StillAtIt
join:2008-09-30
| [Credit Card Fraud] AMEX American Express Charges from SMS Outle
It looks like another bogus AMEX credit card billling scam (quick burn, small amounts, etc.) There is an apparently legitimate business with the same name out of Tempe, AZ. They say they've been getting a large number of calls from American Express customers who don't recognize charges.
So it looks to me like these charges are yet another another scam business.
This "company" appears to be run out of a single family home. The amount charged to my card was under $33.
Web site is sms-outlet.com
phone number 1-800-380-9809
which no one answers, of course
If anyone can figure out the company name that they mention during the recording, please post it. (something like ALL-LC?? which like so many others purports to be a web billing service. Very similar to the Sacramento 24-hour corp scam.)
Whois shows this site is owned by:
David Dearkland
658 MCCord ave
Bakersfield, California 93308
United States
Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (»www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: SMS-OUTLET.COM
Created on: 05-Mar-09
Expires on: 05-Mar-10
Last Updated on: 05-Mar-09
Administrative Contact:
Dearkland, David monaviy@hotmail.com
658 MCCord ave
Bakersfield, California 93308
United States
8003809809 Fax -- 8003809809
Technical Contact:
Dearkland, David monaviy@hotmail.com
658 MCCord ave
Bakersfield, California 93308
United States
8003809809 Fax -- 8003809809
Domain servers in listed order:
NS17.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
NS18.DOMAINCONTROL.COM |
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music man
join:2008-08-12 | Re: [Credit Card Fraud] AMEX American Express Charges from SMS O
Might the name be "Amiel LLC"? I ask because Amiel LLC's website »www.amielsolutions.com appears to share much of the text with sms-outlet. |
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MGD
Premium,MVM
join:2002-07-31
Fort Lauderdale, FL
1 edit | reply to StillAtIt
said by StillAtIt  :....(something like ALL-LC?? which like so many others purports to be a web billing service. Very similar to the Sacramento 24-hour corp scam.) Indeed, it has the aroma of the long running exclusive Amex cards laundering sites. I am looking other victim reports to see if it is exclusively American Express.
The webiste template is a clone of: »www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe···signs%22
Missing this time around are the obvious connections to the Russian expatriate community in the Sacramento county and surrounding area. However there are some non native English indications such as the "reviews":
"this has to be one of the funniest movies of my youth.I think that its better film of century."
There is no advertising of any kind promoting the website:
Also, that contact email address, which would belong to the actual individual who completed the domain reg: monaviy@hotmail.com appears to have references to former Soviet Block languages.
That format is typical of the Amex fraud laundering. There does not appear to be any published phone number for the apparent cyber-mule:
LP/LLC
SMS OUTLET LLC.
Number: 200826710169
Date Filed: 9/22/2008
Status: active
Jurisdiction: CALIFORNIA
.
Address
658 MCCORD AVE
BAKERSFIELD, CA 93308
.
Agent for Service of Process
DAVID DEARKLAND
658 MCCORD AVE
BAKERSFIELD, CA 93308
.
Which matches to:
That 800-380-9809 appears to be a fake set up that will only accept voice mail. To me it appears that there is a blank in front of the spech preceeding "LLC", as if to insert a name, which was not done. Shabby set up that would be used for several instances. It is bogus as it references that they do billing for over 500 websites, yet there is no search returns on the number. I have not checked, but I am willing to bet that the number is a cheap Ring Central Voip toll free number. All options lead to voice mail.
Anxious to find other victims of the fraud charges. Did you line item charge appear as something like this:
Price .. SMS-OUTLET.COM CA 800-380-9809 ??
According to Domain Tools, there are 4 domains where that same name was used as a registrant, though it may not be the same individual.
However the two starting with the letter "B" were registered around the same time as the LLC. If this is what I suspect it is, then I presume there were prior sites as the LLC is from 09/2008 and SMS-OUTLET.COM is very recent.
