I first noticed the unusual transactions in a March bank statement listed as "[email protected] SINGAPORE SG" for the amounts listed below. Because I have other valid transactions with Google for advertising it did cause some confusion initially, but searching online and finding others in my position helped to confirm my fears.
The following transactions were noted on my bank statement:
31st Jan $200,6th Feb $100,10th Feb $250,17th Feb $500,2nd Mar $1000,14th Mar $1000,28th Mar $1000.
I immediately contacted Citibank through our local bank, cancelled our credit cards and completed their investigation form, detailing the amounts taken fraudulently by some scam group. It took a few weeks for the investigation and during that time I received NO feedback from Citibank on the progress of the investigation, however two months later I have been re credited for the entire amounts into my credit card by Citibank, which I'm obviously happy about.
I do suspect that the fraud coincides with a purchase that was made through the Google Marketplace (AKA Google Play) for your iphone or tablet and that a "Gamevil" game my daughter downloaded (without my knowledge - the credit card is linked to my google maketplace account, making it *easier* for users to make purchases) is possibly at fault. I contacted the Gamevil support people (gamvil.com) when I learnt about the other transactions from [email protected] Singapore SG and queried how 4 transactions for the game were purchased, they said the following:
"Can you tell us if you have a young child who has access to your phone?
We think that it may be because you used Google Play to make a previous transaction and your card information was stored by Google Play. A young child who plays Air Penguin may have made this purchase.
Thank you,
GAMEVIL Contact"
I suspect that Gamevil may possibly be a 'front' for the scam or that their company is compromised and credit card information is being 'leaked' to a third party scam. I conclude this because the day the transactions from [email protected] singapore sg began, coincides with the day the transaction went through with Gamevile.
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