An important part of getting better credit scores is staying up-to-date with all of your financial accounts and regularly reading your statements. 

Over the past month, millions of people have noticed a 25 cent charge on their credit card statement.  The company listed for the charge is Adele Services in Melville, New York.  The company doesn’t exist anywhere in New York.

The two main theories for this are that potential thieves are attempting to find out if an illegally obtained credit card number works by making a small purchase before trying to use it for a large amount.  The other theory is that someone is trying to steal small amounts of money from large quantities of people, adding up to a nice haul for themselves.   

WHAT TO DO
Look at all of your credit card and checking account statements in December, January and February.  If you see the $.25 charge, or anything from Adele Sevices, contact the credit card company immediately to dispute the charge.

Additionally, you should file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and the Internet Crime Complaint Center, which is run by the FBI, the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the National White Collar Crime Center.  Typically, it takes a certain volume of complaints before federal officials react, so be sure to include your fraudulent charges to help stop this crime.

So far, no larger charges associated with Adele have been reported.  But it is far better to stop any fraudulent use of your accounts NOW, before you end up with full scale identity theft and a negative impact on your credit rating.