MGD |
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Doctor Olds
I Need A Remedy For What's Ailing Me.
Premium,VIP
join:2001-04-19
1970 442 W30
clubs: | I love the fixed text on the main page made to look like a visit counter. LOL
"394034 requests since Saturday 05 July, 2008" |
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MGD
Premium,MVM
join:2002-07-31
Fort Lauderdale, FL
| reply to music man
Here is a reduced quality copy of the audio to limit file size.
 800-380-9809···LET1.wav 576162 bytes
I believe they cloned it from someone else and edited out the the word which preceeded "LLC" which belonged to whoever. All options lead to VM, no one there.
This is a ruse to appease fraud charge victims, they want those that call to presume it is legit. They will issue a credit to those who complain and hop[e they avoid reporting it to Amex.
MGD |
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MGD
Premium,MVM
join:2002-07-31
Fort Lauderdale, FL
| reply to Doctor Olds
said by Doctor Olds :I love the fixed text on the main page made to look like a visit counter. LOL "394034 requests since Saturday 05 July, 2008" LOL,
In fact the source code of the page contains the following references:
Red Pill Blue Pill by Key West Designs
and
>http://www.keywestvacationguide.com/key_west_fishing.php
OSCommerce is used in many of the California AMEX fraud card laundering sites.
MGD |
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K Patterson
Premium,MVM
join:2006-03-12
Columbus, OH | The email address, monaviy, looks to be in the Uzbek language, could well be Russian |
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MGD
Premium,MVM
join:2002-07-31
Fort Lauderdale, FL
| said by K Patterson :The email address, monaviy, looks to be in the Uzbek language, could well be Russian The last Amex card fraud laundering scam that showed up on this forum was, as the op mentioned, 24 HOUR CORP / E Sprint LLC that one gained some media attention, including a BBB Alert. They were hitting AMEX branded cards issued by numerous banks, and included many victims from the UK as well as the US. I believe the fraud has operated non stop, it just manages to mostly stay below the radar. The origins of this operation can be traced back to 2002.
Hopefully if there are other victims of this fraud will find the thread and post.
MGD |
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pcdebb
RIP dadkins
Premium
join:2000-12-03
Tampa, FL
clubs: 
| reply to Doctor Olds
said by Doctor Olds :I love the fixed text on the main page made to look like a visit counter. LOL "394034 requests since Saturday 05 July, 2008" it actually is dynamic for me, i refreshed and it incremented.
the site was created in march, however one of the games was added to the "inventory" in december. that's a hot game!
and in the checkout, why do they care if i'm male or female? It doesn't verify cc numbers at all, totally made up everything (been a long day, trying to lighten the mood), it confirmed my order. so it's sending something to a totally made up order somwhere out there in a city i have no idea where it is 
and the single one game i "bought" shows up in the best seller list lol
--
| map your city | |
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SnowyOne
Premium
join:2003-04-05
Kailua, HI
 ·RoadRunner Cable
 ·Clearwire Wireless
| said by pcdebb :why do they care if i'm male or female? It's about the salutation they might need to use when ripping someones CC. |
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StillAtIt
join:2008-09-30
| reply to MGD
Anxious to find other victims of the fraud charges. Did you line item charge appear as something like this:
Price .. SMS-OUTLET.COM CA 800-380-9809 ??
--------------------------------------------
No, there was no telephone number. I got the telephone number googling the address. The charge was made on May 8th. I caught it when I checked my card on-line.
