Credit scam hits Adams couple

Pamela Ginter is pretty vigilant about reviewing her bank statement when it arrives in the mail. But last month she was busy with the holidays and a new grandchild's arrival.

"The bank business got put off a couple weeks," the Mount Pleasant Township resident said.

But when she finally got around to looking at her statement, she noticed something odd: three transactions she didn't recognize.

"My first thought was, 'what on earth did my husband buy?'" she said. "Then I realized that É this wasn't right, we had never made these charges."

The Ginters are victims in part of a nationwide debit and credit card fraud case, according to Pennsylvania State Police in Gettysburg.

In Ginter's case, charges of $74.95, $69.95 and $14.95 appeared on her bank statement from a company called "LEANRX," according to police. The charges are for "LEANRX," "XtremeBurn" and "DreamSmile." Ginter said she learned online that the products are diet pills.

An Internet search for the company name leads to several consumer affairs Web sites containing complaints about fraudulent charges.

Trooper Scott Denisch said that hundreds of people in nearly every state have received the same fake charges, in the same time frame, with the same amounts and company names as Ginter.

Police aren't sure how the company is obtaining people's account numbers, Denisch said. Phone numbers for the business lead nowhere, he said.

Internet crimes are "logistically hard to follow up on and prosecute," he said. Police advise possible victims of such fraud to contact the Pennsylvania attorney general's office, because more complaints will likely speed action, he said.

Ginter called her bank when she found the transactions and the bank advised her to call police. No one is sure how the company got her account number, she said.

"I do quite a bit of Internet shopping," she said. But she's "so paranoid" about doing that so she's extra careful to only use secure Web sites.

Online shoppers should make sure they're only making transactions through a server they're confident in, Denisch said, and consumers should also check their bank statements regularly to watch for false charges.

Ginter said the experience hasn't scared her away from online shopping.

"I will be even more vigilant about checking the bank statement. That's the best defense," she said. "If anyone really wants this information, they're going to get it. É The convenience of using the Internet, for me, outweighs the risks."