Several customers saw fraudulent charges posted to their accounts after shopping at the exchange and other business on Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. (Pexels)
KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — Credit and debit card fraud may be more widespread on this installation than officially reported, base leaders told a packed town hall meeting Thursday, according to an attendee.
The 18th Security Forces Squadron had received 23 reports of unexplained charges on credit or debit cards from people who shopped on base as of Nov. 16, wing Chief Master Sgt. Brandon Wolfgang said at the meeting, Air Force spouse Kaily Watson said by phone Friday.
Stars and Stripes was barred from covering the town hall meeting at Schilling Community Center by wing spokeswoman Maj. Alli Stormer.
But individual banks have received more complaints, the wing’s deputy commander, Col. Joshua Lundeby, told the newspaper after the meeting.
“We don’t have a firm number — a total number of fraudulent charges,” he said.
The 18th Wing recently warned its community about fraud following reports of unexplained charges billed to cardholders who shopped at on-base businesses.
Several customers saw fraudulent charges — from a few cents to thousands of dollars — posted to their accounts after shopping at the Army and Air Force Exchange Service and elsewhere, they told Stars and Stripes. The problem may be part of a “widespread financial institution breach,” the wing announced via Facebook on Nov. 14.
More than 100 people attended the town hall, Lundeby said after the meeting. The event was standing room only, Watson said in a follow-up email Friday.
Wing commander Brig. Gen. Nicholas Evans, in an email Thursday evening to Stars and Stripes, said he does not permit “recording, livestreaming or press access” at town hall meetings to ensure that “attendees can speak freely without concern for how their comments may be publicly broadcast or scrutinized.”
Stars and Stripes is challenging that decision through official channels.
At the meeting, Lundeby and Wolfgang stressed the need to officially report fraud to security forces and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to meeting notes Watson shared.
Fraud victims must make a report in person at the security squadron’s headquarters, a squadron representative said at the meeting, according to Watson.
Senior Airman Mikayla Brown with the 18th Comptroller Squadron, whose cards showed unexplained charges recently, wanted an easier way to report incidents, she told Stars and Stripes after the meeting.
“It’s clearly a trend, and it’s not just 10 people or 20 people,” she said. “It’s a good amount of people.”
Lundeby and Wolfgang said the wing has no evidence that the recent rash of fraud is confined to Kadena, according to Watson’s notes.
They said Marine Corps Camp Foster and other bases had reported similar instances. It was unclear if they meant reports were made to Camp Foster or if fraud was found on Camp Foster, Watson said Friday.
Wolfgang said Misawa and Yokota air bases had not received similar reports, according to Watson’s notes.
Security forces and the Office of Special Investigations, AAFES and the Defense Commissary Agency inspected point-of-sale terminals and found them to be safe, Wolfgang said, according to Watson’s notes.
“I appreciate that they were potentially investigating this on the back end more than public affairs led us to believe,” Watson said Friday. “I think that reassurance was provided.”
