By Danielle Koch and Nicolette Mallow
Many SCAD students have had fraudulent charges made to their credit and debit cards since the beginning of the year. Credit card fraud and identity theft are nationwide problems that affect millions of people each year. Most of the identity theft victims resolved the situation with their banks and had their money reimbursed. However, there are some whose accounts have been wiped out because they didn’t catch the crime fast enough to file legal reports or change their personal information.
Ian Aleksander Adams, a third-year photography student, had nearly $1,400 in fraudulent charges made to his bank account. Adams said he realized this when his bank contacted him to say there had been suspicious activity and that his account was overdrawn. According to Adams, he only visited a couple of local stores before two very large charges were deducted from his account: almost $400 at a Foot Locker and almost $1,000 from a Best Buy, both of which were located in Florida.
As a result of these incidents, Adams created a group on Facebook called “Some Ass in Florida is Using My Credit Card.” Many other students joined the group and reported similar incidents — nearly all in Florida — of charges for gas and merchandise from stores like Lowe’s, Bebe, Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Blockbuster.
Another similarity that students noticed is where they used their credit or debit cards before the false charges started appearing. On the Facebook group, many students are comparing recent places they used their cards. Emily Miller, a fourth-year film and television student, said, “I have heard that about 100 SCAD students have filed police reports and the majority of them spent money at [similar local businesses].
However, the Savannah-Chatham Metro-politan Police Department didn’t specify any certain local business as suspects in the investigation. And unlike Adams, many students, including Miller, didn’t file police reports.
“The police basically told me to wait it out and see if I get my money back. I contacted my bank and decided not to file a police report because there were so many and it didn’t really seem like the police could do anything about it. I don’t think they have caught anyone yet,” said Miller.
On bankofamerica.com, Bank of America advises account holders to eliminate paper documents, never write down their pin numbers, keep the most up-to-date security on their computers while using online banking and use ATMs that are monitored by security cameras and are located in the center of a building. Fraud can be detected by checking account status daily online and watching for irregularities such as unexpected charges, if a paper statement is not delivered, if credit is denied for no reason or if you receive a credit card you did not apply for.
When and if suspicious activity arises, immediately contact your bank to regain lost money, file a police report and contact the Federal Trade Commission to file a formal complaint and to receive tips and guidelines on how to deal with these situations. For more information, visit www.ftc.gov.
Photo credit: James Biscardi
