Scammers Avoid Detection Charging Small Amounts

Looks like the time has come to sweat the small stuff. If you have a $9.84 charge on your credit card and had nothing to do with it, it may very well be in the hands of fraudsters. The Better Business Bureau has issued a fraud alert warning us to check our bank statements for unexplained charges of $9.84.

Your bill may even list a source that is an unfamiliar website. Should you log onto that page, and it's not the business website be even more alerted.Many scam artists use generic landing pages that claims to offer "Customer Support." and even promises to "refund 100% of your last payment" and provides a phone number and email address all bogus.

The reason scammers are charging stolen credit card numbers for a small amount of money? They have the correct assumption that many of us won't notice the relatively small charge, and they know credit card companies won't generally go after minor sums.

In case you’re not already doing this, keep a close eye on your accounts. As the Target and Neiman Marcus breaches make clear, credit card security is far from foolproof. Your best defense is vigilance.