I got hit in February and it just showed up on my statement. The outfit is going by several names, the most frequent of which seems to be
"pay-comms.com". They hit me with three fraudulant charges for a total of fifty-one quid. :ranting:

If you google for that name along with the word scam you'll find details on a couple of blogs and forums. It seems they're believed to have hit about 600,000 people so far.

Just reminding you to check your statements and contact your cc provider if they've hit you too. My cc provider is re-crediting me with the money, no probs.:thumbsup:

Is this becasue you use your credit card online Dab?

I do, Bob, but only ever on secure sites. However it appears they've hacked some legitimate databases.

Oh.....so how does it work then? Can they hijack anyone's card?

When I was in the Mids, I was Financial Controller for an IT Firm, we had about 20 company credit cards, there were several fraudulent transactions that would have gone through if we hadnt picked them up - usually just for a few quid here and there, but because we reconciled the credit cards and matched the receipts to them on a monthly basis it was picked up quickly........

I check our credit card and bank statements every couple of days online and I usually know to the penny what is due out (typical boring accountant) so if there was anything unusual I would pick it up quickly.......

Its funny you bought this up today though Dab, as I have been doing Mr Q's accounts today, so I have built up quite a collection of switch and cc receipts, and I have not long said to himself that I want a mini shredder for them but in the meantime, I have decided to burn them :laugh: Its amazing how much information can be picked up from your rubbish!

I don't know, Ceri. They set themselves up as a merchant account bill collection business and billed thousands of customers correctly for services received - and then billed them again fraudulently for membership of porn sites. That's how the scam first came to light. I wasn't in that original trawl, though, so I don't know how they got my cc details.

Crikey. Thankfully I hardly ever use my credit card so I would notice anything unusual, but if it was my debit card it could be a different story.........

I dont know how they do it, we had one card that was locked in the safe and only myself and the MD knew its whereabouts, and there was a US $ transaction which appeared, for less than a fiver and that was for membership of a porn site :shocking:

Im sure they hit for smaller amounts in the hope that you "wont notice it" but when the transaction is in US $ it kinda sticks out a bit!

Well done for being so vigulant dab :thumbsup:


I'm so glad your credit card company are reinbursing you! :D

On the first couple of Google hits, the name Stormplay come up as an online billing company. Did you use them Dab and have you any idea how pay-comm could have got hold of your details?

If you think about it too long, it's frightening the number of fraudsters out there all determined to part us from our money. Just today I had an email from a company that purported to be Ebay wanting me to log in to their site and 'update my billing records'. Someone who had just started using the net or who wasn't aware of all the scams, could so easily think it was legit.

I'm glad this had a good outcome and you got your money back Dab, and I hope the con artists are found and suitably punished.

I never check my statements, very bad. I find it hard to find a minute where I can work things out... I'm going to make an April resolution to check each month now -after hearing this. :book:

Credit card / switch card fraud is a worry.

I had something happen to me about 2 years ago now. I checked my online statement (luckily i did) and a payment for £650 had gone to BT :wacko: I called the bank and told them i hadnt made this payment, and so they told me they would have to send out forms for me to complete, then they would have to investigate, and the whole process could take 10 weeks !!! I told them this was impossible as i needed to pay my mortgage and i would go overdrawn, so they offered me a free overdraft. I told them this wasnt good enough and that i would investigate.

I spent about 5 hours on the phone that day. I called BT and told them what had happened. They had the name of the client who had used my details, i then called the bank with the info. The bank then needed ref numbers :blink: Blimey - it was a nightmare .... BUT i got my money back in 2 days.


I have also had fraud on my credit card. Luckily that was only for £38, and it was to pay a taxi. I soon got the money back for that one, but its made me nervous about paying for anything with a card. I tend to carry cash around now. I take £50 out on a Monday, and i use that to buy everything i need in the week. I only use my cash card in Tescos.

I am always very reluctant to give my card details over the phone/internet no matter how "secure" the comapny is. Luckily nothing untoward has come up on my statements but a friend of mine has had some really hefty bills in the past and swears she didn't spend that much.

Reminds me of the time when I worked in a call centre when I almost commited credit card fraud when I nearly accidently sent a washing machine to my house on some other ladys card... :blush:

Reminds me of the time when I worked in a call centre when I almost commited credit card fraud when I nearly accidently sent a washing machine to my house on some other ladys card... :blush:

I remember that PJ :laugh: :laugh:

I never check my statements, very bad. I find it hard to find a minute where I can work things out... I'm going to make an April resolution to check each month now -after hearing this. :book:

Claire, I was like that but just this week, I decided to have a day where I was going through loads of paperwork - just to sort it out really - I was fed up of looking at it.

Anyway, I discovered an insurance policy that had been cancelled was still taking money out of my account & the company owed me £245, Sky had activated an old account by mistake, so they said, & they owe me £70 & just today, I've discovered a direct debit set up on my account that I have no knowledge of & the bank are looking into it for me but they've been taking nearly £50 a month since January!

I intend to be checking every bit of paperwork that comes into my house from now on in. I've also bought an electric shredder & it only cost about £10!