Scam Alert
Check your bank statements, money mules at work; warns the US Federal Trade Commission.
The US Federal Trade Commission recently obtained a court order from a U.S. court halting a massive international fraud scheme that has stolen millions of dollars in from consumers around the world by placing unauthorised charges onto consumers' credit and debit cards.
The scammers obtain consumers’ financial information and sneak small unauthorised charges (under US$10.00) on to consumers' credit and debit accounts assuming that the charges are so small that consumers will not notice them or contest them if they do.
A group of individuals in the United States, “money mules,” assist the defendants by cashing out the charges through bank accounts in the U.S. and wiring the proceeds of the scheme to bank accounts in foreign countries. The FTC has identified at least 100 different merchant identifiers used by the defendants in this scheme.
For more information, visit the Federal Trade Commission's website.
![[link to the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment website].](http://www.consumeraffairs.govt.nz/images/MBIE-white-space.png)
