How a Seemingly Innocent Charge of $9.84 on Your Credit Card Statement Could Be Bad News

Scroll down your credit card statement. If you see a charge for exactly this amount $9.84, you might want to double check that it's actually for a purchase you made.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

The Council of Better Business Bureaus posted a notice Friday about this scam, which was first uncovered by Krebs on Security at the beginning of the month.

At the time, Krebs wrote he was unsure if it was related to recent major retail breaches, like the highly publicized Target hack, but noted that "the fraud appears to stem from an elaborate network of affiliate schemes that stretch from Cyprus to India and the United Kingdom."

The Council of Better Business Bureaus wrote that in charging a small, less than $10 sum, the scammers might think their fraud would go unnoticed. The scammers also took it a step further telling those calling into "customer support" sites that the charge would be canceled, to which the council says "don't take the scammers at their word."

Though the $9.84 scam seemed to pick up over the holidays, from what Krebs could tell, it actually goes back into the first half of 2013.

"If you see a charge like this or any other activity on your credit or debit card that you did not authorize, contact your bank and report the fraud immediately," Krebs wrote. "I think it’s also a good idea in cases like this to request a new card in the odd chance your bank doesn’t offer it: After all, it’s a good bet that your card is in the hands of crooks, and is likely to be abused like this again."

Check out Krebs on Security's full post for a list of domains he believes to be involved in the scam.

(H/T: CBS News)