Image courtesy of deems.wordpress.com

The US Federal Trade Commission  has foiled an online credit card scam. Essentially, those involved stole millions from consumers in the US by charging very small amounts on their credit cards.

Steve Wernikoff the FTC prosecuting attorney said, “It was a very patient scam. The people who are behind this are very meticulous.”

The criminals were able to set up fake companies in order to make small charges on their victim’s credit cards.

“We’re going to aggressively seek to identify the ultimate masterminds behind this scheme,” Wernikoff reportedly told PCWorld.

Amazingly 94% of the charges made to the victim’s accounts were uncontested. The FTC reports that 1.35 million credit cards were charged amounts totaling $9.5 million. However, only 78,724 of the false charges were noticed.

The scheme worked because the scammers charged tiny amounts that were typically between $0.25 and $9 per card. They set up more than 100 fake companies that they used to process the transactions.

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