Checking my logs, I see quite a few people finding my site, searching for some of the very odd companies used to commit credit fraud against me and many others. It was very difficult for me to figure out this scam, even to the limited degree I have figured it out, so I’m going to explain what I think is going on.
Short answer, it is fraud
Organized criminals have your credit or (much much worse) your debit card number. They are going to rip you off for as long as they possibly can. It won’t end until you take drastic action. If you have a credit card, possibly closing the card and getting another is sufficient, though I doubt it. But if you have a debit card, the hard and bad news is that you must physically close the actual linked checking account to stop the debit fraud drain.
My Experience
The fraud started with a huge hit of $1,200, followed by sets of four to eight smaller withdrawals every week to ten days. It continued for six months until I closed the attached checking account. Closing the debit card had no effect, and did not stop the fraud. Calling the bank and reporting the problem only got each fraud refunded after it was committed, it never cut off the fraud source itself.
When I was tracking down the companies involved with the fraud, I was initially quite confused. They included the following:
- A.C.E.S.A BRA.MARTBARCELONA
- A.C.E.S.A BRA.TARBARCELONA
- A.C.E.S.A BRA.TARRBARCELONA
- A.C.E.S.A BRA.VENDBARCELONA
- A.C.E.S.A ENT.ACC.BARCELONA
- A.C.E.S.A GRANOLL-BARCELONA
- A.C.E.S.A LA JONQ-BARCELONA
- A.C.E.S.A SAL.ACC.BARCELONA
- AUTOPISTAS AUMAR SVALENCIA
- AUTOST CONFINE STAENZA
- AUTST VENEZIA ESTZA TARV
- Alimentacion Nostacullera <— This is the one which hit me for $1,200
What I think is happening in Spain
No Spanish citizen has confirmed this for me, but I did have some spanish translation help in figuring out what ties these companies together. From what I gather, “A.C.E.S.A.” is the Spanish toll-road system. The companies listed appear to be a combination of toll-taking stations, and restaurants/convenience-marts along the toll roads.
What I’ve pieced together from these clues and from hints in other articles is that the fraud works by the scammers cloning the card somehow. I am still not certain how they got mine, as it never left my possession. Regardless, they clone it and do the big initial hit. They know that after that hit, the card will be closed, so they sell it to “little fish”. The little fish use it to buy little things and to pay tolls along the toll road. The international Credit Card authorization system does not appear to require actual confirmation/authorization for amounts under approx. $25. Or, if it does require it, it doesn’t require it as a hard-and-fast rule, so if a system just runs the card a few times, it will probably be accepted.
That last part was confirmed by Visa employees, who noted that my account showed tons of rejections for the closed card. They said “the system is just running it until it goes through”. My guess is that the Spanish toll-credit system does that for “efficiency”, and that it only incidentally supports international organized crime.
The cure is to close the account
Let me repeat emphatically, these criminals are really good at what they are doing. They know the system better than the bank employees do. The only way to stop it is to close the linked account. Do yourself a favor, don’t fight it once the fraud starts its steady slow drain, hoping that “this one will be the last one”. Yes, you can call and dispute each and every one. I did. By the time you get the refund, you’ll have another $100 drained from your account. Stop the losses as soon as you get your first initial “big hit” refunded, close the account and completely change banks. Sorry, but that’s the only thing that worked for me.
Technorati Tags: banking, credit fraud, debit fraud, identity theft
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Thank you very much.
Thanks to you, we were able to discover the fraud on our account (and identify it as such)in one week and we are right now closing it. Our loss is less than $30. Many thanks!
Mickus, I am sorry to hear that the criminals got to you as well. Any clue where they lifted your number?
Why did you have to change the bank? Didn’t just closing that account and opening a new one with the same bank help?
Thanks,
Hi!
My wallet was stolen in Barcelona, and 3 weeks later I see the exact same patterns on my account, except the initial big one. I closed my debit card 1 hour after the theft, but now, 3 weeks later, the fraud kicks in. I will follow your advice and delete my accout. (my card was a debit card with a VISA part, connected directly to my checking account).
The ACESA fraud is still happening in 11/2007
Norwegian, I’m glad my experience could help someone else. Yes, close the account.
Hi. my wallet was stolen in Barcelona exactly a month ago and was able to report the incident that same day. BofA closed the account and issued me a new CC. As i was checking my cc transactions today, the exact same charges showed up in my new CC account. I called BofA and the fraud department just said that the charges were made before the account was closed and it just rolled over to this new account. They will credit me the charges but I am now thinking maybe I should just close the account? My other Credit card and debit card are fine as of now.
I had my wallet and mobile phone pickpocketed by hookers in Barcelona 3 weeks ago (April 2008) and the exact same thing happened. $1200 AUS initial fraudulent transaction. Cancelled the card and as soon as the soon bank kindly reimbursed the amount taken I started getting the same transactions as A.C.E.S.A GRANOLL-BARCELONA, etc. Will cancel the account tomorrow, what a pain in the behind… Dirty hookers!
Hola,
en el meu cas, jo sóc catalana. He llegit més amunt que no hi ha gaire casos d’aquest frau a Espanya, però jo en dec ser l’excepció o de les poques que se’n ha adonat. No entenc ni m’expresso gaire bé en anglès, per això us explico el meu cas en català , la meva llengua. No sé ben bé de què es tracta aquest frau ni qui hi ha darrere, però certament cada 10 o 15 dies aproximadament m’he adonat que em carreguen uns 3,40 euros. Al concepte hi apareix A.C.E.S.A BRA. MAR. Pel que tinc entès ACESA és el nom que rep l’empresa de cobrament dels peatges a Catalunya.
Si us plau, si a algú altre li passa el mateix i sap com solucionar-ho, li agrairia molt que me’n fes cinc cèntims. Això s’ha d’aturar!! és una llà stima i una vergonya que ens prenguin el pèl d’aquesta manera i que a sobre no hi fem res….
Grà cies.
HOLA SOY DE BARCELONA Y ACABO DE DETECTAR QUE HAN REALIZADO EL DEBITO EN MI CUENTA DE 1.36 DESDE ACCESA BRAMOL Y NO HE USADO ESTE SERVICIO.
YA ME HABIA LLAMADO LA ATENCION CUANDO ME COBRARON EN OTRA OPORTUNIDAD PERO NO RECLAME. ESTA VES NO VA A PASAR!
Hola, pues a mi me robaron mi cartera el fin de semana y hoy es que he visto que mi tarjeta de crédito ha sido pasada reiteradamente y lo que aparece es A.C.E.S.A B.VENDR-A.AL y son un montón, pero lo impresionante de todo esto, es que las tarjetas estaban bloqueadas, contando que una de ellas es una tarjeta de crédito prepagada.
Que horror es que no lo puedo creer, y entonces la única solución es cancelar la cuenta??????
Holas TXELL, em passa el mateix que a tu,dema vaig al banc a veure que es,salutacions
Hola! Sabeu alguna cosa sobre aquests cobrament? M’acaba de passar el mateix i no sé qué pot ser. Salutacions i moltes gràcies.
Nice, i really like it thanks for the help and the tips. love it!!!
Still happening in April 2010, and my wallet was stolen January 2010. Thanks for the tip!
a mi tb em pasa no se perquè és però demà aniré a fer una visita al caixer JEJEJEJEJE sus muert0s
My wallet was stolen last september in Barcelona, and I only saw the transactions posted two weeks ago–about 9 months later. According to my bank, the receipts were carbon copy paper receipts sent in by mail dated two weeks before my wallet was stolen. They were shortly followed by three transactions refunding my account, though none of the amounts matched the previous debits.