Several customers saw fraudulent charges posted to their accounts after shopping at the exchange and other business on Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. (Pixabay)
KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — The 18th Wing has warned its community to beware of credit and debit card fraud following reports of unexplained charges billed to cardholders who shopped at Kadena businesses.
Shoppers at the air base should monitor their online accounts and report fraudulent activity to their bank or credit card companies, law enforcement and the FBI, according to a post on Kadena’s official Facebook page Thursday. The wing also recommends monitoring credit reports and enrolling in identity theft protection.
Several customers saw fraudulent charges ranging from a few cents to thousands of dollars posted to their accounts after shopping at the Army and Air Force Exchange Service and other on-base businesses, they recently told Stars and Stripes.
The problem may be part of a “widespread financial institution breach,” according to the wing’s Facebook post.
The fraudulent charges were paid to Amazon, Walmart, Afterpay and the California Department of Motor Vehicles, among others, three cardholders said by phone and email Friday.
Kaily Watson, 26, a paralegal and Air Force spouse, said her Chase Bank debit card was charged $10 from “somewhere in Wisconsin” in July or August, but the bank caught it, replaced her card and refunded the money.
“It seems to only be occurring on Kadena,” she said. “I have not confirmed with anybody or seen anybody say this has happened at [Marine Corps Camp] Foster or [Camp] Shields or anywhere else.”
Marine Lance Cpl. Zenestina Perez, 20, said she and her husband, also a Marine, received five fraudulent charges totaling $300 on their Navy Federal Credit Union debit cards around 8 p.m. Thursday after shopping at the Kadena commissary.
“We since have received our money back but are very disappointed and hesitant to use our cards on base,” she said.
The 18th Security Forces Squadron and Air Force Office of Special Investigations found these cases “go beyond Kadena Air Base,” 18th Wing spokeswoman Maj. Alli Stormer said by email Friday. The first reports arose in late October, she said in a follow-up message.
No “malicious activity” showed up in a check of radio frequence identification scanners and AAFES terminals at Kadena, wing commander Brig. Gen. Nicholas Evans told Stars and Stripes on Saturday during the Kadena Special Olympics.
Security forces and Air Force investigators are comparing data with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies on Okinawa, Evans said.
“At least from what we can do — our limited resources — there’s no kind of smoking gun, if you will, that says, ‘This is the place; this is the charge,’” he said. “It’s kind of widespread.”
The loss prevention department at AAFES, after a “thorough review,” found “no evidence of fraudulent activity specific to Exchange stores or services,” AAFES spokesman Christopher Ward said by email Saturday.
Ward said “standalone payment devices” used by retail concessions at Kadena were replaced between late last year and March, and AAFES began replacing retail, food and tablet pin pads in February.
The devices do not store customer information, he said.
Evans said people should be “no more concerned than you are any other time” about using their cards at Kadena. Everyone should always check their bank statements and work with their banks whenever they notice suspicious charges, and practice good cyber security.
“There’s 50,000 service members and their families here on Okinawa, and we’re talking numbers somewhere in 10s to 20s, is kind of our initial guess right now of how many cases are across the island,” he said.
