Credit Card Charges may be Fraudulent

PLEASE STOP CALLING ME... I cannot help you.  I have NOT charged your credit or debit card.  CALL YOUR BANK OR ZEEK OR ZEEKLER.  (If anyone has advice on how to get the phone calls to STOP... please let me know.)  I am at over 2,000 hits to my website about this issue and HUNDREDS of phone calls.  I am not returning the calls and only answering some of them.  The ones I answer, I will apologize if I am short and direct and end the call quickly, this issue has been taxing on my time and energy.

After about 6 months since my original post, it's happening again.  Someone is using Lucky Star Designs and Photography's name to place possible fraudulent credit card charges on people's account across the U.S.

First of all, I am a Photographer and Graphic Designer in the DFW area of Texas.  I do some business nationally in other states, but most of my business is here and local.  I process credit card transactions, but only for portrait services and products and graphic design services and products.  All of my customers sign a contract up front before I charge their credit card and also receive an emailed receipt for the charge.  If this is not you, then I assure you, I have not charged your credit or debit card for any services or fees.  

From what I understand, the people/company that is charging your accounts may possibly originate out of Costa Rica.  I've been told some of the charges MAY be legitimate if you worked with an organization/company called Zeek or Zeekler.  I would still recommend calling your bank to verify any charges made under the name of Lucky Star Designs.

• UPDATE 6/20/2012 --- waiting on a call from Zeek Executives to get this straightened out.  New comment today stated:  "Just got off the phone with ZEEK customer service. They stated that the $10.08 charge-on June 5th-to my card IS A LEGITIMATE CHARGE for ZEEK from the 'new bank' they are now using, showing up as "LuckyStarDesign8883609989" on my statement. They also stated that the charge is for my monthly subscription. ZEEK AFFILIATES OLNY: leave this lady alone and check your Zeek News for updates.  -- Michael Malone...'Inglewood!'"

• UPDATE 6/19/2012 --- see this blog post about Zeek memberships and specifically the comment area:  http://behindmlm.com/companies/zeek-rewards/zeek-rewards-surround-themselves-in-secrecy/#comment-80010 

•  Update:  A recent caller said MSNBC was reporting a huge hack into LinkedIn accounts stealing passwords and credit card information.  If you have used your credit card on LinkedIn, you might look into changing your password and removing your credit card info.

• UPDATE  6/14/2012:  There have been about 700 hits on my website due to this issue and I've probably received close to 100 calls and several emails.  A couple of the emails seem to point to these charges being legitimate and through a program/website called Zeek or Zeekler.  I would still check with your bank to insure the charges are legitimate, especially if you have not signed up or bought anything through a company called Zeek or Zeekler.  From what I understand, Visa approved the charges and put the wrong company name on the statements (lucky star designs & photography instead of Zeek).  Here is one such email to me:

"Hi Miranda, I read your blog about fraudulent credit card charges, actually I googled Lucky Star Design after noticing what I thought was an unauthorised incursion into my finances. The guy at National Australia Bank said that he didn’t think it was an error, upon further investigation it appeared to originate from a vendor called Zeekler, but for some reason was logged under perhaps the name of a holding company.  Anyway, since I did recently enroll with Zeekler, it appears to be a bona fide charge.  I thought this information might be of use to you if you are receiving lots of calls from disgruntled people who you could perhaps turn into customers.  Thanks for posting the advice on your site.  Kind regards,
David"

Here is a recent comment from my other blog post about this topic several months ago:

"Just happened to me for 4 charges $.08, $.79, $10, and $99. But they did spell it correctly. LuckyStarDesign88836 INTERNATL EXCHANGE FEE CARD NBR: -8049.  The strange thing aobut this is I am and have been a professional Photographer for 36 years! GO figure!"

As a reminder:

1. I am not an LLC, but a sole proprietorship (and I am also NOT a holding company for anyone else).
2. It is spelled Lucky Star Designs & Photography
3. I am in DFW area of Texas, not Costa Rica
4. I provide a receipt via email for every credit card transaction I do.

If you have been charged by these means, I assure you it did not originate from Lucky Star, they are just unfortunately using our name.

Feel free to have your bank contact me if there are any questions. 

Thank you,

Miranda