $74.95. Called my bank immediately to report it and they confirmed that it as a fraudulent charge and my check card had been compromised. They also said this was one of many reports they were hearing about. They handled it and cancelled my card, of course, so I will not be getting stuck with the charges. Digital Star shows up as a theatrical ticket company, but who knows who or what they are. This was through US Bank so it looks like this is happening everywhere. Someone big must have been hacked. I'm sure we'll hear about it on the news any day now.
  • 0
    tj
    If US Bank is receiving "many" reports, and considers them to be related, then the scope of the fraudulent charges is far higher than just what we are seeing here.  This is also consistent with charges to many banks:  BofA, Union Bank, US Bank, Wells Fargo, etc.
  • 0
    tj
    Reported "money mule" ad with scammer using same Mail Boxes Etc. location:
    http://www.fraudwatchinternational.com/fake-jobs/artlondon/
  • 0
    tj
    That argues against an Amazon breach.
  • 0
    don couchie
    same message turned up on my mastercard which is a canadian bank and i did not use amazon. digital star 44208123   74.95
  • 0
    Lili
    I had the same issue with Digital Star last week. A charge of 74.95 and then they had the nerve to charge a *foreign currency* charge of 2.25 to steal my money. It was a debit card that had not been used since Dec 2010.
    Bank of America flagged the purchase and reversed the charges.
  • 0
    Carol
    happened to us too. However we have differnet bank than most of what you guys listed 74.95 to Digisstar with all those numbers after it.
    Our credit union issued a credit when we filled out the fraud papers. It just posted to our account today.  cancelled our card.  
    I wonder what we all have in common? Amazon? another vendor?
  • 0
    carol
    zappos was one that was hacked a few weeks ago.
    I have not ordered from them in years and it wasn't with the same card. This is obviously big. maybe people can try to figure out what we have in common.
  • 0
    Alex
    Same name, same charge 74.95
    called citibank, they said they'll reverse charges, but it's first time they have "digital star" reported
  • 0
    Dave
    Add me to the list:
    02/03/2012 Digital Star +442081 $74.95    

    My bank (MnT) won't do anything until the transaction clears. That really annoys me; why can't banks work together when suspicious merchant transactions are made and at least flag them for additional investigation rather then putting the onus on the customer.

    For anyone keeping tabs my only non-grocery or gas usage of the card for the last few weeks was a single purchase from Amazon.
  • 0
    tj
    That sounds unlikely.  It implies Citi has poor communications within it's fraud department.
  • 0
    tj
    The banks have left themselves open to fraud involving small charges by setting their policies based on whether each little charge exceeds various thresholds.  A number of large frauds have exploited this by mixing the appearance of a "legitimate" charge with staying under common thresholds for elevating the investigation to a higher level.

    The thief doesn't care what each charge is for, although it might make more work.  He's after all he can get, through whatever vulnerability he can exploit, and piped away to someplace safe from legal interference.  

    Even TSA procedures recognize this type of security policy vulnerability by adding entirely "random" more complete screens on top of the routine ones that usually keep the system flowing.  It is not enough to ignore all fraud below some level, as a "cost of business" decision, or the thief will just make his charges evade your screen.  At some point, you either have to recognize the overall pattern, or randomly sample and look deeper to make sure your policies aren't being gamed.
  • 0
    tj
    Other question is why isn't this being caught by VISA and MasterCard?

    Don't banks forward fraud dispute information to them, or does that also depend on a threshold?
  • 0
    tj
    Key question:  

    How many fraudulent charges occur against cards that are used on-line,
    vs. those never used on-line?
  • 0
    kathy s.
    I had the exact same charge for 74/95 plus a separate bank fee of 2.25 from Digital Star with the same nonsense series of numbers. It came out of my checking account with Charter One. Not sure if that is affiliated with BoA or other national banks, but the charge is being refunded to my acct along with the fee and my bank has been notified. I wasnt sure if this was a Zappos compromised info thing, or Amazon but i havent made purchases from either of those for months!  My bank said it was not only suspicious, it is a complete scam, though i dont really understand the method of how it happens. I posted a notice on my Facebook acct so others can be on the lookout.
  • 0
    Vic
    same for me. $74.95 charge for Digital Star on 1/28/12. I called Wells Fargo and they marked it as fraudent and issued a new card.
  • 0
    fjwk
    Ditto for 74.95 and foreign exchange fee. BoA MasterCard.   The bank is refunding charges.  No clues as to how the cc number was stolen.
  • 0
    Bill
    Jan 29, 2012, $ 74.95(no foreign exchange) charge by Digital Star to Chase Visa Card. Chase reversed charges, we cancelled the card and they sent me a new one UPS next day service.  No charges to Amazon.com on that card.  Early in 2011 did make some purchases at Amazon with a Capital One M/C but so far no bogus charges there or to any other of our cards.
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