The charge shows:
SMS OUTLET LLC SMS OBAKERSFIELD
78449 DIRECT MKTG MISC
DIRECT MKTG MISC
When I request additional information it shows:
TRANSACTION DESCRIPTION: SMS OUTLET LLC SMS OBAKERSFIELD
DOING BUSINESS AS: SMS OUTLET LLC
MERCHANT TYPE: INTERNET PURCHASES Transaction Date: 05/08/2009
Charge: $XXXX
Reference #:XXXXX DIRECT MKTG MISC
Merchant Number: 1044708386
Merchant Address: 658 MCCORD AVE
BAKERSFIELD, CA 93308-4716 USA
When I called Amex to ask about this, they wanted to simply credit my account. Apparently, when you set up a merchant account, you can agree to have disputed charges under a certain dollar amount just automatically credited back without any investigation on Amex's part.
So, when you dispute a charge, it just gets credited and the merchant is free to continue the scam. In order to have it treated as fraud I had to cancel my card. (Although it doesn't seem Amex is particularly concerned with this type of scam...) So, the card number that is on this hacked/stolen/purchased/whatever list will no longer work for them and I'll no longer be a good "canary in the coal mine" for spotting this particular fraud.
I do have reason to believe I'm not alone, however. When I called the folks with a similar name in Tempe they say they've had a number of calls from Amex card holders about this and that was before I mentioned my card was American Express.
Finally, I'll add that wherever they get their message recording it is almost exactly the same one I heard at 24-hour Corp before it was hastily cut it off.
Thanks to everyone on this board....you guys are amazing. |
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music man
join:2008-08-12
1 edit | reply to StillAtIt
I just thought I'd go back to »www.amielsolutions.com. Now its showing a "page under construction"!!
Very strange!! Now why would that happen???  |
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jenny
@comcast.net | reply to StillAtIt
They have billed my card twice for $14.39. I was also hit 3 times with bogus charges from 24 Hour corp 3 months in a row. AmEx took off all of the charges. |
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Doctor Olds
I Need A Remedy For What's Ailing Me.
Premium,VIP
join:2001-04-19
1970 442 W30
clubs:
| said by jenny :
They have billed my card twice for $14.39. I was also hit 3 times with bogus charges from 24 Hour corp 3 months in a row. AmEx took off all of the charges.
They will continue to hit your AE Card until you get it replaced with a New AE Card that is using a New Account Number.
--
What’s the point of owning a supercar if you can’t scare yourself stupid from time to time? |
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MMW
@aol.com
| reply to MGD
I have also been a victim of this SMS Outlet charging my AMEX card. It has happened twice now. The first time in mid-March and again this past week. On both occasions, the charges came through on a Sunday...very suspicious. The first time the charge came in, I contacted AMEX and they simply credited the less than $20. amount back to me. I thought it was over. Late last night I just happened to think about it again and checked my account online...Voila! There it was again, the exact same amount! Something I find strange is that I never use this card, and in fact don't even carry it with me. I contacted AMEX again today and insisted that it be investigated as Fraud and informed AMEX that I had discovererd several blogs dedicated to this very scam. Obviously this SMS Outlet is a known scammer to AMEX and why they are allowed to continue as a 'merchant' with them is beyond me. I cancelled my card so they cannot charge me again. Another strange thing is that this is the second AMEX card I have had to cancel due to someone somehow getting the number. I am starting to wonder if somehow this is an 'inside job'. |
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famousperson
@verizon.net
| reply to StillAtIt
sml-outlet llc tried to get me, too. The first charge to my amex card for $34.20 on May 4th was reversed, for reasons not stated, on May 14. Then two charges for $34.20 appeared on May 17. Amex reversed the charges and said that they would open a fraud file. They said nothing about issuing a new number. |
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MGD
Premium,MVM
join:2002-07-31
Fort Lauderdale, FL
| reply to jenny
said by jenny :
They have billed my card twice for $14.39. I was also hit 3 times with bogus charges from 24 Hour corp 3 months in a row. AmEx took off all of the charges.
Jenny, follow Doctor Olds 's advice.
Your post also confirms the OP's suspicion that sms-outlet.com aka SMS OUTLET LLC is part of the Russian based multi year Amex card fraud laundering operation out of California.
said by jenny :
They have billed my card twice for $14.39. I was also hit 3 times with bogus charges from 24 Hour corp 3 months in a row. AmEx took off all of the charges.
