RIP-OFF ALERT: Have you seen a suspicious charge for 25 cents on your credit card recently? If so, you're not alone.

In previous years, Clark told you about a criminal ring based in suburban Los Angeles that went to a bank and bought the credit card numbers of 2 million customers. The crooks put small charges of less than $10 on all the cards month after month. Eventually, they stole hundred of millions of dollars.

Only 7% of people ever noticed the bogus charges. We talk about balancing our checkbooks and carefully vetting our credit card statements, but apparently it's just lip service.

In a similar scenario, credit card customers around the country now are reporting a mystery charge for a quarter from an entity called Adele Services in Melville, N.Y. A Boston Globe reporter has determined there is no such business registered in the state.

No one quite knows what is behind these 25-cent charges. The most-likely theory is that these nominal amounts are being run to see if a credit card is active. If the charge goes through, the criminals know they can later hit those cards for larger charges.

Years ago this happened to Clark with his Diner's Club card, which he used in Budapest during a staff dinner. Some crooks obviously got the card number at the restaurant because within hours a duplicate card was made and being used in Italy! The fraud division at Diner's Club noticed Clark couldn't possibly have been in Budapest and then Rome just a few hours later and they promptly shut the card number down.

The takeaway for you is that you've got to go through your credit card statement line item by line item. You must dispute any unrecognized charges -- even if it is for 25 cents! The issue is not the 25 cents; it's that a criminal may have your credit card number.