By Joseph Vitale
In what appears to be an unwelcome headache affecting many in the community, a Public Safety alert recently revealed that numerous Fordham students have had unauthorized charges on their credit and debit card accounts following transactions at Umai Fusion, an off-campus restaurant.
The unauthorized charges have varied considerably, say students who spoke with The Fordham Ram. Some charges have been as low as a dollar, while others have topped out in the thousands. Equally erratic are their locations, with charges as close as Fordham Road and as distant as Singapore.
- Umai Fusion, a popular Japanese restaurant, has been linked to credit fraud. Samuel Joseph/The Ram
Despite the unpredictable nature of the charges, all roads are pointing to a common point of purchase: Umai Fusion, the Japanese eatery located on Arthur Avenue that opened in 2010. And, according to the stories described by students and the information acquired by Public Security, the restaurant’s online ordering service is at the center of it all.
Accessible from Umai Fusion’s website, the digital service claims to protect the information it processes.
For Fordham students, the service has proved all but secure in recent weeks.
Bridget Kilpatrick, FCRH ’16, who placed an order through Umai’s website, heard from her Midwest-based credit card company just two days after ordering from the restaurant.
“My account originally had a $250 charge but it didn’t go through because it was overseas,” said Kilpatrick. “But my card shut down after an unauthorized $46 charge was placed on my account.”
When she learned about the charge, she did not know it was linked to her transaction at the restaurant.
That is, until her friend, Emily Tanner, FCRH ’16, found herself in an identical situation three weeks later when a pair of unexpected charges were posted on her account. One, mapped to Indonesia, was for more than $200. The second was just a dollar traced to a Salt Lake City location.
“It’s just surprising that it’s a business a lot of Fordham students go to,” said Tanner, who ordered from the restaurant on the same day as Kilpatrick. Though it took more than three weeks for the unauthorized charges to appear, the two believed that their online orders at Umai were connected to the charges.
As with most instances of credit card fraud, deciphering who is at fault is complicated: Both students and the restaurant’s owner contend that they are victims in the string of identity thefts.
Andy Lam, the owner of Umai Fusion, appeared just as confused as students during a phone interview on Tuesday regarding the string of unauthorized charges popping up on students’ bank statements.
“I don’t know how long this has been happening,” said Lam, who is cooperating with school officials. “I want the school to help me and I have called the police as well.”
He claims that he only learned about the problem facing customers when he received Fordham’s Public Safety alert on Monday afternoon.
“I don’t want students to feel like I have anything to do with this,” he added. “I love the students of Fordham and I want them to trust me.”
To assist in reassuring students that Umai is not at fault, the restaurant is distributing letters around campus.
“Umai is taking it seriously and will cooperate with Fordham Public Safety for all the investigations,” reads the letter. “We are very sorry for all the inconvenience and mistrust it may cause to [of] all our favorite customers.”
The apologetic reaction, however, is long overdue according to students who were victims of fraud after ordering through Umai’s online service.
Michael Bilotti, GSB ’15, saw a charge for $40 to a company in Singapore posted on his statement just hours after he placed a small order using Umai’s online service.
“I’ll definitely be wary about ordering from places with my credit card,” Bilotti, who was later reimbursed for the charges, said. “I’ll probably order from Umai but I will never use my credit card again to do so.”
Jack Murray, FCRH ’16, had an equally surprising experience with Umai when, after placing an order through Umai’s website, he saw a $15 charge to a McDonalds in Indonesia. After calling security, he contacted his bank and deactivated his card.
“I felt really weird about the whole thing,” said Murray, who was later reimbursed for the charge. “But it really is an invasive feeling.”
With so many transactions and so few protections on personal information, the issue is hardly unfamiliar to credit card users. Following a summer during which major companies saw millions of their customers’ personal information stolen by online hackers, many have begun calling for tighter security on credit card companies and the adoption of more advanced methods to protect personal data.
Public Safety, after learning about the incidents, echoed this suspicion in an email to the university.
“Members of the University community are reminded to frequently monitor their credit/debit card transactions for unauthorized charges, especially when using the cards for online purchases,” said the email sent on Monday. “Members of the Fordham community are advised to immediately report any suspicious credit/debit card charges to their financial institutions, as well as the Department of Public Safety.”
For some students, the email serves as nothing but a reminder of the annoyances and risks that come with using a credit card.
Matt Calhoun, GSB ’17, says he was one of the first students to have seen charges.
“My card was first used and approved at Giosis in Singapore for around $20,” he said, noting that he began seeing charges as early as September. “Over the next 48 hours I was getting texts from my bank (P.N.C.) saying it was being used in the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Ireland, and France, with the highest attempted withdrawal amount being about 2,000 euros.”
Calhoun added that he is still occasionally notified that a transaction is declined in countries to which he has never been.
Of Umai, he noted, “I won’t be a returning customer.”
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Joseph Vitale is the Managing Editor for The Fordham Ram.