Since we already know that 24 Hour corp was part of the Russian AMEX crime syndicate that connection absolutely confirms that SMS OUTLET LLC is one of the latest of the crime syndicate's Amex card fraud laundering operations. They have compromised your card account data, and are repeatedly charging it across several of their fraud sites.
Unfortunately, in my opinion American Express is way beyond clueless. "Way beyond" because this AMEX charge fraud operation has been going on for over 5 years. One would think that a company who provides merchant services and where criminals within a confined geographic area can repeatedly process fraud charges against their own customer's accounts, would have caught on by know. Instead these criminals are now availing themselves of Amex's streamlined feature called "charge reversal". This merchant service agreement add on is an absolute bonus to fraud accounts. It allows Amex to reverse charges back to the merchant upon receiving a customer complaint. The benefit is that the usual high charge back fees are not assigned to the merchant account. You could not have wrote are more facilitating set up for this criminal operation. they no longer have to arrange contact info and process credits. American Express does that for them.
American Express is well aware of this operation. On multiple occasions over the years they have stated that they had active fraud investigations on numerous of the merchant account names that the Russian criminals were using. Clearly, even a cursory investigation would have yielded evidence that this is a multi year fraud operation. Additionally, by not performing reasonable due diligence when issuing online merchant accounts, American Express is facilitating this organized crime syndicate by providing them easy and repeated access to processing fraud charges against AMEX's own customers accounts, from card data that the crime syndicate has hijacked. See this news ar1ticle on the "24hour" corp: »www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1264057.html
Over the many years that this Amex fraud has been in operation, one cyber-mule was indicted in May of 2008 for a 2005 card fraud laundering entity. An excerpt from the Devbill fraud thread:
quote:
United States Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced that a federal grand jury returned an indictment today charging ALEXSANDR BERNIK, 29, of the Sacramento area, with wire fraud, money laundering, ...................
...
from October 2005 through November 2006, Bernik engaged in a scheme to defraud American Express and its customers. He used the fictitious business name Lexbay Limited to open a bank account and establish a merchant relationship with American Express. Between August 2006 and November 2006, he fraudulently charged American Express customers for products or services that the customers did not order. During this time period, a bank account he controlled in the name of Lexbay Limited received approximately $177,000 from American Express. Some of those funds were then withdrawn in transactions designed in part to avoid transaction reporting requirements under state and federal law.
See: »Ebook websites, fraud charges, Devbill/DigitalAge/Pluto
Also:
»cbs13.com/local/defrauding.custo···077.html
Word on the street at the time of ALEXSANDR BERNIK's aka "Alex" indictment, was that he was not "talking", nor willing to finger the Russian based Command & Control, whether from fear or stupidity is not known.
American Express customers should be appalled at the complete lack of reasonable care that they are using to address this long running fraud.
MGD
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MGD
Premium,MVM
join:2002-07-31
Fort Lauderdale, FL
| reply to famousperson
said by famousperson :
sml-outlet llc tried to get me, too. The first charge to my amex card for $34.20 on May 4th was reversed, for reasons not stated, on May 14. Then two charges for $34.20 appeared on May 17. Amex reversed the charges and said that they would open a fraud file. They said nothing about issuing a new number.
Hi FP,
Thanks for posting. PLEASE call AMEX back and insist that they issue you a new card. This Russian organized crime syndicate will continue to process fraud charges against you card. Your card account data has been compromised (hacked). Also insist that they process the charges as fraudulent.
Maybe you can not only direct their attention to this thread, but also to excerpts from the main documentation here: »Ebook websites, fraud charges, Devbill/DigitalAge/Pluto which shows that this AMEX fraud operation has been going on for years unfettered. From time to time Amex will cancel a fraud merchant account or two, which has no long term effect. The criminals just reapply for more, and get them. Amex is also missing out on the opportunity to perform forensic analysis on the entire compromised data that is processed through these fraudulent accounts. Analysis of this data processed over the years, could have established the compromise vectors and enabled these exploits to be addressed.
MGD |
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MGD
Premium,MVM
join:2002-07-31
Fort Lauderdale, FL
1 edit | reply to famousperson
From the other thread, in reference to a predecessor of sml-outlet llc called 24 HOUR Corp which was hitting both US and UK Amex victims. A video of the cbs13 news story: »cbs13.com/video/?id=39375@kovr.dayport.com
Amex has no excuse for allowing this to continue by dolling out merchant accounts so criminals can launder the hijacked card data right into cash with Amex's help.
The only difference between SMS OUTLET LLC and the several prior years worth of fraud merchant accounts, is that this time the cyber-mule does not appear to be a Russian expat, and is located ~300 miles from the normal concentration of cyber-mules in the Sacramento County and surrounding area.
MGD |
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MGD
Premium,MVM
join:2002-07-31
Fort Lauderdale, FL
1 edit | reply to StillAtIt
I am unable to locate a listed public telephone number for the cyber-mule for SMS OUTLET LLC., one Mr. DAVID DEARKLAND, middle initial "R" appx. 49yrs, of 658 MCCORD AVE., BAKERSFIELD, CA 93308 »www.realtor.com/property-detail/···afb4bd01
I am working a lead the may yield a number. Of the multi year Russian AMEX fraud featuring California cyber-mules, Mr. Dearkland may be able to offer some intelligence on the operation. Over the past year I have tracked down several of the cyber-mules who registered many of the fraud LLCs, and none were willing to talk. All were Russian immigrants, there were both males and females. Consequently, I have been unable to corroborate a direct connection between the Devbill Visa MasterCard fraud and the California Amex fraud operation. Uncovering how the fraud Amex proceed funds are wired out of the US, and to where, could provide evidence of linkage between the two. So far the only fact that can be established is that it also has direct connections to Russian organized crime and operates with the exact modus-operandi.
Repeated prior contacts with the cyber-mules generated multiple responses that they do not speak English, though they know enough of it to say so. Only one of many attempts to contact other members of the household produced someone fluent in English. That was a cousin of a female college student who registered one of the LLC. When told what they participating in, the cousin was adamant that she would not knowingly participate in such an operation. Her cousin agreed to call me back and act as an interpreter, as I told him I needed to find out where the money was going and exactly how she was recruited. Despite the promise to call back with her present, he never did. Repeated calls made to him were not answered, nor returned. Other cyber-mules would just hang up repeatedly. At least up until now, it was reasonable to conclude that the recruiting vector was through some Russian language publication in the Sacramento County area, either in print or on the internet.
I am not sure why the latest cyber-mule is a deviation from the long running procedure. Whether it was the quick and easy filtering diagram that I posted back in September of 2008, of a simple 30 second procedure for American Express to filter out these fraud merchant applications. Or whether the word spreading within the tight knit Russian community of the arrest and indictment of Alex Bernik had a chilling effect on the recruitment process. Especially since Mr. Bernik was immediately incaracated and refused bail as he was designated a flight risk. It does appear from the allegations in the indictment that Bernik may have a predisposition to the shady side of life.
I am of the opinion that a debriefing of DAVID DEARKLAND could offer significant intelligence on the inner workings of this multi year Amex card fraud laundering operation. I believe that could be very beneficial, especially since American Express does not appear to be much inclined at protecting their card holders from repeated fraud from within their own system. Much less make any reasonable attempt at analysing the possible compromise vectors that have been in repeated use over the last five to six years.
Many of the American Express fraud victims have similar stories as the visa/MC victims, in that some of the cards targeted with the fraud were rarely used, or were dormant during the past several months, or longer.
MGD |
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